UR EAN DESIGN assocrates Nashua Downtown Master Plan
II Precedents THE BEST DESIGN SOLUTIONS emerge from the inherent pat-
terns and vernacular of a region. Nashua is one of several Mer-
rimack Valley river towns unique even within the greater
region of which it is a part. Planned as settlements to support
the textile manufacturing industry in New England in the early
nineteenth century, Nashua and its sister cities along the Mer-
rimack River are strikingly similar in their history and plan-
ning. By studying the original urban form and the
redevelopment that has occurred along the Merrimack Valley
as the economy and development base has changed over time,
Nashua can develop strategies to root itself in its unique past
while planning for an ever-changing future.
Other Merrimack Valley cities similar in both form and
history to Nashua, such as Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill,
provide precedents of exemplary spaces, development strate-
gies, urban design approaches steeped in a similar regional fla-
vor and industrial past.
