Atlas of Community Futures by Nida Rehman

ATLAS OF COMMUNITY FUTURES Braddock and North Braddock Final report of Spring 2022 CMU MUD Urban Design studio

This publication presents drawings and projects developed by Master of Urban Design students at Carnegie Mellon University in Spring 2022. These are part of an ongoing collaborative action-research-design project in which we use drawing, maps, and spatial design to foster conversations about environmental justice, and collectively envision desired futures in Braddock, North Braddock, and neighboring communities.

STUDIO INSTRUCTOR Nida Rehman STUDIO PARTICIPANTS Ariba

PROJECT PARTNERS North Braddock Residents For Our Future Fractracker(NBRFOF) Alliance Braddock Carnegie Library Association Asad Keyi YongwenXiaoSaloniRuoyuRuoxiRitikaJonathanMichaelChangLinyueChaiLuoLiuLawlorPettNarangXieLiAgarwalXuDai

We are grateful to North Braddock Residents For Our Future and Fractracker Alliance for helping shape the concerns and questions that students examined in their work; to Lauren Beachom and the Braddock Carnegie Library staff for hosting the map-making workshop, and to community members for sharing their time and insights.

INTRODUCTION LearningContext objectives and process COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURES Free Communityclinic canteen Mobile BCLA Art studio and repair cafe ECOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS Urban nature and vacancy map Vacant lot toolkit Water catchment parks Riverfront trail RETHINKING EDGAR THOMSON PhasePhasePhaseTimeline123 4 86 10 40322822 46 68605448 78 86848280 CONTENTS

5 INTRODUCTION

The studio was anchored through an ongoing collaboration, which started in January 2021, with North Braddock Residents For Our Future, a grassroots organization which successfully led the opposition to unconventional gas drilling and environmental injustice in Braddock, North Braddock and surrounding communities.4 Mem bers of the group, in particular Edith Abeyta, Jan McMannis, and Tony Buba were the main partners in the 2022 studio. In addition, the work was developed in conversation with FracTracker Alliance, the Braddock Carnegie Library, as well as current and former residents of Braddock and North PayingBraddock.attention to how toxic systems and their material effects on frontline communities are inseparable from the systems of racialized aban donment, dispossession, and accumulation in the urban realm, the studio asked how urban design might help advance community-desired futures. Students engaged in dialogue, oral history, fieldbased documentation, and thick mapping to rethink design methods as forms of environmen tal justice storytelling.5 As future urban design practitioners and researchers, students aimed to understand processes of environmental injustice in the built environment, and advance a “resident driven” approach to understanding and design ing the built environment. In this document we present some of the products of the studio, including proposals for the built environment centered on community desires, histories, and agency as distilled from conversations, research, and on-the-ground engagements. Against modes of extractive insti tution-community relationships, we have aimed to make some space for scholars, designers, and students to be allies to communities, and to create supportive relationships and mutually enriching, creative outcomes.

3 Liboiron, Max, Manuel Tironi, and Nerea Calvillo. “Toxic Politics: Act ing in a Permanently Polluted World.” Social Studies of Science 48, no. 3 (June 1, 2018): 331–49.

Optimistic assessments about Pittsburgh’s livabil ity mask a complicated reality. The prospects for health and well being in the metropolitan region are starkly differentiated along lines of race, class, and gender.1 The ongoing legacies of industrial production, extraction, segregative planning, and displacement create a toxic combination which adversely impacts human health, ecology, and community futures. These challenges are systemic and wickedly multi-scalar, and they defy conventional design frameworks of urban design and planning. They necessitate multidisciplinary, collaborative, and emancipatory approaches to knowing and engaging the built environment. In this studio, part of the Carnegie Mellon Master of Urban Design program, we have sought to engage these systems through community-cen tered methods in urban design that attend to the local histories, embodied knowledges, and political ecologies of everyday life. It was focused in and around the boroughs of Braddock and North Braddock, located alongside the US Steel Edgar Thomson Steel Works — the first and only remaining steel mill in the region, set up by Andrew Carnegie in 1875 and sold to US Steel in 1901. Here residents live with the ongoing contamination from the obsolescent steel plant, as well as the longstanding effects of social and economic disinvestment since the decline of the steel industry — an example of what David Har vey, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and others describe as “organized abandonment” of the racial-capitalist state, which accompanies “globalization’s largescale movements of capital and labor.”2 We ex amined the spatial, social, and ecological effects of these toxic systems, but also, importantly, the existing forms of local stewardship and resistance to fight them — “actions that have the potential for an otherwise.”3

5 Houston, Donna, and Pavithra Vasudevan. “Storytelling Environmental Justice: Cultural Studies Approaches.” In The Routledge Handbook of Environ mental Justice Routledge, 2017.

2 See Gilmore, Ruth Wilson. “Forgotten Places and the Seeds of Grassroots Planning.” In Engaging Con tradictions, edited by Charles R. Hale, 1st ed., 31–61. Theory, Politics, and Methods of Activist Scholarship. University of California Press, 2008.

4 The first main outcome of the collaboration was an online platform that showcases NBRFOF’s efforts to challenge unconventional gas drilling, and brings together the conversations and work of students and community members about how they envision different futures. See nbrfof.org.

1 A recent study of factors including employment and income, health and maternal care, and ed ucation showed that Pittsburgh is “arguably the most unlivable” city for Black women. See Howell, Junia, Sara Goodkind, Leah A. Jacobs, Dominique Branson, and Liz Miller. “Pittsburgh’s Inequality Across Gender and Race.”

Gender Analysis White Papers. Pittsburgh, Pa: Gender Equity Commission, City of Pittsburgh, 2019.

