You guys, this is hard. I have started to collect my ideas into a possible project area, and my ideas are swirling, but have yet to land anywhere concrete.
I want to focus on reconnecting an industrial or other “forgotten” landscape that occurs on an urban fringe to its community or surrounding communities. I have been intrigued by waterfronts and other edge conditions around cities my whole life, and these landscapes were a major catalyst in my finding landscape architecture and deciding to leave the field of marketing to go to graduate school.
Area of interest 1: Create inhabitable space through underused urban patches at multiple scales to rid neighborhoods of dangerous edge conditions.
Using transportation, open space and improvement of habitat I hope to to take underused industrial landscapes and make them habitable again, by both humans and non-humans. The most important thing for me in this specific area of interest is the opportunity to reconnect neighborhoods on a small and large scale. The image of an urban patchwork quilt comes to mind, and I picture patches in the quilt being not inhabitable. My goal would then be to make inhabitable space through these patches at multiple scales to rid neighborhoods of dangerous edge conditions. Solving the problem of a broken patchwork will improve person-to-person interaction on the site itself. It will also improve upon larger regional connections. While the human connections and interactions are what will drive the need for improvement, I foresee the non-human habitat creation driving much of the detail work. The idea of a completely new “green-belt” does not interest me as much as a connection woven into the urban fabric. Bits of habitat creation and beautification marking improved ways of traveling through a neighborhood or neighborhoods. Something that pops out for me is the idea that the remnants of industrial spaces are beautiful. Smoke stacks, chain link fence and rusted pipes can be a beautiful background for native plantings and usable parkland. This idea seems to pigeonhole me a bit into a space that must have ruins, but I think I can use my interest in this to portray the idea that an “ugly” unused space would really spark my interest.
Area of Interest 2: Create unique schoolyard improvements using unique materials and habitat creation.
A book, "Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation" sparked in me a project idea I think could combine many of the things I am interested in. It takes the idea of strengthening neighborhood, habitat and human connections to a smaller scale. Brainstorming the idea of ‘forgotten,’ I came up with an image in my head of crumbling buildings, cracked asphalt, and weed ecosystems. Reading about the Asphalt to Ecosystems book, I was drawn to the image of a paved schoolyard with nothing but a paved square and a chain link fence. From the case studies focused on in the book, I believe there could be an underserved population of schoolyards that need some love. Many schools around the nation in the past 20 years have cut funding and lost arts programs, music programs, and many creative outlets for elementary and middle school children. I am interested in doing some research to see if a possible inexpensive solution could lie in their schoolyards. Working with a handful of schools in an urban environment, I would like to create inexpensive ways to improve the outdoor education of children. The schoolyards could become a place to begin urban habitat creation, and become a link in strengthened neighborhood and regional connections. This would necessitate creative planting design, use of materials and easy to understand application procedures.