creating communal education around unused industrial sites

 

  When trying to think about alternative communal gathering points and planning for a new communal engagement, I found it interesting to look at policy associated with brownfield contaminate sites. Specifically areas that have stringent rules preventing the redevelopment and cleaning of the areas from the jump as a safety measure. We have many communities in this country that are located near and around these sites, and it is imperative that we look at ways that they can become celebrated moments to gather communities around, rather than abandoning them to become a massive untouchable plot of land that is a fenced off blight to the land. The land is there and it has been contaminated, yes, but there are new ideologies and strategies for restoring the areas every day, and i wonder how to get communities and policymakers to, instead of red taping the area for developments, look to designers and specialists on how to enact policy that makes it easier for those who can produce inventive solutions for the areas to more easily work with and rehabilitate the site for the betterment of the local environment, culture, and wildlife habitats. The solutions that have been seen in areas like Portland with gasworks park should be celebrated and considered as means to reclaim and use these baron lands across all municipalities. I especially think that this point, looking at gasworks park, is only valid when not using it to deceive the public into thinking that the grounds were always safe. the communities around these parks know the site was a contaminated site. they were probably told from childhood to not go near there, but they may not know why. one of the worst things community planners can allow in response to planning redevelopment of these sites is a “design that covers up" brownfields. 

   I do not think that this should be permissible when designing over these landscapes, as they are incredible education moments for communities. seeing how bad it can be, and how to prevent policy that allows businesses and corporations to lay waste to viable land in the first place should be at the forefront of designers minds when coming up with these solutions. Of course, seeing how well the land can be rehabilitated through much effort is an incredible opportunity for visitors to see potential of these sites that have traditionally been framed with an "out of site out of mind" approach is important, but equally important is the aforementioned education about how we should be looking to the source on how to reduce the creations of brownfields. I think that there should be a very different language in this sort of communal park than one that doesn't have this sort of history. One text that i looked at  mentions a look at "chaotic materials and design to juxtapose the ideals of the bourgeois idea of the tranquil garden" is important at the onset of these revitalization projects in order to assure that we are not validating the creation of these brownfields with an approach of "its okay, we can just put a pretty park over it in 30 years" after the corporation is finished profiting off of the destruction of our landscapes. 

We need these parks to call out how bad the practices that led to brownfield creation is in order to solve the problem upstream moving forward. These can be a teaching moment for communities about how they are being taken for a ride. they are also a great place to showcase restorative measures like living machines that we have discussed at length in our community planning seminar. We can recycle and reuse these landscapes, but education of the creation of them is ever important for a more sustainable and equitable future.

Links for consideration

https://camoinassociates.com/resources/10-realistic-ways-to-breathe-new-life-into-brownfield-sites/

https://www.routledge.com/Reclaiming-Brownfields-A-Comparative-Analysis-of-Adaptive-Reuse-of-Contaminated/Reese-Hula/p/book/9781138267060