10 Abeyta, Edith, Tony Buba, John Detwiler, Jan McMannis, and Nica Ross. “One down, Many to Go: Our Health Is Our Wealth.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 16, 2021. express opposition, held fundraisers to support legal efforts against the fracking proposal and much more. In April 2021, US Steel announced that it was dropping its plans for gas drilling at the Edgar Thomson plant, a testament to NBRFOF’s struggle and tireless organizing. While this is a one step towards preventing additional environmental and human health harms in these communities, by no means does it mean that the fight for environmental justice is over.10

9 Eavis, Peter. “Fracking Once Lifted Pennsylvania. Now It Could Be a Drag.” The New York Times, March 31, 2020, sec. Business.

8 Frazier, Reid. “Asthma, Dirty Air and the Struggle to Clean up a Chronic Polluter.” The Allegheny Front, Decem ber 7, 2018.

Residents For Our Future was established in 2014, when North Braddock residents were asked to lease their properties for subsurface horizontal drilling on the Grandview Golf Course. Since then the grassroots organization led the opposition to Merrion and US Steel’s plans, with the aim to “promote community health and clean air, and fight unconventional gas drilling in our community.” They organized gatherings to raise awareness about the dangers of fracking, en couraged residents to attend public meetings to

7 Mock, Brentin, and David Montgomery. “Environmentalists by Necessity.” Bloomberg CityLab, August 1, 2018.

6 Segal, Corrine. “A Bird’s-Eye Portrait of What Was Once a Thriving Steel Town | PBS NewsHour.” PBS News Hour, November 16, 2015.

6 Braddock developed in the 20th century as a racially and socially diverse, albeit segregated, “company” town, with significant economic growth and stability until the 1970s. With the rise of white dominated suburbanization in the region and the decline of the steel industry, Braddock lost about 90% of its population, but with many of its Black residents essentially “entrapped” by racist redlining policies.6 While the remaining millworkers at Edgar Thomson no longer live nearby, residual and ongoing contamination from the plant continue to create harm in the communities of Braddock and North Braddock, as well as in the neighboring boroughs of East Pittsburgh, Rankin, and North Versailles.7 In fact, this is the story of many frontline communities along the highly industrialized river corridors in the Pittsburgh region, and especially so along the Monongahela River valley (or Mon Valley) where three legacy US Steel facilities have created intersecting and multigenerational harms for the largely Black and low income communities.8 In recent years, proposals by a New Mexico based oil and gas company (Merrion Oil & Gas) to build wells for hydraulic fracturing first at the Grandview Golf Course in North Braddock and then at Edgar Thomson promised to continue and expand this toxicity legacy. During the 2000s economic crisis, hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region was promoted as an “economic savior.”9 Yet, the environmental harms associated with hydraulic fracturing are well known and would have exacer bated the area’s extreme air pollution and other forms of environmental toxicity that these com munities continue to face because of the steel plant — which has been listed as one of the ten most toxic air polluters in Allegheny County and has a decades-long history of clean air violations.

Context

The fracking proposals were met by intense opposition by local residents. North Braddock

13 Hall, Suzanne, and Juliet Davis. “‘Worlding’ the Studio: Methodological Experiments and the Art of Being Social.” In Engaged Urbanism: Cities and Methodologies, 54–56. London; New York, NY: I.B. Tauris, 2016.

12 Sen, Arijit, and Lisa Silverman, eds. Making Place: Space and Embodi ment in the City. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2014.

Learning objectives and process

11 Tuck, Eve. “Suspending Dam age: A Letter to Communities.” Harvard Educational Review 79, no. 3 (October 6, 2009): 409–28.

In this studio we have sought to unlearn and challenge these dominant conventions. Instead we try to emphasize reflection, conversation, and collaboration to consider how knowledge and action about the built environment are produced through everyday experiences and community expertise. Against a damage-centered “theory of change” we follow Tuck’s call for “desire-cen tered research” — which centers the “hope, the visions, the wisdom of lived lives and communi ties”, while recognizing the ongoing structures of racism and colonialism that create harm. To do this we try to stay away from essentialized narratives of suffering or victimhood; strive to develop an ethics of collaboration that centers the desires, agency, and expertise of community members; and remains open to and respects the complexities within community desires. We are interested in documenting and communicating forms and practices of “embodied placemaking” in the Braddock and North Braddock communi Overties.12the course of the semester, students closely read and discussed critical literature on envi ronmental justice, toxicity, care, design justice, and more. They made frequent visits to different neighborhoods, talked to residents, and revisited recorded resident interviews from the Spring 2021 studio. This semester an important component of the studio was a public workshop aimed to build con versations about Braddock and North Braddock residents’ accounts about their neighborhoods. The workshop was hosted by the Braddock Carnegie Library, at the Braddock Battlefield History Center where students set up a series of stations and activities with maps and other visual materials through which participants could share and document narratives about place and spatial experience.

Architectural and urban design pedagogy and practice have long been centered on notions of individual (white/cis/male) authorship and mastery, with design priorities set by privileged actors in support of capitalist and colonial enterprise. Moreover, design which seeks to “benevolently achieve reparation” for historically marginalized communities also often does so through portrayals of those “neighborhoods and tribes as defeated and broken” — a practice that Indigenous (Unangax) scholar Eve Tuck describes this as “damage-centered research and damag ing research.”11

9 Building on insights and through reflection on these different conversations, experiences, and materials, the students worked collaboratively to outline proposals for desired futures for the built environment, spatial policy, and urban actions that foreground social and environmental health, decarbonization, equity, and spatial justice. Rather than marking a division between research and design, we see “design as part of the re search process”13 and these proposals as a way to prompt questions and advance further explo rations about different possibilities for spatially just futures.

