SAT-A05 - In the Middle, on the Edge: Collective Visions for Contested Waterfront Communities

Saturday, November 20, 2021

11:00 AM – 12:15 PM CDT

Location: Music City Center, Room 103

Compliments of:

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW, AIA/non-HSW, AICP, FL, NY/HSW

Lead Speaker(s)

Gena Wirth, ASLA

Design Principal
SCAPE Landscape Architecture D.P.C.
New York, New York

Speaker(s)

Magdalena Ayed

Executive Director
The Harborkeepers
East Boston, Massachusetts
Andrea Parker, ASLA

Executive Director
Gowanus Canal Conservancy
Brooklyn, New York

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW, AIA/non-HSW, AICP, FL, NY/HSW

In the environmentally sensitive and rapidly changing waterfront neighborhoods of Gowanus and East Boston, communities are advocating for more resilient, accessible, and equitable waterfronts amid waves of real estate interest. Two non-profits and their design collaborators discuss grassroots efforts to shape open space policy and development on these contested sites.

Learning Outcomes:

Participants will learn about the opportunities and challenges that grassroots urban waterfront planning presents and how landscape architects can plug into these unique client structures.
Participants will learn how to encourage communities to become involved in the planning process as well as opportunities and challenges of virtual engagement.
Participants will learn about how planning frameworks adapt to the changing needs of their communities, particularly as communities members become involved in envisioning and zoning for new waterfront developments.
Participants will discuss new models for public-private partnerships (PPPs) between local nonprofits and developers and how these PPPs must balance input from multiple stakeholders to find working compromises.