CEDAR RAPIDS, IA
TIME CHECK NEIGHBORHOOD
TIME CHECK GREENWAY
RIVER + NEIGHBORHOOD
FLOODABLE RESILIENCE + REMEMBRANCE in
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA
PERMANENT FLOOD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
TIME CHECK PROGRAM DIAGRAM
TIME CHECK GREENWAY + MEMORIAL PROJECT SUMMARY DESIGN STATEMENT
Pacific
My project is a memorial that aims to remember a community destroyed by a flood as well as encourage social memory of the disaster by making apparent the constant flux of the river and marking historic high water levels. I’ll be exploring remembrance and resilience in regard to river flooding and neighborhood erasure in the Time Check neighborhood of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A portion of the Time Check neighborhood located in the floodplain was destroyed by the 2008 flood and will not be rebuilt. Most of the homes have already been demolished but remnants remain. I’ll explore how this contested space, equally claimed by a community as well as by a river, can be designed to be floodable while ensuring that the memory of the community is not erased.
Railro ad
greenway/ memorial
PROJECT BACKGROUND The Flood of 2008 was unprecedented in Cedar Rapids, IA, reaching heights well beyond the 500-yr floodplain and affecting seven states across the Midwest. After having withstood the 1993 Midwest floods which set the previous benchmark at nearly 20’, the city of Cedar Rapids was considered unfloodable. However in 2008 waters reached over 31’ and covered nearly 14% of the city; it has often been termed Iowa’s Katrina. These unprecedented floods are expected to become more frequent and equally unpredictable with climate change, causing cities to change their policies and perceptions of what is normal regarding flooding. In Cedar Rapids new Federal Insurance Rate Maps have delineated a larger portion of the city into the 100-yr floodplain and the city is currently working to implement their approved Flood Management System which would protect the city to the 2008 flood levels. The system combines strategies of incorporating permanent and removable flood walls as well as widening the river bed and allowing the Cedar River to flow into a portion of its floodplain. The city’s master plan framework delineates a large portion on the west side of the river’s edge to create amenity and public space and to restore floodplain functionality to increase flood resilience. This effort requires buying out property along the river, mostly in the Time Check neighborhood. This area has been designated by FEMA to remain as open space in perpetuity and will become the new greenway. The buyout process is now complete, with the city having purchased 1,300 properties and having demolished over 1,700 buildings. IFive families remain living in a neighborhood that has seen destruction from flooding, and the persistent removal of homes. The space is currently in a transitional state with few houses poking through a street grid reminiscent of what used to be a neighborhood but is increasingly already looking like parkland.
Union
habitat + floodplain
neighborhood connections
Time Check Greenway Memorial
high-intensity recreation
trail system
SCOPE AND SITE BOUNDARY The project scope includes creating a master plan for the Cedar River’s western edge from the Time Check neighborhood’s northern edge at Penn Avenue to the newly constructed amphitheater levee. The master plan will show the location of the proposed levee, connections to existing green space and to the surrounding neighborhood as well as existing buildings to remain and greenway boundaries. Site design will focus greenway memorial within the erased portion of the Time Check Neighborhood between the proposed levee and the river. The boundaries of this site will be determined after the master planning phase. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES • • • • • • •
Remember a community that no longer exists and homes that were destroyed. Experience a fluctuating river as a place to remember and educate how flooding is a natural process. Memorialize flooding by use of “watermarks” and structures. Build a community relationship to the river by accentuating healing properties. Consider those who remain in the community as well as those who have left and those who will use the new space. Offer amenity to remaining Time Check residents and the surrounding city. Enhance the ecological and experiential value of the floodplain greenway.
DEFINITIONS me·mo·ri·al·ize : to do or create something that causes people to remember (a person, thing, or event) mon·u·ment : a structure, such as a building or sculpture, erected as a memorial. : something venerated for its enduring historic significance or association with a notable past person or thing com·mem·o·rate : to honor the memory of with a ceremony. PROGRAM STRATEGIES • • • • • • • •
Preservation of the last remaining house by the river as a monument and/or center for reflection, history, and education. Remaining remnants of the street grid throughout the greenway as visual markers to commemorate and remember the erased neighborhood. Sculptural structures and space as “watermarks” of historical floods placed along the greenway which are experienced both by movement along pathways and resting at pause points. Pause points that offer opportunity for reflection, education, remembrance, and interaction with the river. A landscape form that interprets the intersection between community and the river. A connective trail system that connects the neighborhood through green spaces and the city. Full functioning floodplain areas (in regard to seasonal flux, habitat, and storage) that are intersected with pathways and light recreation. A greenway that is also entirely recognized as a memorial as well as a place for recreation to include those expressed in the master planning process:
multipurpose fields skate and BMX park boat access picnic areas shelters playgrounds hiking, bike, and ski trails
connection to existing amphitheater levee