Saloni Agarwal, Ariba Asad, Michael Lawlor, Chang Liu, and Linyue Luo

COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURES

Economic and social disinvestment in towns like Braddock and North Braddock precipitated by the decline of the steel industry, white flight, and systemic racism left these communities as some of the poorest in the area. The decline is reflected acutely along Braddock Avenue, whose erstwhile vibrant street fronts and cultural life gave way to demolished lots and many buildings in disrepair and disuse. Yet, in this context of official disinvestment and abandonment, the communities have established a range of local ized initiatives at different scales to fill the gaps of infrastructural neglect in healthcare, education, food access, and children’s recreation and educa tional facilities. In this section we map and trace on some of these existing community infrastructures and their connections across physical spaces, institutions, and community networks. These include small facilities providing free or subsidized healthcare such as the Free Clinic, food cultivation and accessibility projects such as Braddock farms and the community fridge, playgrounds, daycares, lo cal businesses, initiatives like the Braddock Youth Project and the Free Clinic, community centers and churches, public art projects, as well as the crucial services provided by the Braddock Carn egie Library, and others. We draw from our dia logues with residents to understand how these various resources and support systems are used and valued. Each of the subsequent projects then explore ways to help build on and extend these important projects, looking specifically at issues of health, food access, arts and art education, as well as the library’s reach across the communities.

Free16 clinic extention

This project investigates gaps within the health landscape of Braddock, and proposes creating connections to build a stronger network between existing facilities and the community. The goal is to use a central location as an anchor and sup port for other efforts that already exist within the Thecommunity.FreeClinic was established by the Muslim Council of American Foundation after the closing of the UPMC Braddock Hospital in 2009, partic ularly to provide health care to uninsured people in Braddock and surrounding communities . Currently the clinic uses space in the Braddock Borough Municipal Building and has been able to achieve some of its short term goals. There is an adult primary care facility that operates only on the weekends as the doctors work on a volunteer basis. While the clinic has been slowly expanding since its inception, with the addition of additional exam rooms and support spaces, the long term goal of the clinic includes transforming it into a full-time facility that provides a range of services for every community member free of cost. This project aims to create a system to fill the existing gaps and help achieve the long-term goals of the Free Clinic, so that it can cater to community needs in a better way. As access to funding has been one of the biggest concerns for the clinic, Allegheny County Health Department’s Clean Air Fund and the Air Quality Ambassador Mini-grant Program are identified as potential funding sources. Currently the Clean Air fund is more focused on pollution reduction projects, but the proposal argues to use it to cure the damage caused due to the health and environ mental injustices for residents ofBraddock and neighboring communities. The lack of doctors Ariba Asad

17 and support staff can be fulfilled by bringing in various organizations that are currently operating in Braddock, many of whom rely on space and other facilities provided by the Carnegie Library. These include Olie’s Angels, Healthy Start, Senior Project 15104, Women for Healthy Environment and Pittsburgh Black Breastfeeding Group. Bring ing various groups under one holistic spatial and organizational structure will help develop confi dence among donors. We also propose that the facility’s eligibility be expanded to cater to under insured, rather than just uninsured, residents. The facility is planned to provide spaces for seniors, children and women of the community. Various support programs have been introduced to ameliorate the overall well-being of these members of the community. Creating relation ships between indoor and outdoor spaces will help to enhance engagement and accessibility opportunities.

18 Second floor planFirst floor plan Ariba Asad Free clinic extention

Braddock Free Clinic views

20 Outdoor reading lounge Stall set-up space Senior outdoor area Sectional perspective view Ariba Asad Free clinic extention

21 Outdoor activity space for kids

Linyue

The project adapts most of the original Superior Motors interior plan, which includes the kitchen and sitting areas. It makes the kitchen space more open and offers greater functionality and flexibility. On regular days, residents can come to the canteen for meals and to gather. The space is also a culinary school, which could provide opportunities for residents to learn cooking skills. Residents could even bring their materials and cook freely here, or they could order meals with lower prices. Meanwhile, there are also some office spaces and other rooms in the Canteen which members of the community could reserve for meetings or other gatherings. On special occasions, the canteen would host community activities, in partnership with the Community Oven. A large outdoor space, which is currently a parking lot and open space, is attached to the Community Canteen. Here we propose an edible garden along with a Garden Resource Center, managed by Grow Pittsburgh. All the food grown in the garden could be used in the Canteen, and also sold to residents at low prices. Residents who need tools, fertilizers, or other materials to start or maintain their own gardens could visit the Garden Resource Center and get assistance. Moreover, in the proposal, the old Orchard has now returned back to the community. People could come here to enjoy leisure time with their families and friends. Finally we propose, in the future, that the Canteen also has a mobile food pantry which would supply food and products directly to residents who may not be able to access the Canteen.

Site and program elements Luo Community

canteen

This proposal addresses issues of food security and provision in Braddock and North Braddock, and provides spaces for gathering and sharing meals, by retrofitting the former Superior Motors restaurant into a new Community Canteen.

23 Perspective view of Community Canteen, garden, and orchard

Ground floor plan Linyue Luo Community canteen

Edible garden and mobile pantry, view from Braddock Avenue

25 Community Canteen Kitchen Community Canteen

In addition to helping BCLA better serve the community, this design also aims at two other purposes. First, this design should guide resi dents to think about community affairs and guide the public to participate in the construction of their own living environment. For example, during its transportation, the skin of the module can display information, including but not limited to information on weather, air quality, and ad vertisements for community events or activities. In addition, the display screen on the surface can show work by local artists or youth. People can vote or comment on these works through BCLA’s platform or app to choose when they are still displayed on the streets of Braddock so that residents can participate in the process of realiz ing public art projects. Secondly, this module should be able to create multiple place types. By combining modules with different functions and placing them in different places, the modules will create different place types in the surrounding venues and provide a variety of activities. For example, if a “chess” module (loaded with chess and tables and chairs), a “Gallery” module, and a “bookshelf” module are placed next to a community park, it will become a temporary community library and activity center, which can create a space for children’s learning and entertainment. A “med ical” module (see Free Clinic extension) with an “exhibition” module is an unlikely combination but could be a temporary exhibition space and examination (vaccine) center so that people can enjoy culture while using basic medical services.

