October 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 53

Early Wins
The Bridge Park team will commence design in fall 2018, but
BBAR has already managed to
leverage the vision for the park to
positively impact adjacent neighborhoods, particularly those east of
the river. In the long, often arduous
course of taking a new park from
vision to reality, small and affordable, often temporary programs or
installations can build community
goodwill, create positive buzz and
support fundraising goals, while
a full park build-out is underway.
These " early wins " not only enable
an organization to cultivate community support and build greater
trust between the public/private
partnership and residents, but they
also give the design team the opportunity to test out a variety of
programmatic ideas to fully gauge
community interest and reactions.
For the past four years, BBAR, in
partnership with the National Park
Service and the National Cherry
Blossom Festival, has held the annual Anacostia River Festival at the
site of the future Bridge Park. This
event has grown to more than 9,000
attendees who come to the river's
edge on its east bank to canoe/
kayak, bike, dance, eat or simply
enjoy the views along the river. The
festival partners with more than 60
local nonprofits, features works by
local artists and hosts educational
programs to engage attendees in
discussion about the river's ecology, conveying the transformative
potential for this project.
Other early efforts include the
Bridge Park Plots program, which

The Anacostia River Festival attracts
thousands of residents and visitors to
the river's edge each April.

has realized community gardens
with churches, nonprofits and
schools on both sides of the Anacostia River. Working with both the
Kresge Foundation and the University of the District of Columbia's College of Agriculture, Urban
Sustainability, and Environmental
Sciences, BBAR has built more
than 200 raised beds and three fruit
orchards. UDC has offered training courses for residents to earn an
urban agriculture certificate, has
launched a series of healthy cooking classes and has distributed
food. This is just one example of
how BBAR has leveraged the existing network of nonprofits and
community organizations to test
future park programs and gather
lessons learned.
Another exciting effort is the
work with local artists whose works
celebrate local culture and the river
itself. During the design competition, the priority arose to more
strongly connect the Bridge Park to
Historic Anacostia. In 2017, BBAR
installed a light installation under
the I-295 highway overpass - an
important achievement toward
that original goal. Local photographer Bruce McNeil, who has been
documenting the Anacostia River
and its environment for the past 23
years, is the first artist whose work
was celebrated. In addition, Tendani Mpulubusi-El, an east-of-theriver interdisciplinary artist, has
also worked to realize art installations created by local high school
students on both sides of the river.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF SALMORE

housing professionals. Recently,
board members named the trust the
Douglass Community Land Trust,
in honor of Frederick Douglass,
and hired its first executive director.

it takes ongoing collaboration on
the part of multiple stakeholders
to realize a contemporary park
that is responsive to both the place
and the community, while acting
as a catalyst for positive change. In
every community, no matter how
challenged environmentally, economically or socially, there are
people who, when brought together as a network, have the capacity
and passion to achieve successful public spaces that provide a
better quality of life for all. Park
planners, designers and managers must anticipate change that
may not have been planned for,
namely, displacement. There is
no single effort that can prevent
displacement, but multiple efforts
involving the community and public/private partnerships must be
enacted to meet this challenge,
one of today's most critical urban
issues.

Landscape as Catalyst
Through the example of the 11th
Street Bridge Park, it is clear that

Hallie Boyce, RLA, is a Partner at
OLIN (hboyce@theolinstudio.com).

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Parks & Recreation

October 2018 - Parks & Recreation

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