Durham colon

Guerrilla Greenways Creating new equity and increasing pedestrian access in through the takeover of single-use infrastructure network and the potential outcomes of installation Durham, North Carolina | Jaquasha Colon, SASLA | Graduate Faculty Advisor: Kofi Boone, Carla Delcambre North Carolina State University | College of Design

Project Statement The Guerrilla Greenway project is one that seeks to solve the problems of every troubled and at-risk low-income neighborhood in America; it attempts to break cycles of crime, illness, poverty, abuse, and gentrification, all enormous tasks individually. Through the hostile takeover of utility infrastructure, we can provide outdoor access and amenities to the communities that need it. By ensuring all communities have readily available access to nature and recreation, we are fulfilling a basic human necessity. I believe my project is a new take on an arduous task and I hope that this idea of equity by any means necessary in one worthy of discussion and action.

Project Narrative Goals & Objectives

My goals for my research were the following: • To identify and map any current pedestrian trails noted in vacant lots that cut through large blocks • To propose a network of paths that can be utilized by the existing community • To show how this has the potential in improve the quality of life of the residents • To illustrate how this network can evolve into a greenway system as the neighborhood changes due to upcoming development • And lastly, to illustrate how this network can extend beyond the neighborhood and connect it to a Durham county trail system My objectives for these goals were: • To ncrease activity on the streets and in the community • To encourage residents to participate, explore, and get to know incoming residents • To expose residents, and especially the youth, to nature on a more frequent basis in the hopes that they begin to do more to protect their local and global environment • To encourage more movement and exercise in the youth, adults, and the elderly and people living in poverty, particularly black people, have increased rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes • To encourage families to spend quality time together, which can completely improve the quality and outcome of their lives

Introduction

Durham, North Carolina is a city with a distinct divide in both race and class. While one of the best private universities in the South sits west of downtown, surrounded by beautiful Victorian homes and private golf clubs, an historic African American neighborhood just east of downtown is struggling to hold its ground against new development. Old East Durham has its history rooted in tobacco and cotton production, like much of North Carolina.

Due to years of redlining, disinvestment, and the construction of the Durham Freeway cutting it off from the rest of historic black Durham, the community has shifted from a thriving and successful neighborhood to having one of the highest crime rates in the state.

Before identifying an area of interest to study, I first began collecting data on the neighborhood. The area of my focus lies in three separate census tracts, so data was collected and extrapolated by weighing date against each tract’s percentage of the total population. Data was collect the 2014 census records on the American

FactFinder website.

Currently, the neighborhood is predominately renter occupied and low income. Half of the residents spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs, and just over 40% of households are food stamp recipient’s ad below the poverty level. While the neighborhood has been historically black, it also overlaps with a concentrated Hispanic/Latino community, resulting in around 60% of the residents identifying as Black and Non-Hispanic or Latino and 27% of residents identifying as Hispanic or Latino. Over 30% of the total population is under the age of 17 and about 8% is over the age of 65. 36.9% of the population is employed and of that working population, 16.9% of workers do not have access to a car for commuting, and over 20% of commute by either taking public transit or other means of transportation, such as riding a bike, a motorcycle, or walking.

Method of Anaylsis and Approach

During the process of collecting and digesting census data and studying geospatial data in GIS I became interested in the connectivity of the neighborhood if residents walk for enjoyment or exercise.

I discovered a noticeable amount of vacant or unused lots and a pattern of sidewalks dissolving or abruptly ending. In addition to this, I noted that the street grid that is very clear on the west side of the neighborhood breaks down completely on the east side of the neighborhood.

On that easternmost side of the neighborhood that are large swathes of unused property with housing or utilities running along the sides or straight through.

There is also an odd pattern of property lines, which suggest that there is public right-of-way within these forested parcels.

It suggests that at one point streets were intended to cut through these large voids in the landscape and better connect the neighborhood.

On a driving tour through the neighborhood, I searched for any foot worn paths I could distinguish.

Unfortunately, I only noticed one, which was path from a backyard to the side street behind a residence. However, I did make note of other kinds of paths. I began seeking out and documenting the paths of water lines and electrical lines through this neighborhood. I found several clear cut paths along infrastructure networks that did lead through the middle of these large dividing wooded blocks. My focus switched from working on some hidden network of footpaths to utilizing these existing paths as a network. I considered looking into the legal discourse of encroaching on major utility lines, but I took the approach of a tactical urbanist.

The following diagrams, maps, and renderings are my exploration into the idea of a Guerrilla Greenway, which I am defining has the takeover of public or single use space by residents for new uses that better the community. This could work for any existing community with utility access running through, merely by using the already accessible space as a pedestrian network.

Graphic Phasing Diagrams Shown to convey the basic idea of the Guerrilla Greenway plan.

Phase o

Currently, the streets of the neighborhood are the only way to get around to areas of interest, and without continues sidewalks, it can be unsafe.

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

The first step to a more pedestrian connected neighborhood without a budget for new infrastructure is to find a new network on existing infrastructure. In a neighborhood this size, utility easements have paths with clear lines of sight to either side.

As development expands in the neighborhood, the new paths put the user directly where the new amenities are, and likewise, new residents can use this simple infrastructure.

With successful development bringing money and residents into the community, the local government will find identify what is working, and help fund lasting infrastructure and upkeep into fully realized greenway system.

Phase 0:

Multiple Voids and Limited Access

In the existing site plan, the vacant parcels of land are shown in white, to convey the size of these of vacant areas and the abundance of singular vacant lots throughout the neighborhood. Points of interest like churches, schools, parks, and businesses are called as well. The red outline indicates the Census Tract boundaries of the study area at large.

Phase 1:

Guerrilla Greenway

This map is showing the beginnings of a network. The green lines are indicative of the paths that are to be create to link residents to other parts of the neighborhood and to points of interest on foot or bicycle. The paths attempt to follow utility lines as well as lead out through vacant parcels of land.

The rendering above illustrates what the first greenway might look like has it pass along a water main easement. The photo to the right is the original image taken in the neighborhood.

Phase 2:

New Growth meets New Connections

As new development comes as the result of rezoning in Durham’s master plan, the Light Rail station stopping within a mile of the neighborhood, and state and US highways on either side of the site being widened or swinging closer, it is like that some of the vacant properties in areas close to these changes will be sold. New residents will appreciate health and environment conscious amenities like trail and greenway access, and developers will take to note of trailheads and take advantage of them. This will increase retail activity along Angier Avenue and provide more incentive to preserve the trails and the open space they reside in.

The rendering above illustrates the opportunity for small scale, contextually mindful retail to fill in the voids along Angier Avenue. The adaptation of existing structures will help to preserve the history of the neighborhood. The photo to the right is the original image taken in the neighborhood.

Phase 3:

Greenway System Integration

In this final map, the Greenway is fully realized and integrated into a city-wide pedestrian system.

The network will connect Old East Durham back to the city and promote health and access throughout all of the neighborhoods.

The above rendering illustrates a formal greenway along a powerline easement. Users are kept separate from the towers and are free to use the network to commute to school or work, to exercise, to play, to socialize, and to commune with nature. The photo to right is the original view of this easement taken in the neighborhood.

Conclusions

While this project did allow me to explore ideas I never considered, there is still so much detail left to work out on the physical feasibility of this specific site. However, I am more than confident that this tactical approach to landscape architecture could be successful at a site with the right physical conditions. There is potential that it could realistically meet some of the objectives I aimed for, and everything with potential and possibility begs to be tested.