PORTFOLIO

As part of my Introduction to GIS class in my first year at Rutgers, I decided to analyze my hometowns of Matawan/Aberdeen, New Jersey. Specifically, I decided to investigate a complaint that I frequently heard from residents of my town, namely the issue of overdevelopment. I took it upon myself to investigate how significant a problem this really was for the town, and my findings were quite interesting.

In addition to learning more of the complexities behind using Esri’s ArcGIS Pro, I found that the overdevelopment problem in my town was a little more complicated than initially expected. Matawan/Aberdeen serves an essential purpose to the surrounding towns, as it is not only home to the Matawan Train Station (located along the North Jersey Coast Line), but also has two entrances to the Garden State Parkway (Exits 120 and 117). There has, in fact, been an uptick in the construction of new apartment complexes, but interestingly, none of these are actually located within Matawan or Aberdeen. They are instead located in surrounding towns that use Matawan/Aberdeen’s roads and transportation lines for their morning commute and other activities. This leads to the perception by Matawan/Aberdeen residents that overdevelopment has led to the towns feeling too crowded, when in actuality, its nearby towns are developing at a faster rate than they previously did, which is leading to the congestion of Matawan/Aberdeen’s road and transportation infrastructure.

This project was completed as part of my Graphical Communications for Planners course in the Spring of 2025, where we were assigned the area around the Bloomfield Train Station to redevelop. This project enabled me to gain more knowledge and experience in using programs such as Civil3D, SketchUp, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe InDesign, all of which contributed to the creation of this comprehensive plan.

I decided to opt for a slightly more abstract design concept, creating a space that was both friendly to cars and pedestrians. While fully walkable spaces are great, it is also essential to consider the increase in traffic they can cause when implemented hastily, which is why this plan only includes the removal of one road, retaining the rest of the exisitng infrastructure. This design employed a double-decker style that maximized space, allowing for a more unique look than what has been seen in nearby towns.

While I am happy with the outcome of my work here, this is early work from me, as I can now complete a project like this much better with my enhanced skill set. Still, this project allowed me to build up the fundamentals of my Urban design principles, as well as explore different, more unique avenues of design to set myself apart from others.