Dutch design firm West 8 recently won a competition to rethink an 11-mile stretch of the Baltimore's waterfront, not to be confused with a $5.5 billion project to redevelop Port Covington.
Ethan McLeod reports for Next City on the recently revealed designs to remake the Baltimore waterfront along the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River, a relatively calm stretch of water that feeds into the busier Inner harbor.
The city held a design competition to rethink the area, focusing around Hanover Street Bridge, doomed for removal as it reaches the end of its 103-year lifespan. The city announced Dutch design company West 8 as the winner in July 2019. McLeod provided news coverage as the design competition neared culmination for Baltimore Fishbowl.
The West 8 design "reimagines the Middle Branch as a 'blue green heart' for Baltimore, with an 11-mile loop connecting the shorelines of Westport, Cherry Hill, Riverside, Brooklyn and Port Covington," according to McLeod, in the more recent of the two articles.
"West 8 hopes to upcycle dredged material from the nearby Port of Baltimore as the base for the new marshes and greenery at the water’s edge, similarly to how the firm’s home country of Holland designed new infrastructure like dikes and bridges," according to McLeod. "The design eyes major re-uses as well, like converting an abandoned swing bridge into a pedestrian walkway and fashioning a linear park out of the 103-year-old Hanover Street Bridge."
The Hanover Street Bridge provides commuter access to Port Covington, site of a proposed mega-development spearheaded by Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank and aided by fortuitous mapping of the city's new federal Opportunity Zones. West 8 proposes building a new bridge, to replace the crumbling Hanover Street Bridge, farther down river.
FULL STORY: What Baltimore’s Plan to Redesign 11 Miles of Its Waterfront Means for Existing Communities

America’s Best New Bike Lanes
PeopleForBikes highlights some of the most exciting new bike infrastructure projects completed in 2022.

Massachusetts Zoning Reform Law Reaches First Deadline
Cities and towns had until January 31 to submit their draft plans for rezoning areas near transit stations to comply with a new state law.

Green Alleys: A New Paradigm for Stormwater Management
Rather than shuttling stormwater away from the city and into the ocean as quickly as possible, Los Angeles is now—slowly—moving toward a ‘city-as-sponge’ approach that would capture and reclaim more water to recharge crucial reservoirs.

Seattle Historic District Could Remove Street Dining
Despite the popularity of Ballard Avenue’s outdoor dining pergolas, some district board members argue the patios don’t match the district’s historic character.

South L.A. Complete Streets Project Back on Track
First proposed in 2015, the Broadway-Manchester redesign would add bike infrastructure, pedestrian improvements, trees, and other amenities.

Santa Barbara Expands ADU Program to Boost Housing
The city hopes that permitting larger ADUs and making adaptive reuse easier will help it meet its state-mandated goal of building over 8,000 new housing units by 2031.
Ascent Environmental
California Polytechnic State University
City of Albuquerque Planning Department
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Harvard GSD Executive Education
City of Hercules
City of Fitchburg, WI
City of Culver City
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.