Urban Studies Bus Tours connects the university community with the cities of our region in a fun, informative, and innovative way.
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The newly launched Urban Studies Bus Tours aim to connect the university community with the cities of our region in fun, informative, and innovative ways.
On the first bus trip on April 13, Professor Anna Dempsey will lead a tour of New Bedford’s artistic public works and discuss their relationship to the city’s social history. Sites to be visited include Erik Durant’s Fisherman’s Tribute, Stacy Latt Savage’s Holocaust Memorial in Buttonwood Park, and the new downtown green spaces.
The second tour on April 19 features a walk on Fall River’s recently inaugurated Quequechan River Rail Trail. Historical reenactments by UMass Dartmouth students along the trail will bring to life the history of the local mills along the River Rail Trail and the people that worked in them.
Local residents, activists, and scholars will also explain how the River Rail Trail was made into a reality by committed city residents and discuss the challenges involved in transforming this once terribly polluted space into an environmentally healthy urban green space.
The bus tours area all free and open to the university community as well as the wider public. Seats on the buses however are limited, and reservations should be made by contacting Professor Klimt. The bus tours have been made possible with the help of the Friends of Alfred J. Lima Quequechan River Rail Trail; UMass Dartmouth’s Labor Education Center and Urban Studies Program, and a grant from the College of Arts and Sciences.
For more information, to reserve a seat, or to share ideas, contact Professor Andrea Klimt, Director of the Urban Studies Program.
Schedule of tours
April 13th - New Bedford’s Public Cultural Heritage
Professor Anna Dempsey will lead the tour of New Bedford’s artistic public works in relationship to the city’s social history. These include Erik Durant’s Fisherman’s Tribute, Stacy Latt Savage’s Holocaust Memorial in Buttonwood Park, and the new downtown green spaces. The bus will leave the CVPA lot at 9AM and return by 11AM
April 19th - Walking the Quequechan River Rail Trail – Fall River’s past and future
Talks by local residents, activists, and scholars, information booths, light refreshments, and historical reenactments by UMass Dartmouth students along the trail. The bus will leave Parking Lot 1 at 3PM and return by 5:30.