Freeing Frankford Creek

Freeing Frankford Creek

Michelle Lee Delgado LARC 8353 Capstone Seminar Profs. Kate Benisek and Nathan Heavers

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Content Introduction

3-9

Site History, Inventory, & Analysis

10-22

Opportunities, Constraints, & Concept

23-27

Comprehensive Plan

28

A Change in Direction

29-31

Enlarged Site Plan

32-41

Restoration Plan

42-45

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Project Introduction The Tookany/Tacony-Frankford watershed is a land area that drains approximately 33 square miles to the Delaware Estuary across Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties. Frankford Creek’s industrial history dates back to the 1680s when German settlers built a grist mill on the creek. In 1892 Philadelphia and Frankford Railroad was constructed, serving industrial facilities along Frankford Creek and terminating at Frankford Avenue and Unity Street.

Located near where Tacony Creek merges with the Wingohocking sewer line, it becomes Frankford Creek, CSO T-14 is 24 feet at its widest, the largest combined sewer outfall in Philadelphia. It usually diverts wastewater to the city’s Northeast Water Pollution Control Plant. However, during heavy rain events, it goes directly into Frankford Creek, which ends up in the Delaware River. All Tookany-Tacony Frankford creek and its tributaries are designated warm water fisheries.

Frankford Creek has a history of industrial use, channelization for flood control, and impairment. The neighborhoods surrounding the creek have vastly transformed since settlers occupied the land in the early 17th century. Since 2010 the area along Frankford Creek has seen an increase in diversity with a predominately non-white, younger, and poorer population.

Landscape is the least expensive thing to manipulate to inform the greatest number of people.

Knowledge of sea-level rise, increased risks of flooding, and increasing temperatures reveal a crucial moment for humans to recognize how life sustains us on the planet we call Earth. Perhaps connecting all populations to "nature" - the other-than-human life forces that surround us and make our lives viable.

David Rubin, Principal of Land Collective

Industry

CSO Outfalls

Channelization

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Goals

This project and exploration envision a future for Frankford Creek and its surrounding neighbors that enhances ecological resiliencies for all beings.

» Utilize current scientific knowledge and interdisciplinary thought practices to help create an informed analysis and understanding of what a functional urban ecology can be. » Transforming the current environment to prevent others from experiencing future flood events. » Re-use the available resources to create new public spaces using communityinformed approaches with goals to avoid designing for capitalist urbanization to reduce the harm of gentrification and displacement of current residents. » Connect residents to Frankford Creek to emphasize a sense of pride in the Creek’s role in the social history of the neighborhoods adjacent to the Creek and its connection to the planetary garden.

Unidentified humans looking at tiny fish, talking about brackish water and the confluence of the Delaware River.

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Thesis-ish What is a functional urban ecology?

Matthew Gandy » Systems » Observation » Political Ecology » Ecological Pluriverse

Leonard Grosch & Constanze Petrow

Berlin!

» Learning from Park am Gleisdreieck: Design Strategies » Designing Parks as Lively Places: 12 Essentials “Park is not opposite of city but apart of urban culture”

say what?

What is ecology?

What is urban?

What is restoration?

What is public space?

What is city?

What is aesthetic?

What is environment?

What is landscape architecture?

I am influenced by what I read and how it encourages my thought process. When I started this thesis it originated around Matthew Gandy’s four vantage points for thinking about urban ecology.

Realizing the approach at Temple is predominately in the realm of system-based ecology and observational ecology. Gandy’s fascination with Berlin and the cities approach to urban ecology led me to the thoughtful folks behind Park am Gleisdreieck in Berlin, who claim that parks are not the opposite of city, but a part of urban culture and emphasize co-existence. Their design strategies and essential guidelines for creating lively spaces influenced this project. David Rubin, the founding principal of Land Collective, advocates the need for public spaces to cultivate conversation whether the land is privately-owned or publicly-owned. Open spaces provide opportunities for empathy. I want to embrace the ideas of nature-cultures proposed by Bruno Latour. I want to respect nonhuman lives but also understand and repair the unjust systems that humans have caused to other human and non-human beings. I want our public spaces to be built collectively, not in a top-down approach.

