Dorchester Master Plan
Summer 2018
Feria Urbanism
The town centre of Dorchester has been examined and surveyed in a number of different ways over the past two years; I joined Feria Urbanism to analyse these findings and suggest what it could mean for the county town’s future.
After exploring Dorchester, my lasting impression was of how walkable the town was… even in 30°C heat. This was due to leafy boulevards, good access routes throughout the town and the high number of distinctive landmarks make it easy to navigate.
Thomas Hardy characterised Dorchester in his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge. He states “It was compact as a box of dominoes” which endorses the notion of Dorchester as a network of recognisable features and inspired my playful, scattered composition.
Phase II
My visual representation of the town fed into Feria’s overall analysis, along with the pre-existing surveys and studies. My task was to present this information in a format which the general public would understand and engage with.
The resulting poster exhibition utilised clear typography and infographics to get the information across, and illustrations of the town and surrounding areas to ground the findings.
As part of the Feria team, we spent two days welcoming the public to view the exhibition, discuss the ideas presented and record feedback.
