[W] St. PAUL
A productive river’s edge plan proposal for urban redevelopment
DeFragmented [W]St.Paul [ - ] = [ + ] Voids Connected
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West St. Paul = [W]St.Paul Proposal: to utilized the existing built environment to create recreational and productive surfaces in order to promote community engagement, greenways connectivity, livelihood, healthy lifestyles, and urban growth by showcasing the best of Saint Paul and the waters of the Mississippi River. Aiming to support Saint Paul’s: • unified urban vision/ revival • infusion of housing developments • locals economies • families income • neighborhood connectivity
FRAGMENTED St.PAUL emptied - unused isolated - voids
distinctive - density integrated - revitalized CONNECTING VOIDS
Goals: • minimizing the environmental impacts • contributing to local sustainable economy • consumption of local resources (direct/indirect) • stressing local ownership and the well being of residents • support efforts to conserve the environment and to promote passive tourism
St.PAUL
DEFRAGMENTED [W]St.Paul [ - ]=[ + ] VOIDS CONNECTED >it is possible to reconnect [W]St.Paul to its adjacent neighbors by creating a green coastal corridor? >how can emphasis and engagement of the local community could inspire neighborhood identity? >how can the edge condition be redefine from industrial to useful neighborhood use(es)?
Downtown St. Paul
[W] St.PAUL
Abstract The city of Saint Paul’s vision to entice urban growth and economic development is strongly dependant on a well balanced urban strategy which targets and takes advantage of the existing physical infrastructure, sometime underutilized lots, to promote livelihood and recreational opportunities while keeping abreast the city’s industrial past. On another note, Planet Earth is currently home to an estimated 6.3 billion people and approximately 80 million individuals are added annually.
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DeFragmented [W]St.Paul [ - ] = [ + ] Voids Connected
Increasingly, humankind congregates into urban centers, isolated and buffered from nature. Often urbanized humanity professes a sincere interest in the environment, ‘thinking green’, but this desire to protect and preserve our natural heritage is compromised by misinformation and limited hands-on exposure to the synergistic interdependence of biotic and abiotic elements that define our biosphere. But to what extent this actions affect the precious fresh wasters of Mississippi River in the not so distant future? Thus, St. Paul has a great potential to serve as an urban sustainable model for riverfront redevelopment and community resilience productivity. Urban agriculture+aquaculture provides a widely accessible and effective conduit to re-link people with nature by promoting public awareness, nurturing the ‘ecoethos’ characteristic of aboriginal cultures globally, and restoring an appreciation of agriculture’s role in ensuring a secure food supply while generating jobs, income and product. How can a master plan best celebrate the past, present and future of a context?
St.PAUL Downtown St. Paul
fragmentation/voids 1/4 mile radius S.Robert Street unified nodes catalyst for urban development
park
[W] St.PAUL
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St.Paul Downtown Airport Hollman Field
endion cody park point smithville bayview heights norton park piedmont heights irving gary/ new duluth norht shore downtown/ central bus. dist. fairmont cody riverside smithville morley heights pondents norton park fond du lac irving oneotaa 0 norht shore fairmont 0 riverside morley heights fond du lac oneotaa 0 0
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east 34% 10
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amount of natural east open space east 70
60 50 40 30 20 10
Site
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west 3026% 35
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>it is possible to reconnect WDuluth to its adjacent neighbors by creating a green coastal corridor? >how can emphasis and engagement of the local community could inspire neighborhood identity? >how can the edge condition be redefine from industrial to useful neighborhood use(es)?
[WDuluth] opportunities
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40
distribution of respondents
east
lakeside/ lester park west end/ lincoln park central hillside central east hillside 40 duluth heights west denfeld 35 chester park/ UMD woodland central 30 congdon park 40% 25 kenwood 40 hunters park 20 spirit valley 35 morgan park 15 30 endion park point 10 25 bayview heights about right not enough too much piedmont heights 25 305 35 40 20 40 gary/ new duluth 0 Less than $20,000 to $40,000 to $60,000 todowntown/ bus. dist.or $80,000central to $100,000 15 $79,999 $99,999 morecody $20,000 $39,999 $59,999 10 smithville west norton park 5 26% irving shore 0 Less than $20,000 to $40,000 to $60,000 to $80,000 to $100,000norht orfairmont $79,999 $99,999 more riverside $20,000 $39,999 $59,999 morley heights East fond du lac oneotaa 0 Central 0
pread 0
25
west 26%
34%
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[W]Duluth Neighborhood Opportunities
west east central west
central 40%
St. Louis Bay
east
livelihood lifestyle recreation
central west
community waterfront
entral 40%
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West west 26%
east 34%
amount of developed open space
Undertaking a profound reading of the site in question and responding to the wishes of its people, provides a project the best foundation on which to build in this respect, but it also needs to be sustainable and adaptable in the future. This river’s edge in [W]St.Paul is a site of intense maritime (barge and ferrry) activity that offers multitude of challenges to respond to in a sensitive and synergistic way. central 40%
80 to $60,000 to $80,000 to $100,000 or $100,000 or$99,999 00 to $79,999 970 more more 999 59.5 60
40 35 30
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0 about right
not enough
too much
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Less than $20,000 to $40,000 to $60,000 to $80,000 to $100,000 or $79,999 $99,999 more $20,000 $39,999 $59,999
[W]St.Paul Opportunities livelihood - lifestyle - recreation housing - passive mixed/use - agriculture/hydroponics - farmers market aquaculture/aquaponics - fish market - sailing - kay surfing - kayak/canoeing - bathing waters - swimming - fishing + consumables - mountain biking - green pathways - in-line skating - jogging - walking - sun bathing - park ecological connectivity - ice skating - curling - recreational hockey - snow mobile - dog sledding - thermal baths • • •
transforming an underutilized river’s edge as a [W]St.Paul neighborhood amenity public park with passive mixed uses and recreational opportunities reconfiguring existing and proposed corridors/pathways to develop a unified and distinctive promenade extending [W]St.Paul towards its riverfront.