All this leads me to ask, what is landscape architecture as I have been taught here at Temple?

Personally atm I can only agree on the definitions of biotic and abiotic environments

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This exploration is driven by ideas of access, a means of approaching or entering a place. One of the difficulties of being in a program that focuses on "ecological restoration" was understanding the places that I have access to (via feet, bicycle or public transit) are not like the ones that I was shown in my carpool situations to certain land trusts or state parks. These places representing "ideal" ecologies are in very different environmental, economic, and social situations. Land and landscapes are inherently political.

Frankford Creek, 1932

Philadelphia Water Department Historical Collection

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Access: Discovering & Relating to the Study Site I chose a site that I had physical access to. Access resonated with me as I witnessed folks observing the concrete creek and speaking of its conditions. After sharing this project with my community, I realized I have friends with businesses, friends that have kids that go to school or own property in the area. It was no surprise to learn that they did not have access to the creek or its hidden history.

Informed by four Census tracts: 190, 294, 293, and part of 382, as a means to gather demographic and cultural information about the neighbors within a half mile buffer of Frankford Creek and inspired by flood protection regulation. The land-context is residential and industrial. Many of these residents live amongst legacies and artifacts from the early 19th and 20th century. There is approximately 1.07 miles of inaccessible, impaired stream. From Castor Ave to Frankford Ave, the creek drops about 11’ in elevation.

My commute to the southern extent of the study site

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Biological Access From an ecological standpoint, I realized that the creek does not have access to soil. The stream is not able to cultivate a hyporheic zone, the stream’s "gut" that regulates its biological and chemical processes.

FEMA provides flood maps as a tool for communities to know which areas have the highest risk of flooding. The FEMAdefined floodway extends beyond Frankford Creek’s concrete channeling and current perimeters in many areas along the creek.

Furthermore, the 1% annual chance of flood along Frankford Creek extends beyond the floodway, and there is an increase in flood risk along the Delaware River coast. Mitigating water upstream can assist in downstream flood prevention.

Within the past five years, Frankford Creek has reached flood stage crests many times, including one historic crest of 13.56’ in 2018. On April 1, 2023 the creek reached stage six flood stage.

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Access: Understanding Ideas of Nature

It’s a privilege and a blessing to have the opportunity to pay attention to the natural world no matter where you live.

Minier School Park, Cemetery Road, and Minier Cemetery, Illinois

Above is an aerial image of where I would ride my bicycle, go for walks (or runs during P.E.), or have a moment alone, a cemetery surrounded by corn and soy fields.

The image on the right is Merwin Nature Preserve. A preserve I would visit once I owned a car while in school at Illinois State University. This preserve changed my entire idea and understanding of landscape. What would this land have looked like if it was not an ocean of monocultures?

Merwin Nature Preserve, ParkLands Merwin Preserve, Illinois

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Historical Land Use: A Story of Settlement & Industry

1750 - N. Scull & G. Heap

1808 - John Hills

1895 - G.W. Bromley

The village became the Borough of Frankford in 1800.

It was a wealthy suburb of Philadelphia, with many mansions. In 1854 the Borough was absorbed into the City of Philadelphia.

Larger mills were built and an influx of European immigrants came to work them. Land developed into Victorian twin homes for the middles class and smaller row homes for mill workers. In 1894 the Frankford Reading Railroad opened.

1910 - G.W. Bromley

1942 - WPA

1962 - WPA

The Frankford Elevated Railway began construction in 1905 and was completed in 1922. Little Tacony Creek still appears on the map, not yet completely covered

by Torresdale Ave.

The neighborhood experiences increased pollution in the creek and frequent flooding. Requests to the WPA for funding to restore the creek and to complete a proposed sewage disposal and treatment system were denied.

Between 1947–1956 the Army Corps of Engineers built the Frankford Creek diversion channel for flood control.

Many areas previously defined as vacant find uses as parks, homes, or other assets.