BCLA also provides a variety of services within other community spaces, such as in playgrounds, schools, or other public spaces. The BCLA is closely connected with, and supports, many other community-based infrastructures, and the mode of cooperation and the way of providing services still has much potential. It is the network formed by these organizations and institutions that jointly serve Braddock rather than one alone. In addition, residents’ demands for BCLA are not limited to the library. BCLA should not be limited by physical space. What’s more, BCLA has many infrastructures that can be applied, but it has not been well applied under the current situation.

Chang Liu Mobile BCLA

26 Braddock Carnegie Library Association (BCLA) serves the communities of Braddock, North Brad dock, East Pittsburgh, Chalfant, and Turtle Creek, with almost 15,000 people.. It not only provides library services but also carries many community service functions. BCLA is proud to build its program based on what the community needs, which includes but is not limited to culture, art, education, and more. BCLA provides assistance to local residents in their daily lives and provides facilities and venues for other institutions. BCLA holds learning and teaching studios to help local people acquire skills for sustainable develop ment, and it plays a great role in the education of local teenagers. Through communication with local residents and information obtained from the workshop, it is obvious that Braddock Carnegie Library has become an indispensable part of the local However,community.dueto historical reasons and economic problems, the renovation progress of the original museum building has been slow. At present, the book resources of BCLA are placed in about 90 square meters of space on Braddock Avenue, and events are held at the Braddock’s Battlefield History Center.

After mapping the resources provided by BCLA and having a deeper understanding of the inter action between BCLA and residents, I realize that providing a larger physical space for BCLA is not the best solution. Combined with the existing resources and infrastructure of BCLA and the specific needs of residents, this project propos es a mobile module system to help BCLA and related institutions provide a range of community services. These modules can be assembled and transported to different locations by trailer or pickup truck. BCLA staff can arrange the modules according to specific needs. At present, the function of the module is to extend the functions provided by the existing infrastructure and break through the limitation of physical space. But in the future, it may become a mobile system jointly used and managed by community infrastructure.

28 Chang Liu Mobile BCLA

Braddock’s Battlefield History Center Braddock Borough Braddock Youth Project Careerlink [1] Carnegie Museum of Art East Pittsburgh Borough Friends of Braddock Greater Valley Community Services [2]

All posters and advertisements come from BCLA's social platform.BCLA is an active community cohesion organization. They not only serve the community as a library, but also provide cultural, artistic, and retial resources.

Grow HeritageGwen’sPittsburghGirlsCommunity Initiatives [3] Job HumanCorpsServices Center Corporation [4]

Westinghouse Arts Academy [5] Woodland Hills School District

More Unity North Braddock Borough North Braddock Cares & The Mon Valley Initiative

Pittsburgh Black Breastfeeding Circle Propel Braddock Hills Puppets for Pittsburgh Team Braddock Turtle Creek Valley Community Services

Community Partners

Summary comes from the interview with the following people: Lauren Beachom (BCLA, Arts and Culture Program Manager), Rachel Brehm (Library Director), Theresa McCarron (North Braddock resident).

Data Resources: Geographic Informa tion (https://www.alleghenycounty.us/), Population Information (https://www. census.gov/).

30 <Transport module> These modules can be modularly assembled and transported by trailer or pickup truck. BCLA staff can arrange the modules according to specific needs. The module allows the library to extend functions provided by the existing infrastructure and break through the limitation of physical space. In the future, it may become a mobile system jointly used and managed by community members. By Trailer A trailer can can carry multiple modules depend ing on its size. By Pickup Modules can be easily transported to different places on a pickup truck.

<Anchored modules> By combining modules with different functions and placing them in different places, the modules will create different place types in the surround ing venues and provide a variety of activities.

<Outdoor Activity Center> = Bookshelves + Chess Stations

<Chess Station> Chess station can carry tents and tables to quickly form a temporary chess area or club in an open space.

In the future, it may be come a mobile system jointly used and managed by community actors. For example, a mobile food re source could be maintained by Braddock Farm. 3 5 5 4 2 1 6 6

<Bookshelf> This large module contains folding tables and chairs, books, computers, and print ers. These form a mobile bookshelf allowing people to access the library anywhere.

Chang Liu Mobile BCLA <Stage> A temporary stage can be used as a place for local artists to activities.othertemporarilyperformorhostcommunity 1 3 5 2 4 6

An outdoor activity center contains a bookshelf module and two chess modules. It can be placed at a vacant lot or playground.

Existing Community-BasedinfrastructurecriticalInfrastructure&Institution

Collect data from the community for analysis and improvement to the system ( take privacy issues into consideration)

Maximize the use of existing infrastructure resources to help these infrastructure better serve the community

The operation system of the infrastructureexisting Opinions and needs of local people Who is responsible for maintenance?

InfrastructureCommunityMobile

31 How to encourage locals to participate?

Braddock’s Battlefield History Center Braddock Carnegie Library Associate Braddock Carnegie Library

Accessibility to the community Opinions and needs of local people Who has access? Access mechanism

As a medium for connecting communities and upper institutions. Help policy makers understand local specific needs Designer

32 Chang Liu Mobile BCLA Temporary activity center with a pop-up booth and gallery, book borrowing, and seating area. Roadside chess station Mobile food pantry

33 A temporary reading space

A nonprofit organi zation and commu nity art space that offers workshops and other opportu nities for arts and technology educa tion for children in the Garfield area.

A nonprofit commu nity makerspace and design and fabrica tion school.

