The intent of the project is to enhance the city of Eugene’s relationship to the Willamette River by developing a citywide river narrative that reinforces regional identity and unifies city neighborhoods along a central green corridor, which links the Spencer Butte Ridgeline Trail north to the Willamette River.
The project site was reviewed from a variety of scales and perspectives. I began by walking the full 5-mile pathway and recording observed points of boundary and division. Additionally, I recorded all of the possible seating locations along the path and plotted them against the functional districts of the city. A few initial observations were made:
1. The functional districts of the city closely correlate to the cultural districts.
2. Amazon Park serves as a green buffer between the residential corridor on the south end of the city and the commercial district on the north.
3. There are few free public-seating areas within the commercial district and significant spatial inconsistencies for seating south of Amazon Park.
I then utilized these observations to delineate targets for strategic enhancement toward the goal of creating a safe and unified pedestrian corridor across the city. This map highlights those observations in correlation to the cities distinct cultural districts. I then generated a development framework to serve as an evaluative criteria for the design:
1. Strengthen pedestrian connections between city neighborhoods and create pedestrian-friendly streets that provide a safe and active environment.
2. Preserve and promote healthy ecological functioning by reintroducing native vegetation along a central green corridor on Pearl Street.
3. Maintain integrity of cultural history and promote relationship to community arts.
I then began applying the framework to the site at multiple scales as a means to iterate design possibilities while maintaining the integration of district-wide and site specific enhancements. At this phase, I was focused on developing possibilities for district-wide development within the Pearl district, which is the key point of detachment in the ridge-to-river path system. I outlined specific improvements that could be made to the district in accordance to the framework criteria and conducted an ethnographic analysis of pedestrian users to further direct site-specific design.
In accordance with the third principle of the framework plan, I integrated the site with community arts by developing its linkage with First-Friday Art Walks.
From the ethnographic research I conducted I found that cyclists were frequently imperiling public safety by engaging in a dangerous and illegal practice of biking north against the flow of the south-only running traffic. This caused them to ride on pedestrian-only sidewalks through a busy commercial area, thereby endangering pedestrian safety. This led me to a site-specific design that focused on improving pedestrian safety by altering the street from a one-way flow that of a bi-directional boulevard. Traffic speeds are kept safe by narrowing lanes and emphasizing pedestrian rights-of-way. Pedestrian walkways are widened and separated from bicycle lanes and public art is integrated into the space. Health is improved by treating water-runoff in a bioswale located in the center median of the boulevard prior to its re-entry into the river system.
The site is beautified by emphasizing the colors of vegetation found natively in the Willamette Valley.
Site alterations were then evaluated by their correlation to the framework plan to evaluate and emphasize the consitency of the vision, Listed below each of the framework criteria are the instituted changes I made to meet those criteria.