Post-contact, the land was mainly of agricultural use

by Swedish farmers. German settlers established a small village and began mill operations. An existing Lenape trail became the King’s Highway in 1683.

2022 - PASDA Aerial

Today the area is full of vacant buildings and lots, historical markers have not been well preserved,and spontaneous vegetation is plenty.

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1927. Hagley ID, J. Victor Dallin Aerial Survey collection (Accession 1970.200), Audiovisual Collections and Digital Initiatives Department, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 19807

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An Incomplete Timeline

To create a timeline that properly reflects all the lived experiences of people, significant structural, social, and spatial changes and changes in non-human would require many professionals and resources.

1950

1882 Initial government plans to take out bends in the creek German settlers founded Frankford along the Frankford Creek

WPA designs to take the "U" out of Juniata Park

Juniata Park, created from the estate of Comegys Paul originally 30.1 acres bounded by Frankford Creek and Cayuga, L & I Streets

1854 Frankford incorporated into the City of Philadelphia

Channelization begins in May and is roughly completed in October

1932

1888

1684

1947

Knappen Engineering Co. of New York City was hired by the City to develop a comprehensive flood control plan for Frankford Creek

1897 Plans to intercept Little Tacony Creek into a sewer system

Bulletin, May 18, 1949

1956 Diversion channel completed Frankford Creek diverted from its original mouth in Bridesburg

1917 President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act This law gave Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship

Flood Control - Frankford Creek - Looking Upstream from South end of Bromley Mills. 1950. DOR Archives.

Source: 400 Years of Inequality project

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Contemporary Land Use

Site zoning intersecting with FEMA flood information.

Residential housing potentially impacted by floodway and 100-year flood storms.

Commercial buildings are scant within the project site, primarily located along the MFL - public rail transit. The industrial history developed in this neighborhood is still visible in today’s zoning practices, especially in map form. These sites are mostly vacant and ruin-esque when visible to the human eye.

Many residents live near Frankford Creek but need access to a variation of the creek that reaches human perceptions of idyllic nature. A park and two playgrounds exist within walking distance of the creek.

Choreographed accessibility coordinated between the existing open spaces can help create a better sense of place.

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Social / Cultural Context Percent of people living in poverty since 2000 Fluctuating degrees of poverty over ten plus years are an indication of an unstable economy. For over ten years, Census Tract 294 has the most consistent poverty rating averaging at 45% since 2000.

Estimated percent of all people that are living in poverty as of 2017-2021.

Many post industrial cities experience high rates of poverty. Disinvested communities are often prime hot spots for new migrants and immigrants who are escaping a worse quality of life than the one they are entering.

On average,

43%

The current U.S. poverty rate in 2021 was

of residents in these tracts currently live in poverty

11.6% 1000 ft

Transit Data © Thunderforest | © MapTiler © OpenStreetMap contributors

Demographic Shifts: International and Racial Co-Existence

In tract 190 Latin American community Asian community

There is a 52% of people from DR in tract 293 over the past ten years

Over the past ten years...

The white population in all tracts The Puerto Rican population in all tracts All tracts in the black population In tract 294 European community Asian (Chinese) community

The ethnic and racial diversity of these communities means perceptions of nature will be varied.

Community involvement is key for informing what designs and programs are the most appropriate nature-cultures.

TLDR: This area includes predominantly residents of Latin America or decent, likely to speak Spanish and a good chance of identifying as Puerto Rican or Dominican.

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Landscape Character The character of the area is one that some might call "blight."

Industrial legacies, abandoned places, car dealerships or car repair facilities, and illegal dumping.

View downstream from Castor Ave bridge.

Existing conditions of Womrath Park.

Illegal dumping at Kensington Ave and Frankford Creek.

Closed used car dealer location on Worrell St.

Vacant store, former Walgreen’s, west side of Frankford Creek.

Grassy median in between Frankford Creek and East Hunting Park Ave.

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Plant Life Adventive plants grow abundantly in abandoned tree pits and industrial lots. Others grow through the cracks of concrete, and Norway Maples adorn the creek.