Related projects in the Pittsburgh area

Protohaven

A nonprofit orga nization housing writers in exile. Provides free hou seing, health care, and access to social services. Includes event restaurant.bookstorespaces,and

Saloni Agarwal Art studio and repair cafe

Community anchors: Braddock Carnegie Library and Ohringer Arts Building

City of Asylum

34 Braddock has long been an important hub for arts and culture – a legacy enhanced and reflect ed in recent, local projects such as the BCLA’s Art Lending Collection, Neighborhood Print Shop, and ceramics studio, as well as the renovation of the Ohringer Arts Building to provide housing and gallery space for artists. The objective of this proposal is to extend these initiatives and provide further opportunities for creative work, collaboration, and community building among artists, as well as spaces where artists can share their expertise with youth and enhance skill building. There are many un- or under-used structures in Braddock that can be creatively adapted to serve this purpose in a way that is sustainable and relatively economical. The Levitt Brothers Furniture building on Braddock Avenue shares the block with the Ohringer Building and two large currently-vacant plots, and is also close to the Braddock Library. Given this proximity we propose that it would be ideally suited for the project.

Assemble

The two buildings that previously served the Levitt Brothers Furniture store provide an ex cellent potential site for this project, to provide opportunities for art-making, skill development, community building, and youth programs, in an inclusive and nurturing setting.

The adaptive reuse project would entail refur bishing these buildings to provide shared studio spaces, event and exhibition spaces, a repair cafe, community printing facilities, computer clus ters with wifi, coworking spaces, personal studio spaces, woodshop, culinary workshop, and music jam rooms. In addition we propose landscape improvements for the block with the addition of sidewalks, trees, benches, and street lights, along with outdoor spaces that can connect directly to the event and exhibition area to facilitate larger gatherings. The proposed design is informed by these functional considerations as well as solar direction to enhance natural light.

36 Saloni Agarwal Art studio and repair cafe

This project acts as a spatial extension of exist ing programs in the Braddock Library and the Ohringer Arts Building. The design is accessible and open to interpretation by its users. The outdoor steps and stage is for everyday uses and special occasions. The building’s windows are sized and placed to enhance sunlight. Other elements such as the sidewalk, street trees, and benches are improved or introduced to make the entire block more accessible and friendly.

Proposed building and landscape design

37 First floor plan Second floor plan Third floor plan Fourth floor plan

38 Saloni Agarwal Art studio and repair cafe First floor Second floor

39 Third floor Fourth floor

At a larger scale, the project explores the soften ing of the river’s edge and the creation of major ecological corridors, particularly a green storm water infrastructure, centered south of Talbot Avenue. These designs are rooted in the distinct conditions of the river’s edge and nearby streets, imagining how polluted land could be restored to ecological soundness and how the major industrial and corporate actors near the riverfront could contribute to becoming stewards of the land, yielding space and providing resources that go back into the community.

The ecology and vacancy project’s proposals operate at multiple scales, ranging from a smallscale toolkit and set of lot-by-lot projects, to more large-scale visions for green infrastructure and corridors. At the small scale, mindful of the notion of “re ducing architecture,”14 the project explores how small-scale interventions can build these ecologi cal networks and transform vacant lots into spac es of care. These contribute to a “toolkit” for the boroughs’ residents to make use of vacant lots, and a set of example proposals for what such uses might look like.

14 Enia, Marco and Flavio Mar tella. “Reducing architecture: Doing almost nothing as a city-making strate gy in 21st century architecture.” Frontiers of Architectural Research vol. 8 issue 2 (2019): 154-163.

Keyi Chai, Ruoyu Li, Jonathan Pett, and Xiao Xu

Braddock and North Braddock have been subject to a history of environmental injustice and pollu tion that has had negative effects on community health as well as local ecology. It is also intimately linked to the disinvestment and loss of popula tion that has left many lots in the two boroughs vacant. This project explores how ecological spaces and corridors could be rebuilt in the community from a framework of environmental justice, seeking to support natural systems that are beneficial to the residents of Braddock and North Braddock, that mitigate and remediate the toxic effects of the area’s history of industrial pol lution, and that transform vacant lots into spaces of care. In so doing, the project is inspired by the formal and informal community efforts already underway to care for “vacant” spaces, particularly the work of the Braddock Youth Project. The map on the following pages was produced to understand and make visible the ecological context of the two boroughs, providing a founda tion for the project’s proposals. Each lot that was listed as “vacant” by the lotstolove.org map (pro duced by Grounded Pittsburgh based on Allegh eny County’s property assessments) was mapped and then categorized by what was taking place there, ranging from gardens and mowed lawns to rewilded woods. Alongside this, we collected information about pollution and urban nature, based both on scientific resources (such as the smell reports shared by residents on Smell Pittsburgh and the plumes of pollution from the Edgar Thompson plant) and narratives from residents in interviews and workshops, locating both the effects of pollution and the presence of types of plants and animals in the two boroughs. This methodology revealed a complex mosaic of “vacant” land in various states and uses atop which patterns of resurgent nature and enduring pollution play out.

ECOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The toolkit and its proposals are indebted to the example of existing projects that have already been undertaken in the community, and particu larly to the work of the Braddock Youth Project.

The following five example proposals show how vacant lot projects throughout the two boroughs might be undertaken by a variety of actors: the construction playground along Mills Avenue by nearby residents, the expansion of the Wash ington Avenue flower garden by the Braddock Youth Project, the seeding of an urban meadow adjacent to the History Center, the construction of a rain garden on South St by a community organization, or even the improvement of pe destrian transit along 6th Street by the municipal

Jonathangovernment.Pett Vacant lot toolkit

48 The vacant lot toolkit explores how small-scale interventions can build ecological networks and transform vacant lots into spaces of care. It is particularly rooted in the idea of “reducing architecture,” emphasizing the power of minor changes - the sort that ordinary residents could undertake themselves - to radically alter the nature and experience of space. Even “vacant” lots reveal traces of use and care; these propos als aim to make that care visible and to show how the use of vacant lots can be oriented towards community functions and ecological systems.

