Professor Darren Martin Ruddell at the USC Spatial Studies Institute is having the students in his spring semester “practicum” on spacial sciences focus on the urban planning issues involved with turning the Santa Monica Airport into a park.
Two representatives of Airport2Park, Mike Salazar and Frank Gruber, met with Prof. Ruddell and his students at the airport to discuss with them the history of efforts to turn the airport into a park, the current City process underway to add 12 acres to Airport Park, and future possibilities for building a “big park” to replace the airport. As the semester continues, students in the seminar will develop design several alternatives for a park at the airport and how it would connect with surrounding neighborhoods and commercial districts.
Prof. Ruddell has promised to share these alternatives with Airport2Park when the class concludes in May. Stay tuned.
