From Dividing to Connecting: The meshing of ecological functions and inclusive resources in public space design
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Date
2021-06-13
Authors
Ketterer, Hana
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Abstract
This project develops design strategies for landscape architects, planners, city
officials, and public space designers that improve the provision of public space
resources. Productive public landscapes that combine ecosystem services
with inclusive community resources have potential to create more socially and
ecologically resilient cities. Landscape architects have a major role in shaping
how public spaces integrate these networks. Currently, there are 135 public parks
in Eugene, Oregon. Yet they are used primarily for recreational purposes. With so
many people facing precarity, I propose that a reassessment of what public space
can provide for human and non-human users of a city. The design strategies I
propose include 1) building urban food forests as novel ecosystems, 2) re-imagining
urban waterways as a social and ecological artery, and 3) developing a cadence of
amenities. As a speculative design project, I applied these design strategies through
four facets of coexistence in public space: 1) spatial design and environment, 2)
operations and maintenance, 3) program and activation, and 4) rights, rules, and
accountability (Huttenhoff 2021). Using these design strategies, I developed a
network of productive urban public spaces along Amazon Creek in Eugene, Oregon.
Each space exemplifies a program of learning, harvesting, or sharing. Reframing
Amazon Creek as a social and ecological artery of the city allows for human and
non-human users to gain tangible resources such as food or habitat to support social
infrastructure and ecological function. The strategies are intended to be transferable
to projects and sites in a variety of locations that re-establish the potential of urban
public space.
Description
144 pages. Committee chair: Liska Chan
Keywords
urban ecology, connecting, Eugene, Oregon, Amazon Creek, Eugene, Oregon, inclusion, public space, park, food forest, amenity, waterway