One of the simplest uses for a vacant lot is as a place to play. This can easily be done by providing some play equipment and perhaps cutting back encroaching vegetation so that the space is safe for children. This was the concept developed by Aldo van Eyck in Amsterdam in the mid-1900s, where he created hundreds of playgrounds on vacant lots through a few mini mal interventions. This proposal imagines how a set of vacant lots, with a steep slope overgrown by trees, could be made into a community playground for children. It has three elements: i) clearing off the sidewalk along Mills Avenue and trimming back the vegetation at the street wall — not attempting to make it a mowed lawn, simply removing branches that hang over into the side walk; ii) clearing and repairing the old staircase up the hillside, so that the clear, flat portion of the lots can be reached from the street; and iii) installing some minimal equipment — a swing, a seesaw, and a bench — in the cleared space.

Mills Playground

50 Braddock Youth Project garden expansion This proposal imagines how the Youth Project’s flower garden on Washington Avenue could be expanded across a series of vacant lots across the street. The existing garden is already a strong place of care in that part of the borough, with the main garden on one side of the street and benches on the other. In this imagined expan sion, several more of the garden’s planters would be constructed on the currently grassy vacant lots adjacent to the benches. On the adjacent paved borough-owned vacant lot, the mounds of con struction debris and gravel could be removed or covered with a layer of soil and allowed to grow plants, while a basketball hoop could be set up on the paving - children playing basketball on the streets of the boroughs being a common sight in good Jonathanweather.Pett Vacant lot toolkit

Urban meadows are urban spaces in which the native grasses and flowers of a region are al lowed to grow. Urban meadows require far less upkeep than do traditional lawns of cut grass, as once they are established, the native plants tend themselves as they always have. As they thrive on steep slopes and poor soils, meadows may be especially well-suited to the hilly environment of Braddock and North Braddock. Additionally, urban meadows are especially valuable for the surrounding environment, enriching biodiversity by creating habitat and helping to support polli nators, such as bees and butterflies. This proposal imagines how the large clear lot adjacent to the history center, and smaller vacant lots in the same block, could be seeded as an urban meadow. This would largely involve a process of clearing some invasive plants and seeding the native grasses and flowers rather than grass. It also imagines that native fruit trees, such as apples or pawpaws, could be planted along the sidewalk and allowed to grow “wild.” The site’s proximity to the railway, which forms a wildlife corridor, makes it especially valuable from an ecological perspective.

History Center meadow

52 Jonathan Pett Vacant lot toolkit South Street rain garden Rain gardens are planted depressions in the earth that help to manage rainwater. They reduce pollutants that are carried into streams as well as the burden on, and overflows from, the municipal sewer system. Like an ordinary garden, they help to create spaces of care in vacant lots, while also serving this valuable environmental function. (Penn State Extension has resources for Penn sylvania residents interested in construction rain gardens, available here: inrentlywhichStreetbeThisedu/an-introduction-to-rain-gardens)https://extension.psu.proposalimagineshowaraingardencouldplantedonavacantlotatthecornerofSouthandGrandviewAvenueinNorthBraddock,isownedbythelocalSokolHallandcurissimplygrassandgravel.Aplanteddiptheearthatthesouthwestcornerofthesite, with shrubs, ferns, and certain perennial flowers, would help to control the rainwater running down the steep slope of Grandview Avenue and visual ly anchor the most visible corner of the site.

53 Sixth Street sidewalk Given that many residents of Braddock and North Braddock rely on public transportation or walking, and with the location of the nearest large grocery store along Yost Boulevard, 6th St is a pedestrian way of some importance. However, residents observed in interviews that the sidewalk north of Hawkins is in poor repair and ends completely north of North Main, meaning that “some people [have to] walk in the street” to get to the grocery store. Additionally, the many wooded vacant lots on the western side of that stretch of 6th Street create a significant natural habitat, meaning that large-scale redevelopment of the area would be completely inappropriate. This proposal imagines how pedestrian access along 6th Street could be improved: in an initial phase, simply by creating a zone of maintenance along the wooded edge where the municipality could cut back underbrush (which is within the public right-of-way) and make a safe place to walk through minimal alterations and with little resources required. In a later phase, this could be expanded by paving the sidewalk and construc tion shelters over the bus stops along 6th Street and Yost Boulevard.

Topography and Flood Situation in Braddock Flood risk Flood risk

Map data source: Risk Factor website (https://floodfactor.com/city/brad dock-pennsylvania/4207992_fsid).

20%

54 The project proposes a rainwater catchment corridor and park designs in the south part of Braddock, as this certain area faces a higher probability of flooding with a lower elevation. The proposal combines linear and nodal designs to create possibilities for rainwater harvesting. Based on an evaluation of flooding risk, the linear corridor is proposed in two phases of develop ment, with the southern area of the project in the first phase and the northern part in the second. Three (currently vacant) lots connected by the corridors are proposed as parks with more spe cific ecological functions for water storage and filtration.

Base map source: Topographic maps (https:// en-us.topographic-map.com/) Ruoyu Li Water catchment corridor

55 Street Design Water Catchment Corridor proposal 1 2 3 Purification & Storage Waste Water Pipe Purified Water Pipe Curb and Gutter Waste Water Rain Water Purified Water for Flushing Bioswale & Water Pipe Detailed Design of Bio-Street

The first park is near the Fifth Season Farm. According to the proposal, the site will function as not only a place to harvest the stormwater, but also a recreational area for the residents while mitigating noise pollution from nearby industrial facilities including the Bradit Mill and Edgar Thomson Steelworks.

