A_Washington

Urban Ecosystem Regeneration

Design Projects

• Integrate bioswale storm management system with curbless pedestrian zones, introduce wetland species.
• Create activity zones for plaza use outside market days, integrate built elements and native biodiversity.

Education and Data Access Projects

• Raise awareness of relationship between water management and endangered species in the city, encourage strategies for managing water use at home as part of local wetland stewardship.
• Inspire imagination and citizen action around creating a solar-punk future in Eugene, encourage strategies for supporting ecology at home.

The benefits of the urban forest are well established. Urban green space is correlated with lower rates of violence, less energy use, higher property values, improved air quality, better rainwater management, and a reduction in the city’s heat island effect.[i]

In Eugene, recent decades have seen the urban canopy in slow but steady decline, “losing about 1% of its tree canopy cover every year.”[ii] To combat this loss, the city is engaged in an extensive tree planting strategy. The plan aims to increase tree canopy from covering 22% of the urban environment to 30% by 2030, focusing planting efforts on addressing “quality of life disparities in historically underserved neighborhoods” based on heat, health, and socio-economic factors.[iii]

Based on the existing strategies and in-the-works changes in the downtown Park Blocks and Lane County Farmer’s Market plaza, granular research of the urban environment at a human and experiential scale will assess potential opportunities to fine-tune and grow the urban ecosystem. Budgeting for the construction of the Farmer’s Market pavilion spurred community criticism when it used funding originally earmarked for the surrounding park blocks,[iv] so integration of the market plaza with adjacent public squares could be a meaningful place to focus the project.

As Eugene works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7.6% annually,[v] tree planting is a critical but insufficient piece of the puzzle. By expanding our view of the native ecology, the project offers the potential to creatively look toward rehabilitating the broader ecosystem. Eugene was once a wetland; could bioswales or storm water management strategies reintroduce wetland species to the urban environment? Maybe greater biodiversity among native species could replenish nitrogen in the soil to keep the urban forest healthy, or planted zones could improve air quality while defining approachable public space that stays lively all week long, or citizen education could crowdsource the rehabilitation of endemic pollinator species. All part of an interrelated strategy, the specific design focus will depend on observed need and project scope.

[i] City of Eugene. “Benefits of Trees.” Accessed January 15, 2024. https://www.eugene-or.gov/3679/Benefits-of-Trees

[ii] Duvernay, Adam. “Trees cut down during construction at Butterfly Lot to be replaced with new, larger trees.” The Register-Guard. Published July 1, 2021. https://www.registerguard.com/story/news/2021/07/01/eugene-butterfly-lot-trees-cut-down-replace-farmers-market/7805994002/

[iii] City of Eugene. “Urban Forestry.” Accessed January 15, 2024. https://www.eugene-or.gov/3673/Urban-Forestry

[iv] Franke, Clayton. “To Market, To Market.” Eugene Weekly. Published May 19, 2022. https://eugeneweekly.com/2022/05/19/to-market-to-market-2/

[v] City of Eugene. “Eugene’s Climate Action Plan 2.0.” Accessed January 15, 2024. https://www.eugene-or.gov/4284/Eugenes-Climate-Action-Plan-20