Background on the Patterns of Development in Middlebury Project
This project was conceived and designed by a group of students at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. The project was completed as part of an Environmental Studies Senior Seminar that examined issues associated with municipal approaches to conservation sustainable community development. We chose to focus our research on the problem of suburban and rural sprawl. We shared a concern that strip malls and scattered residential developments were fast becoming dominant features on the landscape, transforming the historic character of Vermont townships. This concern is generally shared by the residents of the Town of Middlebury, as evidenced by the vision laid out in their town plan.
We chose to develop this web site as a means to allow people to assess the long-term patterns of development in Middlebury. It is our hope that by having an easy means to extend our collective memory of land-use patterns back 150 years it will extend our vision and commitment to planning for the future.