Ruoyu Li Water catchment corridor

56 Bird View Perspective

57 Perforated Pipe Overflow Control Structure Gravel Pipe Bed Mixed Soil Layer Diagrams showing the Bioswale and waterfall designs 1 1 12 8 3 3 2 11 569 10 74 Proposed plan 1 Bioswale 2 Talbot Ave. Entrance 3 Cascade 4 Grass Slope 5 Recreational Shelter 6 Playground 7 Recreational Lawn 8 Waterfall 9 Wood Broadwalk 10 Stormwater Wetland 11 Washington Ave. & 9th Street Entrance 12 Fifth Season Farm

58 The second park is a current waste car dumping lot between Cherry Way and Washington Av enue. To deal with the dumping situation, it is proposed as a new park near the railway, which is not only a recreational place for the residents, but also a landfill park with ecological influences. Ruoyu Li Water catchment corridor Bird View Perspective

59 1 739 9 4 8 8 2 5 10 6 1872 The lot was occupied as a mill. The lot was then combined with the adjacent lot. The lot then became a vacant lot. The lot was owned by Pittsburgh Auto Salvage, LLC. The lot was used as a dumping land for the industry waste. The lot was occupied with wasted vehicles. The lot until now, is a dumping lot for wasted vehicles. 2005 2010 2017 1882 2007 2015 Wasted Car Dumping Bioswale + Terrain Buried with Waste Bioswale + Murals Surrouding the Terrain Proposed plan 1 Playground 2 Underground tool room 3 Cherry Way Entrance 4 Lawn 5 Multipurpose field 6 Recreational Shelter 7 Stormwater Wetland 8 Murals 9 10BioswaleGrassSlope Design detail of landfill slopes Timeline of Lot

The third park is adjacent to the Heritage 4 Kids Early Learning Center. In the proposal, the park will be a children’s playground while it has educational facilities for children to get a deeper understanding of the rainwater harvesting.

Ruoyu Li Water catchment corridor

1872

The lot became a playground for the children living nearby. The buildings near the lot remains till now. As the Heritage 4 Kids Early Learning Center expanded, there is one part in the lot was occupied. The playground lines on the lot faded, the funtion for children's recreation need to be strengthened.

The lot was a railway path near the Isaac Mill. The lot was still a railway path near a newly constructed building. The lot then became a parking lot near the Heritage Health Foundation.

1967 2014 2021 1882 2005 2017 1 1 6 2 7 3 4 5 1 Grass Slope 2 Vine Street Entrance 3 Stormwater Wetland 4 Playground 5 Adventure Path 6 5th Street Entrance 7 Backyard of Heritage 4 Kids Early Learning Center Timeline of Lot

Combined Sewer Outfall BuildingsFloodplainsusceptible to flooding

The project hopes to enhance the resilience of the Braddock waterfront and riparian space by softening the water and the edge of the city, bringing people and other species to the river. The core of our vision is to provide a clean and open riverside space for all residents of Braddock, North Braddock, and nearby com munities. The proposal builds on existing efforts at riverfront restoration and trail development in the Pittsburgh area, including the Great Allegheny Passage and Three Rivers Heritage Trail. It involves transforming the railroad into an ecological corridor to increase resilience to climate change, and build spaces for recreation and conservation along this ecological corridor. It would include the planting of native species along the river to reshape the diversity of the plant community, filter pollutants, absorb storm water, beautify the landscape, and create habitat for birds and other river animals. The project is proposed in a series of stages as detailed in the following pages.

Shoreline section (by Ruoyu Li)

and ecological restoration

Keyi Chai Riverfront

Some of the key ecological issues at the Brad dock waterfront include a fragile and fragmented shoreline, characterized by industrial and other forms of pollution, flood risk, and a hardscaped built environment. The river bank ecology of Braddock is relatively fragile. Combined sewage outfalls are located along the riverbanks, and industrial effluent mixed with domestic sewage is discharged into the river affecting water quality and threatening fish and waterfowl habitats. A large area of the riverbank is easily flooded and many buildings are affected. The riverbanks are also covered with little vegetation and most of the riverbanks have been hardscaped. The con nection between the water and the shoreline is cut off by the retaining walls. trail

Fragmented and hard shoreline Industrial pollution and flood risk

Waterfront properties The proposal is predicated on community collab orations with organizations such as the Friends of the Riverfront to help enable conversations with waterfront landowners for the opening of the riverfront. In terms of development intensity, priority should be given to ecological and rec reational functions so that residents can interact with nature in a relaxed and enjoyable manner. Considering the ecological restoration process of the riverbank and the difficulty of developing the site, a small degree of development should be adopted and should be carried out in phases.

Keyi Chai Riverfront trail and ecological restoration

Keyi Chai Riverfront trail and ecological restoration Stage 1: Small Scale Improvement - Building Trails along the Railway Corridor

Willow Street Pocket Park landscaping

Based on the current groundcover and tree coverage conditions, we suggest that the railroad line has the potential to be transformed into a green corridor. Along the railroad we propose several trails and turning some vacant lots into small public space places for community gathering and recreation.

Washington Avenue & 3rd Street

Activate the abandoned basketball court (the landowner is Borough of Braddock), and plan Washington Avenue as a one-way road to reserve space for bicycle lanes. Willow Street Washington Avenue and 3rd Street bike lane

67 Willow Way Pocket Park proposal Resting places and hardscape elements* SignageRailingsLighting CanopiesPlanters and Benchesshelters and seating *Inspired by Riverfront 47 and Hazelwood Green Project

Weriverbank.hopeto

Proposed new fishing point In this overgrown vacant lot, the current plant community is preserved and the space can be transformed into an interesting riverfront public space. Braddock Ramp Currently this is the only accessible point on the river in Braddock and a fishing hotspot.

After the completion of the trail along the railroad, we propose extending the ends of the trail to the riverside public spaces, which can make the riverfront accessible to residents, provide spaces for recreation, and create possibilities for the ecological restoration of the restore vibrant riverbanks, which will not only improve flood resilience, but also pro vide diverse habitat for wildlife. For some of the hardened stream banks, the overall approach is to restore the landscape structure by strengthen ing the banks and enriching the flora, which will consist of diverse native vegetation.

