evolveEA has created a blueprint for transforming two city neighborhoods based on environmental equity.
Their project, Living City Masterplan: Larimer-Homewood, recently received AIA Pittsburgh’s Honor Award in Urban Design. Christine Mondor, founder of
evolveEA, hopes this recognition will kickstart and redirect the ecodistrict conversation in Pittsburgh.
Planning for an ecodistrict includes considering sustainable development practices, and aims to reduce the ecological footprint of a community. Mondor says this type of planning is often done for new developments, but should be given equal attention in existing communities.
“I think that places like Larimer and Homewood are interesting because they have that texture, that history, and they've got great people to build upon to make a richer type of community,” Mondor says.
Living City Masterplan analyzed those two neighborhoods in three basic terms: water, energy, and nutrients. It asked, what might Larimer and Homewood look like if those three components actually started to build resiliency and economic opportunities, both for existing residents and those attracted to the neighborhood?
One of Mondor’s most interesting findings was uncovered while addressing issues of flooding near Washington Boulevard. Although currently an industrialized setting, Mondor says the site was most likely a wetland area at one time.
By addressing the issue of storm water runoff in an environmentally sensitive way, Mondor says it creates an opportunity to create a park-like setting that serves multiple purposes.
“You get this great opportunity to make public space that is both an amenity, but a functional landscape, and improve the general appearance and improve the connection between the neighborhoods,” she says.
Mondor says the masterplan is a tool for guiding future developments in the neighborhoods, but allows room for change as projects develop. But ultimately it has outlined a set of principles that can guide those developments.
In terms of building progressive systems for water, energy, and food, Mondor says, “it’s one of the few systems articulated that makes the connection between the people in the community and how they need to develop the decision making capacity and take ownership.”
Click
here to see a complete list of AIA Pittsburgh's 2011 Design Award Winners.
Writer: Andrew Moore
Source: Christine Mondor