Cichorium intybus on Castor Ave bridge

Clematis terniflora climbing a fence post

Lawn at Womrath Park

Native plant Symphyotrichum pilosum growing in the cracks of concrete

Acer platanoides, platanoides, eastern creekside

Tree pit plant community: Rumex crispus, Chenopodium album, Plantago lanceolata, Setaria viridis, and Artemisia vulgaris

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Adams Avenue

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Adams Avenue

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PWD Lot near Leiper Street and the Culvert

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During one of my site visits, I heard Bad Bunny, reggaeton, and salsa. I saw kids chasing each other on scooters, cats running around, and basketball played on an abandoned lot. Trampolines in small places, vernacular landscapes that included a fire pit and swings along the creek, although it’s not their property.

Vernacular landscape architectures behind the houses on Leiper Street facing the creek.

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Creek Overlooks

Frankford Ave Bridge

Torresdale Ave Bridge

Kensington Ave Bridge

E Wingohocking St Bridge

Castor Ave Bridge

Built in 1903, this bridge is deemed in poor condition from USDOT. The estimated cost of improvement is $1,170,000.

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Vacant Opportunities There are many vacant lands and buildings along the creek and the surrounding neighborhood. Some of these are owned by government agencies or local nonprofits.

Industrial uses along the creek contribute to point source pollution. These are existing opportunities to help facilitate creek rehabilitation in phases when needing to convince private landowners to join the movement for flood protection and stream restoration.

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Opportunity Zones Zone 1 » Develop vacant lands and property into public space areas » Connect to the existing Juniata Park and future pedestrian corridor » Remove concrete channel and rehabilitate the floodplain

Zone 2 » Frankford Creek conduit » Develop vacant lands into public space areas » Connect with pedestrian corridor

Zone 3 » Remove concrete channel and rehabilitate the floodplain » Develop a wetland or floodplain park » Connect with pedestrian corridor

Challenges » Private property ownership » Creek channelization » Poor neighborhood context (could result with gentrification) » Lack of city funding » Buildings in the floodway - need to remove infrastructure » Potential hazardous waste sites

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Concept Designs The unifying theme amongst the concepts is to undo what the Army Corps of Engineers did years ago and remove the concrete channel and create new amenities.

» Traces historic stream into the neighborhood and identifies nodes of neighborhood interaction based on vacant properties and historical assets.

Historical Renaissance

Floodplain Park

» The southern reach as a "transformative project" to potentially become a public open space, of educational use, or something else determined by local citizens. » Changes to the creek include removing the concrete bottoms to create topographically variation and potential restore its relationship to the groundwater.

» Expand and rehabilitate the floodplain primarily on the north side of the creek, remove all concrete.

Restoring Life

» Rehabilitate the floodplain on both sides of the creek.

» Create a trail path that connects the Frankford Creek corridor to Juniata Park.

» Turn industrial zoned areas and vacant areas into green open spaces along the creek.

» Reuse vacant infrastructure to create a community amenity.

» Expand the tree canopy along the public transit corridor.

» Create a floodplain park in the southern reach, where flood risk is of great concern and multiple streams and creeks were buried.

» Create interest and connections on both sides of the creek.

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Case Studies for the Creek Kinnickinnic River Flood Management

Sausal Creek Restoration in Dimond Park

Location: Milwaukee, WI

Location: Oakland, California Contract Value: $3.2M

Overall, the Kinnickinnic River Watershed Flood Management Plan has removed 10,400 feet of concrete amongst multiple projects.

Engineering Firm: D-Line Constructors Inc.

More than 8 miles of waterways are either concrete lined or enclosed in culverts— tunnels that route a stream under roadways, railroad tracks, parking lots, structures, and parklands. These create a dangerous flow velocity of greater than 20-feet per second—faster than white water rapids—which have led to numerous drowning or near-drowning incidents throughout the years.

Purpose of this project was to restore 1,000LF of existing creek channel that was previously partially buried in an underground culvert. This project was the winner of 2016 American Public Works Association (APWA) Environmental Restoration project of the year.

