River Talk - The Next Generation of Parks 4: Turenscape

From River Talk:

The Turenscape team, headed by a firm in Beijing, presented the "Resilient River" plan. I will remind you that I am addressing these plans alphabetically by lead team; no slight is intended by discussing this proposal last.

Resilience is a concept particularly apt in discussions of urban rivers. Most urban systems have a degree of resilience, although many could be more so, or could have their resilience in more diverse spheres. Resilience is an important concept in ecological and sustainability thinking; bringing those discussions to bear in planning and design of the urban river is an idea whose time has come.

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TreeHugger - Finalists Present Their Projects in Competition to Redesign Minneapolis' Riverfront

From TreeHugger.com:

Minneapolis, already named the country's most bike-friendly city, is about to get quite a makeover. In September, the city's Park and Recreation Board announced a design competition to create a new image of the Upper Mississippi Riverfront. In November, four finalists out of a pool of 55 were announced, each presenting a design for the 220 acres of parkland, neighborhoods and business districts on both sides of a 5.4 mile stretch of the river, from the Stone Arch Bridge in downtown Minneapolis to northern edge of the city.

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River Talk - The Next Generation of Parks 3: Tom Leader Studio

From River Talk:

The third Minneapolis Riverfront Design proposal, headed by Tom Leader Studio in Berkeley, opens "Riverfirst is inspired from the Dakota concept of B'dote, a sacred joining of waters."

Folks, I could stop right there and be mightily impressed.  Like the first sentence of Norman MacLean's A River Runs Through It, "In my family, there was no clear distinction between religion and fly-fishing," the expression is just about perfect.

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Outdoor StreamLab Construction at SAFL

Overhead time lapse images of the construction of the Outdoor StreamLab at Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory.

Researching Shoreland Plants and Climate Change

U of M Extension water quality experts, led by Barb Liukkonen, are conducting research at the University's St. Anthony Falls Laboratory on the Mississippi River.

River Talk - The Next Generation of Parks 2: Stoss Landscape Urbanism

From River Talk:

Titled "Streamlines," this proposal focuses on getting people to the river for direct encounters.  Bringing the streams of the river into the streams of the city, this proposal employs highly dynamic metaphors and imagery.

I have to say that the recognition that the river is in fact many rivers, that the city is many cities, is welcome.  Too often it seems that people plan and design for a monolithic hypothetical "city" that flattens out the rich, and growing, diversity of the biological and human systems that make up this place.

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River Talk - The Next Generation of Parks 1: Ken Smith Studio

From River Talk:

The Ken Smith Studio team, originating primarily from New York City, titled its proposal "City of the River."  The team argues that the past decades of activity and investment have made Minneapolis, long known as the "City of Lakes," the "City of the River.

Many particular strategies are proposed to enact the City of the River scheme.  The Mississippi Greenway would complete the park system's famed Grand Rounds.They focus on energizing transportation connections, particularly by adding bike lanes to existing railroad bridges and strengthening transportation links to new amenities and destinations along the river.

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