What could Dalton’s future be?

A roundabout at the intersection of Thornton and Walnut avenues would signal the entrance to town. Behind a see-through “Welcome to Dalton” sign would be a soaring performing arts center serving as a pulse for the community.

An urban farmer’s market in the area of Chattanooga Avenue, Selvidge, Hamilton and Waugh streets would serve as a social and economic hub for the area on the northside of downtown.

Dalton State College would expand eastward to Fort Hill School, giving higher education a link to downtown.

These are just a sampling of the ideas shared during the unveiling of the “Mapping Next Steps for Dalton” project Saturday night at the Creative Arts Guild. Students from the Savannah College of Arts and Design have been working on the project since last summer and presented their visions through a series of maps, graphics, schematic drawings and a six-minute video.

“We wanted to work and to find ways to help Dalton become more of a place where young, creative people would want to be,” said Christine Miller, a professor of design management at SCAD.

The three major problems students found were no sense of arriving in Dalton, an overall lack of identity and a disconnection caused by poorly conceived routes through town. Students divided the city into six areas: Crown Mill, Downtown, Fort Hill District, Gateway to Dalton, North of Waugh and Spring Square. The area generally ran from Walnut Avenue north to the Crown Mill area on Chattanooga Avenue and from Thornton Avenue east to Fort Hill School.

Students used a blank canvas to envision what a sprawling city with smart growth could be like — plenty of green space, gathering places, mix-use development, greenways — if it could all be tied together.

“We wanted to give a tool kit to the city where, here are some case studies that have worked, here are some ideas, here’s what you guys have said that you want and kind of go forward with some encouragement,” said Leslie Marticke, a SCAD graduate student in design management who worked on the project.

Students spent a week in Dalton last October gleaning ideas from citizens

“We could really put the human aspect into the whole city instead of us just being in Savannah studying,” said Jen Light, also a graduate student in design management. “We could actually get a feel for it, the people. It feels more homey. As soon as I got here, I could relate to a lot of stuff that my hometown is going through.”

Students didn’t tackle how to pay for the projects. Some city officials said less expensive, smaller scale ideas could be pulled from the project and put into action.

Attendees also heard the perspective of a city that remade itself. Helen Johnson and Josh McManus, co-founders of the Chattanooga non-profit Create Here, talked about how the group uses its resources to spur development in arts, culture and the economy. In 1984, a group of Chattanooga city leaders began the task of redeveloping the town. In the 1990s, the city underwent a revival of sorts.

“What’s fascinating is what is going on all around you is not to this level of technical detail,” McManus said of the exhibit, compared to the beginning of Chattanooga’s turnaround. “In a sort of rudimentary form it’s what happened in Chattanooga in 1984. It was called ‘Vision 2000.’ If you understand the Chattanooga story at all, Chattanooga had sort of been through its heyday, it was the ‘Dynamo of Dixie,’ it leveled out then started losing 5,000 jobs a year. In 1969, Walter Cronkite calls it ‘The Dirtiest City in America’ on air. By the time the early ’80s rolled around, there wasn’t much left to show for the whole thing.”

The exhibit will remain at the Creative Arts Guild for the public to view for about a week. Then, the maps will probably be moved to City Hall at 300 W. Waugh St. City officials hope to make the presentation available online.

The entire project cost about $19,000.