Restoring the natural flow of streams improves water quality. Water flowing through rock-lined streams restores natural turbulence, which was nearly eliminated by concrete. The churning motion aerates the water, which increases vital dissolved oxygen levels and slows the water flow. The turbulence and aeration allow organic materials and pollutants an opportunity to break down rather than being quickly transported downstream and deposited in estuaries, which contributes to "dead zones" at the river’s end.

Scope of work included: removing 180LF of concrete culvert, clearing and grubbing, installation of a dam and dewatering system capable of handling 10 cubic feet per second of creek flow, mass excavation and off-haul of over 4,000CY of soil, importing and mixing over 3,500TNS of boulders for new creek bed, native landscape restoration, construction of a new restroom building, and site concrete. Between August 17, 2015 and October 15, 2015, over 2/3rds of the contract value was completed. The work took place along the property lines of 13 homeowners.

A side by side comparison of the Kinnickinnic River in Northwest Wisconsin, before and after stream restoration efforts CivilGEO

D-Line Constructors Inc.

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Case Studies for the Public Grand Junction Park

Park am Gleisdreieck

Location: Westfield, Indiana

Location: Berlin, Germany

Dates: 2022

Dates: 2006-2014

Size: 7.8 acre

Size: 32 ha / ~80 acres

Cost: $35,000,000.00

Cost: 9 million Euro / $16,557,600.00 USD

Design Firm: DAVID RUBIN Land Collective

Design Firm: Atelier Loidl

Addresses climate change flood abatement and riparian corridor reparation.

Initiated by citizens and built-in dialogue with them between 2007 and 2014.

A modern urban location has been created focusing on the basic essentials of landscape architecture. Without any decoration, a location is formed, which keeps it as simple as possible but uses fine details, sensual materials, and vegetation.

Experiences of nature included selective preservation of existing wild vegetation.

Two weeks following DAVID RUBIN Land Collective’s selection to design the city’s new 7.8-acre downtown park, a 500-year storm event flooded the burgeoning hamlet.

What was to be a civic park for citizens to gather suddenly required a stormwater infrastructure solution. In response to the challenge, Land Collective curated a collaboration that includes architecture firm, HWKN, Toronto-based strategic design studio, BMD (Bruce Mau Design), RATIO Architects, FlatLand Resources, and VS Engineering.

DAVID RUBIN Land Collective

"We are pleased that many people still making excellent use of the park and use it in their own individual way." - Atelier Loidl

Julien Lanoo and Leonard Grosch

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Comprehensive Plan A Vision for Frankford Creek The floodplain has been rehabilitated to the regulated floodway. Frankford Creek has been engineered to have more bends to slow the flow of water and increase oxygen.

Buildings in the floodway have been removed, and ideally the material has been reused either on site or for another project. A few buildings were only partially demolished to act as flood walls in the case of a 100year storm event.

Existing parks are enhanced through a greener corridor for more visibility and access. Little Tacony Creek has been daylighted where it meets Frankford Creek to create a floodplain park and bring awareness to the hidden streams of Philadelphia.

1 2 3

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5

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Proposed 1. Community-determined building (Suggested use: Public Service Office) 2. City-owned public open space 3. Street trees added along new trail 4. Expand floodplain storage and create a flood wall with re-used infrastructure (Adams Ave) 5. Leiper Street Pocket Park (co-design with local residents and community) 6. Community-determined building (Suggested use: Community Center) 7. Leiper Street Cover Park 8. Re-used infrastructure flood wall (Womrath Park)* 9. Worrell Street Look Out 10. Street trees added along public transit routes 11. Daylighted Little Tacony Creek* 12. Frankford Floodplain Park*

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8 9 10 11 12

*Acquire targeted properties in the floodplain 28

A Change in Direction Leiper Street Culvert In my initial thinking about opportunities and constraints, I divided the area along the creek into three different zones. I thought my future site enlargement would be in Zone 1 (the northern reach) or Zone 3 (the southern reach). The design process led me to investigate the Leiper Street Culvert.

