The Oak Tree Road neighborhood of Iselin, Woodbridge Township, has gained attraction as a cultural and commercial destination for New Jersey's South Asian American population. Exquisite Indian restaurants, clothing shops and ethnic grocery stores create a unique atmosphere—buzzing street life in a vibrant community. All this is happening in a residential area that dates back to the 1950's. This creates a burden on the existing infrastructure with respect to parking, pedestrian flow, storm water management, and so forth.
The leadership of Woodbridge Township is well aware of the potentials of a vibrant commercial center with unique ethnic character and wants to support the local community; the township is also concerned about the challenges that come with that success. This is where this academic exercise comes into play. The goal of this senior landscape architecture design studio is to support the township's initiatives to develop long term sustainable solutions that find a balance between commercial needs the needs of local residents, and the goals of sustainable development.
Overall the report documents the student's work as it was produced for the classroom. It was not edited for publication; however, we hope that this report will be a valuable contribution to the ongoing discussion about the future of Oak Tree Road.
We thank the Woodbridge Township as well as members of the local business community for providing valuable information and for active participation in student discussions and reviews.