The improvements of the proposed river’s edge corridor into a series of new public production/recreational spaces, it is emphasized to depict [W]St.Paul’s huge opportunity to reorient its connection to the river through the proposed revitalization of the industrial lots into an enhanced open space with recreational, educational, and food production amenities for nearby neighborhoods. This could be the beginning of a framework development along [W]St.Paul’s riverfront networked with their existing park and potential existing underutilized industrial lots. The master plan introduces an integrated set of improvements to the Irving neighborhood community with a set of recreation lots, cultural spaces, and proposed structures that will offer seasonal food
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housing passive mixed-use agriculture/ farming farmers market aquaculture fish market sailing kay surfing kayak/ canoeing bathing waters swimming fishing + consumables mountain biking green pathways in-line skating jogging walking sun bathing park ecological connectivity ice skating curling recreational hockey snow mobile dog sledding thermal baths
Intended program relationships: strong average weak
DeFragmented [W]St.Paul [ - ] = [ + ] Voids Connected
processing and production and the other passive mixed use amenities that will feed from the farming goods being produced at the site. The complex also provides new means of access to the water and creates new set of street connections extending existing vehicular and pedestrian surfaces toward the river’s edge. High priority is the creation of an unsurpassed permeability between the riverfront back to the community through improved connections, including the future LRT Central corridor implementation, and existing/proposed trail system with needed east-west/ northsouth deviations to connect to the potential nodes of open space developments for [W]St.Paul. For example, green streets, hill climb assist routes, pedestrian bridges and other topographical systems that would help to establish relationships with the existing upland environments in Saint Paul. Integrating a food agenda in [W]St.Paul urban riverfront park can include: Fishing piers, wharfs, wet markets, waterfront restaurants, food processing, charters, neighborhood mix-used retail, marine retail, and entertainment/ local recreational activities to lure all ages group within the community. Recreational + Productive Scapes Program • • • • • • •
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Production: Community gardens (Agriculture/Aquaculture), Green houses (Hydroponics/Aquaponics), Park & Plazas. Provides opportunities for shared food production by residents and local retailers Processing: Restaurants and cafes, Community kitchens, Bakeries & Deli’s Distribution: vehicular-bicycles-walking, storage facilities, Wholesale distribution and marketing. Local farm trucks from grows at the market help connect the site to food harvesting and retailing activity by providing a visual link Retail: Seasonal Farmers market, local vendors, Neighborhood grocer. Local fresh food and seafood Consumption + Celebration: vendors near places to sit and eat, food festival, and the potential of fusing recreational activities with the community Water recovery: Municipal collection, composting, and rainwater collection Education: schools, community gardens, grocers-chefs-restaurants. A weekend
farmer’s market is a place the opens the possibility to learn about food, nutrition programs for kids and adults, and enhances the vision for a better living/ lifestyle. Seasonal Productivity for [W]St.Paulites Year-round production More efficient use of limited land base (one indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres, with some crops like strawberries generating as much in one indoor acre as 30 outdoor acres) source: cornellcea.com/about_CEA.htm. No weather-related crop failures Dramatic reduction in fossil fuel costs due to tractors, plowing, transportation, chemical fertilizers, etc. Organic premium due to easier pest control Recycling water means extremely low water use (5% of outdoor crop water demand) Ability to include on-site processing (part of Phase 3), so there is no agricultural runoff Proximity to employees and markets Aquaculture Pier Scape The aquaculture pier scape envisions a new culture of aquatic food production for [W]St.Paul. A recreational experimental production park typology is created through the premises of these functions: food production, data collection, environmental monitoring and restoration, water conservation, and the public park system. A pool nurseries and poly-culture production gardens are proposed to enrich the public and provide educational methods to be follow as potential productive models along the existing and proposed river’s edge greenway corridor. They also provide the needed space for research to develop healthy, economically viable food production as a new means of livelihood to the needed community. This new kind of public space acts as an interface to mediate the sometimes complementary, but often conflicting points of view among private industry, public interest groups, community members, researchers, tourism, and government in relation to aquatic food production. Benefits Creates identity for the project and the community Enhances marketing potential for the community Creates civic space for community interaction Opportunities for education programs Provides fresh and healthy food locally 7
DeFragmented [W]St.Paul [ - ] = [ + ] Voids Connected
Provides opportunities for education Adds jobs and commercial activity Adds economic activity on open space Adds taxable economic activity on open spaces Requires relatively few municipal services Enhances status on property values outside the development Provides an alternative development mode for the future Implementation Phasing 1. - Community Agriculture/Aquaculture (Part of this scope) 2. - Residential Development 3. - Mixed-Use Riverfront Riverfront Mixed-Used Processing and distribution
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Residential
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Mis St. Paul Downtown
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1 2 river’s edge green corridor tentative connections river’s banks corrosings
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