The major change from the comprehensive plan to my enlargement design is nixing the program for "Leiper Street Pocket Park." I was going to leave a 500’ foot culvert covering the creek to turn into a cover park per the city’s planning documents, instead I decided to free the creek.

Leiper Street Creek Chutes

Philadelphia Water Department Historical Collection

Frankford Creek Greenway Feasibility Study, 2014

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The Concept is Simple... Remove the Concrete!

Reducing impervious areas to more naturalized states will significantly improve the urban ecological processes including the wellbeing of the neighbors in the area. Land use contributing to point source pollution of the Delaware River will be minimized and replaced through nature’s filtration processes. A section of the culvert will be left in place to be used as a bridge, existing concrete and asphalt could be carefully carved out to create new paths.

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The Concept is Simple... Government Owned Land & Vacancies (for the People!)

Three government-owned lands sit vacant. These areas are opportunity sites for co-design and co-creation with local citizens. The city parcel is 81.4% impervious area and the existing 1-story block building is approximately 19,000 square feet and is located on a 2.46 acre lot, a Former Acme Supermarket.

Area in blue is included in Philly’s Combined Sewer System Service Area

Non-governmental owned parcels are either industrial, medical, or automobile and directly contribute to pollution to Frankford Creek since they are not located in Philly’s combined sewer system service area.

City of Philadelphia

PWD

PennDOT

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Enlargement Site Plan Community determined building!

Possible home for TTFW or the Frankford Historical Society or a community meeting space or resources hub!

Community determined land!

Drawn with an orchard, could provide community gardens, outdoor kitchen, adult fitness center, domino tables, etc, Cover bridge outlook A moment to reflect on the creek Cover bridge ruderal forest A moment to reflect nature’s processes

Lil bioswale You know PWD is going to be involved

Neighborhood entrance Who doesn’t love a meadow with flowers, bees, and birds?

The ruins The space for autonomy, creativity, congregation, and reflection

The concrete was removed That’s a pretty big deal right?

Hyporheic zone here we come!

Rehabilitated floodplain wetland and forest A moment to reflect nature’s processes but also FLOOD PROTECTION!

Community determined land!

Could provide community gardens, outdoor kitchen, adult fitness center, domino tables, a public bathroom etc,

Playground Maybe a Rebuild thing, why not - it’s a need Basketball court The real deal

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Existing / Proposed

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Current & Speculative Future

Current

Current

Speculative future: expanded floodplain view from bridge

Speculative future: the ruins

While these beautiful and super realistic renderings may guide us into the future, I want to leave room for process and chance.

Working on the job, going with the flow, and making aesthetic decisions as they come.

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Enlargement Site Plan: Structural Changes North of the existing "bridge" or culvert the floodplain expands, by approx. 125’. This new floodplain storage will offset the downstream flooding issues. The removal of 430’ of concrete allows for new natural phenomena to occur where it hasn’t in decades. An opportunity to expose a buried tributary is on the southern end of the site.

A

A

existing grade

B

Floodplain expanded by 125’ !!

B

existing grade

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Grading Plan 25

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25 10

10

7

25

10

25

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20

10

5 25

10

7

30

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5 25

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Construction Details: Slope Treatments

DNREC Erosion and Sediment Control Handbook Details 2019

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A Speculative Future: Guiding Ideas Leave room for process and chance » Refuse a top-down approach, let the people that occupy the area to make decisions for themselves, encourage co-design and collaboration » When removing concrete and regrading the floodplain - rocks, boulders, earth works may be excavated from the earth - this will shape what is possible in what we experience in the landscape » Recycle / reuse materials - reuse as much material from the deconstruction for the reconstruction of space Material examples: brick, concrete, glass, trees removed from the site

Umnutzung Alter Flugplatz Maurice Rose Airfield Frankfurt am Main (Germany), 2004

Umnutzung Alter Flugplatz Maurice Rose Airfield Frankfurt am Main (Germany), 2004

D.I.R.T. studio Urban Outfiltters Headquarters, 2005-2011

D.I.R.T. studio Urban Outfiltters Headquarters, 2005-2011

Umnutzung Alter Flugplatz Maurice Rose Airfield Frankfurt am Main (Germany), 2004

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Develop with Multiple Voices The city-owned building could become a new home to the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed nonprofit that stewards the waters and lands north of Castor Ave. Currently, their office is much more inaccessible, farther southeast in Global Dye Works. There is enough space to include a more self-governed community facet. I recall celebrating many childhood birthdays in a community building in university housing. It was an affordable (free), large space to have a birthday.

