Small convenings can spark outsized change. When thoughtfully designed, they reverberate beyond the room – shaping policy, informing design, and catalyzing systemic shifts, Over the past three years, the Waterfront Alliance has partnered with the Walton Family Foundation to bring WEDG® (Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines) to the banks of the Mississippi River with the goal of strengthening floodplain climate resilience and advancing system-level change for community waterfronts facing catastrophic flooding. This includes expanding WEDG throughout the Mississippi River basin by offering free and reduced cost training, supporting projects that pursue WEDG Verification, and developing community workshops.
One of the most rewarding aspects of this work has been the workshops themselves. Working closely with city staff and elected leaders, the Waterfront Alliance has developed workshops that focus on the unique challenges each community faces, creating tools that aid in local efforts. The outcome is the creation of hyper-local convenings that work through specific technical and policy goals that each community has identified for their waterfronts. Critical to this initiative is the understanding that what works in Cedar Rapids, Iowa might not yield the same outcomes in Memphis. For example, in Cedar Rapids, we developed a workshop with local officials that aimed to better understand how the city might use WEDG as a tool for redeveloping city owned land through meaningful public private partnerships along the banks of the Cedar River as the city continues to recover from historic flooding.
In 2008, the Cedar River crested at 31.12 feet, far surpassing the prior record flood levels reached in 1993 by more than ten feet. The result of this 500-year flood event that submerged 14% of the city was more than $5.4 billion in damages and the displacement of some 18,600 residents (Credit: City of Cedar Rapids). Now, the city is looking at ways it can redevelop the remaining city-owned land along the riverfront with an eye towards access, ecology, and resilience. Our workshop, which was co-led by City of Cedar Rapids Planner Haley Sevening, AICP and included partners from across city agencies and the development community, explored ways in which the city could achieve this, such as including specific language in future requests for proposals (RFPs). The workshop culminated in a walking tour of recent levee work in two historic Cedar Rapids neighborhoods – New Bohemia and Czech Village. As a Cedar Rapids native, it was exciting for me to meet the many passionate and brilliant people who are working to embed resilience in the riverfront. Evidence that they were succeeding was everywhere – from new mixed-use development in some of the neighborhoods that were hit hardest by flooding, to planning work being led by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) for a new waterfront park. It was encouraging for me to return home and see how local leaders are working to realize their vision for the future of Cedar Rapids.
Workshop participants in Cedar Rapids, Iowa focused on how best to redevelop city owned land along the Cedar River. The workshop concluded with a tour of recent levee work and a happy hour.
In my travel to cities big and small along the Mississippi River, I have seen this passion and commitment repeatedly. In the Quad Cities, local advocates like Kathy Wine with RiverAction promote awareness and the adoption of sustainable practices along the shared riverway while city leaders in East Moline and Davenport work to create new waterfront environments that meet the ecological, social, and economic needs of their communities.
The Waterfront Alliance joined RiverAction’s Upper Mississippi River Conference where joined Moline and MKSK staff to highlight ongoing efforts along the Moline Riverfront + Centre Plan.
While there are lessons we can learn from these cities and prior workshops, the specific goals of each community guide our engagement strategies. In St. Louis, for example, while doing initial outreach we heard from numerous local leaders about the need for a waterfront working group. With several efforts underway by city and regional agencies, as well as conservancies and nonprofits, we deployed the workshop to increase awareness of these ongoing efforts and act as the initial convening of this new waterfront working group for the region. Hosted in partnership with the WashU Sam Fox School of Design, the workshop focused on identifying the unique characteristics of the region’s waterfronts and how through collective action the region might evolve strategies that build on recent and ongoing successes.
Workshop participants in St. Louis discussed the opportunities and challenges facing the downtown waterfront and situated their ongoing efforts regionally.
I have been energized by the policy leadership and innovative waterfront design projects and was reminded just how important our local leaders are in charting a path for our urban waterways. Through local and regional action, we can evolve novel approaches that are rooted in community, yet scalable. Solutions that build on a deeper understanding of the challenges with forward looking clarity that can only be cultivated in rooms filled with people who believe in their communities. Through our work with the Walton Family Foundation, I am inspired by these local leaders and the visions they are building.
Interested in learning more about WEDG? Become a WEDG Professional! Take the Livestream WEDG Professionals Course: Rivers Edition (July 29 & 30), featuring case studies of WEDG Verified sites and experts in resilient, nature-based design. After completing this two-day guided virtual course and passing the open-book exam, participants can earn their WEDG Associate credential. 6 AIA LU, 6 LA CES credits available.
