Conclusion (Stairs)

With consideration to the analyses and findings of the past 4 sections, the team recommends that the following actions be taken.  These recommendations seek to address the goals stated in the introduction (Introduction) and to act as guidelines in future decisions made by the college.

The social contexts define the problem by three contexts: environmental/physical, cultural and psychological. These factors will decrease the time and money wasted of the project. The environmental and physical solution includes the solutions discussed in the Technical Analysis. To include the stairs into the culture of Lafayette College students need to be immersed to the path as soon as they reach campus through student led activities, examples such as first year orientation and community outreach programs. This will set into motion a notion that the stairs are as common as walking from the dorm to the dining hall to eat. The more activities the college can have down the hill will soon start a chain reaction to change the mindset of one graduating class to the next. This matters because the negative words used in regards to the stair experience is passed down by word of mouth through each grade, thus creating a negative connotation towards the stairs. This will be a gradual change through the years to make the stairs become as Instagram worthy as the football field, or a cultural attraction that is no longer a hassle. When the culture is changed the psychological aspects are diminished. These three contexts are a ripple effect of each other. If the technical side is fixed then the psychological mindset can be improved thus creating a culture of increased traffic. The stairs could be landmark that tourists come to view with the addition of art pieces and exhibits that incorporate the town and college-life activities. The technical, cultural and psychological factors blend together to create a solution for the stairs that will keep the atmosphere of Easton and increase traffic on the stairs.

In terms of the design process itself, we emphasize the importance of sustained stakeholder participation.  As indicated by our Policy Analysis, stakeholders offer a range of converging and diverging opinions that have often been overlooked in previous solutions which oversimplify perspectives in order to move forward on a design.  Participation must begin before a design is solidified and investment is made and must continue as the project moves forward.   This process of integrating feedback can be understood through the practice of “deliberative political leadership” in which those in charge “integrate [community input] into their deliberations on the best way forward before making their final decision” (Lees-Marshment, 2016).  Pending administrative interest, we propose a series of open forum meetings to develop addition ideas for stair revitalization.  Meetings with representatives from the Arts Campus, College Hill Campus, Facilities Planning and Construction, Easton City Hall, the College Hill and Downtown neighborhoods, and the student population would be established at routine intervals following these open forums with the committee’s design published for public comment after a consensus has been reached.  This system aligns with our goals “to identify stakeholder positions and ways to leverage these into action and to “design a solution that aligns with the goals of the community and of campus.

While the technical analysis addresses how to rebuild the stairs to make them usable, the emphasis of the project is to provide further incentive for people to use the stairs more regularly in the first place. The Art Stairs are going to be a well-traveled pathway between College Hill, Lafayette College’s arts campus, and the center of Easton, so we want the new design to be a sustainable, durable, and enjoyable landmark to experience. Redesigning the structure with new and easily maintainable materials, as well as incorporating interesting features on the patios along the pathway will greatly incentivize, increase, and sustain community use of the stairs. People will finally see these stairs as an attractive destination, will be able to rest and enjoy the view, and not treat this place as an obstacle to overcome.

We believe that the best way to go about doing this is to first start by replacing the cracked, steep pavement pathway with Flexi-Pave and the precarious turns with large patios of Turfstone. We want the hill to be walkable so adding more stairs, lowering the grading of the pathway and creating more spots at which to rest addresses the undesirable conditions and inconvenience of exhaustion that many people express of the current Art Stairs design. It would be smart for the school to include the currently derelict pathway leading from the Art Stairs to Easton Hall in this project, to eliminate something that is currently an eyesore and to diversify community access of the stairs. Installing stone retaining walls or a more durable metal railing will promote a sense of safety when using the Art Stairs regularly. The installation of LED lampposts along the path would be a sustainable way to greatly increase visibility and enable people to safely travel up and down the stairs at any time they may need to. Ground-illuminating LEDs along the pathway could be a nice way to improve upon overall lighting and is an option worth considering. Appropriately landscaping the hill around the stairs after implementing the structural changes is a great way to improve upon maintaining erosion and making the rest of the hill nicer to look at and less of a pain to maintain. Space for statues, benches to sit on, books to read, and objects to draw or paint on are all ways to regularly involve the communities that use the Art Stairs.

During our Economic Analysis, the team determined three major economic components of the Art Stairs. The first was the economic context of the Art Stairs. This was largely defined by Lafayette College and Downtown Easton’s economic goals. The team believed that the Art Stairs could help to enhance the economic viability of both groups by creating an attraction that facilitates connections between the two communities. The second major economic component of the Art Stairs was a cost-benefit analysis of this proposal as well as potential alternatives. Through this, we determined that the Art Stairs were the most efficient option as it had the best benefit to cost ratio. The final element of the team’s economic analysis was determining sources of funding for our proposal. Through research of past proposals and meetings with a variety of community contacts, the team determined that the Art Stairs could be funded with a combination of state and college money. The state money would come from an EDA state grant while the school could raise money through their Live Connected Lead Change campaign. After thoroughly examining these three economic aspects of our proposal, the team decided that the project was not only feasible but a project that would generate more money for Easton and Lafayette than it would cost them. The team determined that of all 3rd Street stairs proposals, the Art Stairs are the most economically viable.

Given the demonstrated benefits of the Art Stairs as a solution to the current commuting issues, we strongly recommend pursuing this project regardless of other action taken.  The stairs are part of Lafayette’s history and physical campus and cannot be left neglected.  The structure as it exists poses challenges, but also holds a great deal of potential for increasing traffic between campus on College Hill and the downtown communities.  Our design is intended to serve as the first iteration of a collaborative process to provide incentive for stair use.