Designers can create hundreds of ways for the new use of public buildings and spaces. Yet, it’s more important that designers listen and develop with multiple voices and view people’s desires as resources.

There are two plots dedicated to community-determined land – this cannot be designed without extensive conversation, cooperation, and collaboration with those open to engaging.

INITIATE

INVITE

EDUCATE & CO-DESIGN

LISTEN

REVIEW TOGETHER

CREATE A LIVELY PLACE

A colorful re-purposed Acme store can become a community hub.

Community Partners

Collaboration is not an easy exercise, it requires patience and time. Community members should be compensated for their time in some form. Just like design, co-designing is iterative. Coming back together, making sure decisions are made together, and inviting as many voices as possible will help design a lively place for the community.

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Community Determined Spaces WTF?!

people coming together to collectively decide how the space is used, viewed, or experienced.

Examples of community orientated nature-cultures of Philadelphia

The “OG Spot” at Jefferson and Germantown Wissahickon Valley Park

Wissahickon has a similar industrial history to Frankford Creek, it’s a beloved park, accepted by the city and cared for through their funding along with the FOW and WRV, a guerrilla group dedicated to planting native species in the park and creating social events out of it.

I’ve had the honor to play dominoes with the elders at the "OG Spot" located in Olde Kensington. These folks have used and bopped around vacant land creating a space for elders to congregate, play, and share resources with one another.

These places have a very different feel, sentiment, and culture than spaces created to mimic other "luxury landscape architecture" works such as The Rail Park, that follows (or perhaps influenced) the footsteps of The Highline in NYC. Drawing by Frankie Cruz

Mascher and Dauphin

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Fulfilling the Promise of Nature The promise of nature in urban environments is essential. It can lead to mindfulness with respect to natural phenomena, and it is proven to be a human health benefit.

Ideas of nature and landscape vary based on the person perceiving the land. Providing various types and experience of nature will bring more people together.

The ruderal forest is considered, "nature of the fourth type" vegetation on fallow land. This is an ecosystem that has evolved naturally on urban industrial land.

Landscape architecture, park greening, ecological restoration -- functional greening -- are considered the "nature of the third type."

Community gardens provide "nature of the second type" areas used for agriculture also considered "socio-natures."

Socio-natures can increase biodiversity and social diversity.

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Restoration Plan What happens when you reconnect two elements that have been disconnected for 67 years?

Floodplain Wetland

Floodplain Forest

Ruderal Forest

Juncus effusus Scirpoides holoschoenus Salix nigra Solidago sempervirens Penstemon digitalis Typha angustifolia Carex radiata Asclepias incarnata

Cornus sericea Betula nigra Amelanchier arborea Acer Rubrum Chionanthus virginicus Parthenocissus quinquefolia Onoclea sensibilis Viburnum dentatum Quercus alba Cercis canadensis

Leave room for understanding life’s processes!

Observing and monitoring the ruderal forest left on a piece of the concrete culvert can help us understand what an urban ecology looks like when we leave it alone. We’ll begin to understand a contemporary understanding of succession and able to see how the cosmopolitan plant palette changes over time.

Monitoring Monitoring the plant community and stream bank over time is essential.

Geo-engineers can measure the speed of erosion on the new banks so that design changes can be changed if needed. Citizen science using iNaturalist, can get neighbors involved in caring for the land as well. The City Nature Challenge is a great time for urban ecologists to come together and explore the natural phenomenon in the city.

Ecologists can study birds, fish and frogs. Observing changes in their population over time.

Birds: chimney swifts, cardinals & red wing blackbirds Free tools!

