SEAS Events

Project Title:  

Improving Accessibility at Nichols Arboretum

Client: 

Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum (MBGNA)

Team Members: 

Taryn Farber, MLA, Maia Gallagher MS, (Engineering, SEAS) Snow Guo, MS, MLA; Jinbo Li MLA, MS

Advisor: 

Stan Jones

Project Details:

Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum (MBGNA) is committed to fostering equitable and just access to the outdoors for everyone via its trail system and varied ecosystems. Currently, outdoor experiential inequities at Nichols Arboretum affect individuals with physical disabilities and limitations or non-dominant identities. While there are countless measures that would improve inclusion, this project emphasized the ways in which Nichols Arboretum can reduce experiential inequities for visitors with physical disabilities. Through public engagement interviews and surveys, we determined three approaches to enhancing mobility-based accessibility at the Arboretum: 1) improved physical access, 2) improved information dissemination external to and internal to the Arboretum, and 3) physical improvements to trails. To further inform our recommendations, we performed geographical analysis of the Arboretum using ArcGIS data, a LIDAR digital elevation model, and field observations to determine critical trail physical characteristics such as grade and trail cover. Final recommendations include short-term actionable items (improvements to parking and the website, a new signing plan, and new public-facing map of the Arboretum), long-term actionable items (trail designs for improved trail cover and regrading), and suggestions for non-critical, longer term, simultaneous, or ongoing projects that could improve accessibility and may be appropriate for future capstone or student projects.