Fish: american shad and eel Woody debris & snags Frogs: green frog and pickerel Live stake plantings Repurposed infrastructure

Tall building stacks from the former industrial building will be repurposed as chimney swifts.

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Restoration Construction Details

Foresite Associates Inc., 2017

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Restoration Construction Details

Foresite Associates Inc., 2017

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Conclusion & Closing Thoughts Restate Goals

This project and exploration envision a future for Frankford Creek and its surrounding neighbors that enhances ecological resiliencies for all beings.

» Utilize current scientific knowledge and interdisciplinary thought practices to help create an informed analysis and understanding of what a functional urban ecology can be. » Transform the current environment to prevent others from experiencing future flood events. » Re-use the available resources to create new public spaces using communityinformed approaches with goals to avoid designing for capitalist urbanization to reduce the harm of gentrification and displacement of current residents. » Connect residents to Frankford Creek to emphasize a sense of pride in the Creek’s role in the social history of the neighborhoods adjacent to the Creek and its connection to the planetary garden.

Closing Thoughts It is to imagine if you give yourself that grace. Imagination can ignite an encouraging moment and provide hope. Landscape architecture, or art & design, can give others a glimpse of that potential future. The dilemma with landscape architecture, especially as a student, is understanding challenges and needing to know how to make those beautiful futures possible.

Unidentified humans looking at tiny fish, talking about brackish water and the confluence of the Delaware River.

Tackling the idea of a site is a responsible idea. I applaud my cohort for handling each of their projects with care. With all my experience, I know I alone cannot design "the best" site, place, world, or experience for any being. This is my fear of committing to Landscape Architecture with capital letters. Graduate school is a moment in time.

For some, it’s something to add to their portfolio of knowledge; it’s a culture - a way of being understood in the world; for me – it was the idea of a new career, a paycheck aligned with art and science. What I know now that I did not know then is that this profession profoundly impacts life.

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Community determined building!

Possible home for TTFW or the Frankford Historical Society or a community meeting space or resources hub!

Community determined land!

Drawn with an orchard, could provide community gardens, outdoor kitchen, adult fitness center, domino tables, etc, Cover bridge outlook A moment to reflect on the creek Cover bridge ruderal forest A moment to reflect nature’s processes

Lil bioswale You know PWD is going to be involved

Neighborhood entrance Who doesn’t love a meadow with flowers, bees, and birds?

The ruins The space for autonomy, creativity, congregation, and reflection

The concrete was removed That’s a pretty big deal right?

Hyporheic zone here we come!

Rehabilitated floodplain wetland and forest A moment to reflect nature’s processes but also FLOOD PROTECTION!

Community determined land!

Could provide community gardens, outdoor kitchen, adult fitness center, domino tables, a public bathroom etc,

Playground Maybe a Rebuild thing, why not - it’s a need Basketball court The real deal

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Acknowledgments Special thanks to Julie Slavet and everyone involved with TTF Watershed, Adam Levine’s amazing research on Philly’s water history, Kathyrn Bartling’s wisdom and generosity, and the folks at Frankford Historical Society for doing what they do.

Thank you so much to my peers for their support, strength, and perseverance in this program. Thank you to all the Temple faculty.

I want to give one last shout out to my Creative Resilience Collective family for a journey guiding me through design justice thinking.

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Gandy, Matthew. Natura Urbana: Ecological Constellations in Urban Space. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2022.

———. Spontaneous Landscapes: Matthew Gandy’s ‘Natura Urbana,’ 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNYfcjnNBuk. “Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network.” Accessed May 9, 2023. http://www.philageohistory.org/rdic-images/view-image.cfm/HSF.D2F18.

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Hemphill, Jana. “The Significance of the Hyporheic Zone — Deschutes Land Trust,” July 23, 2021. https://www.deschuteslandtrust.org/news/blog/2021-blog-posts/hyporheic-zone.

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Philadelphia Water Department. “Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed.” U.S. Census Bureau, n.d. https://water.phila.gov/watersheds/tookany-tacony-frankford/.

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