68 Keyi Chai Riverfront trail and ecological restoration Stage 2: Large-scale Waterfront Ecological Public Spaces Development

Ramp

Elm RedbudEastern

GoldenrodCanada

69 Living Shorelines RestorationFlora (purification function)

Maple River birch Ninebark Reed DogwoodGray Braddock fishing spot drawing by Ruoyu Li)

(base

70 Keyi Chai Riverfront trail and ecological restoration Stage 3: Trails along the river-edge

In order to protect the existing small wetlands, some trestle bridges can be built as part of the trail. Bridges can be at different heights, provid ing a rich visual experience. People can watch birds and take pictures on the bridge.

This stage involves the development of public spaces over time, in collaboration with property owners, resulting eventually in a continuous and easily accessible public trail along the entire riverfront.

Grassy slopes

The slopes of a current coal deposit can be trans formed into grassy areas for various waterfront activities.

Pedestrian bridges

Stage 4: Connecting to regional trail system and other communities Further into the future, the trail may be extended to connect with other communities. The trail extends west to Carrie Furnace, an industrial heritage landmark, and southeast along Turtle Creek through the ecological corridor.

Regional trail system

Yongwen Dai, Ritika Narang, and Ruoxi Xie

The Edgar Thomson steel works has operated at the banks of the Monongahela River for over a hundred years since its establishment in 1872. The decline of the steel industry and the environ mental effects of the plant have affected the lives of people in its surrounding communities in var ious ways. Discussion with community members and attendance at resident-led town halls has shaped our understanding of this plant and its impact on the community. With the help of these voices, we have proposed a future vision, which over the course of three long-term phases, maps out a transition to cleaner industry, and oppor tunities to enhance the local ecology, restorate land, and to create community infrastructures and open spaces. In the following pages we elabo rate on these three phases.

RETHINKING EDGAR THOMSON

Rethinking74 Edgar Thomson Yongwen Dai, Ritika Narang, and Ruoxi Xie

Rethinking Thomson Yongwen Dai, Ritika Narang, and Ruoxi Xie

76 Phase I We acknowledge that the plant has negatively impacted the community, and the first part of the proposal seeks to reduce these negative im pacts while the plant is still active. People living around the plant suffer due to the noise and air pollution, and our first objective is to respond to that by providing them with a quiet and a clean environment that includes a green buffer and a community plaza. The space on the western edge of the steel plant is limited. Here Silver Birch trees can be planted which would absorb pollution and filter pollutant matter. In addition we propose green spaces around the site’s periphery. These will act as a buffer between the community and the plant, and aid in reducing air and noise pollution. Trees also help in purifying the air by absorbing gas eous air around. Trees like Willow (Salix species), Silver Birch, and Poplar (Populus deltoides) can be used for phytoremediation. In this process, plants are used to extract and remove elemental pollutants from the land and aid in land resto ration.

Edgar

We also propose pedestrian trails along with the green buffer so that people’s daily life experienc es are enhanced, while creating greater oppor tunities to engage the site. In 2014, the eastern part of the site was proposed as a location for a fracking pad, which was canceled thanks to the advocacy and resistance mounted by NBRFOF and others. We also propose to incorporate this area as part of the buffer. In addition the space located on the north-west ern part of the plant can be turned into a plaza for community gatherings and events.

Rethinking Edgar Thomson Yongwen Dai, Ritika Narang, and Ruoxi Xie

78 Phase II In this phase, we propose to continue restoring land by planting trees and providing green patches in the central part of the plant. The aim is to provide more such spaces which filter air and reduce the dominance and area for existing industrial activity. We also propose to restore the landscape ecology by returning reclaimed land at the edge of the plant to Turtle Creek and its wetland, reestablishing the historic creek system. We also propose a rain garden along Turtle Creek which could slow down the rainwater flow and enhance the soil. The objective behind this is to start to rejuvenate the broader ecology of the site and reduce the conditions and effects of toxicity.

79 Tree planting and and land restoration

Phase III

Edgar Thomson Yongwen Dai, Ritika Narang, and Ruoxi Xie

Rethinking80

In phase III, we propose green industry and clean (non-fossil fuel) energy production to replace the old steel plant functions. The land that was restored will be partially shifted into community public spaces. The green system is distributed along Turtle Creek and the center of the site, which creates a better natural environment. The original train tracks would be retained and can be used for the transportation of goods for the new industrial functions. The road system provides better connection with surrounding space system is distributed along the northern part of the site with original buildings. Some structures of the original plant which are in good condition will be retained, while others will be demolished to create community spaces for indoor programming and outdoor events. The retained structures of the plant will have new functions like the community center, libraries, grocery stores, museums, and healthcare facilities for Theresidents.sitewould comprise different functions including new food followingTheseareas,spaces,opencommunityindustry,infrastructure,communitygatheringopentoallpublicandgreenspaces.aredetailedonthepages.

Theareas.public

81 Road system Open space Place types

There are two main buildings in the western part of the plant, one can be used as a new vertical farm equipped with a research center and education center. Another building can be used as a job training center. The Monongahela River can also provide an opportunity for river transportation and facilitate the deliverly to grocery stores, markets, and restaurants in a larger area.

Community facilities In the northern section of the site, the existing buildings can provide community services like libraries, medical facilities, and grocery stores. We also propose open spaces that can hold various scales of outdoor public activities. These could include large plazas for bigger community events, pocket parks for recreation and children’s playgrounds, and small community gardens to enable food production. All these elements of design translate existing stewardship of the community members into spaces where they can enhance it further.

We propose a shift from steel production to vertical farming, with on-site solar panels to provide renewable sources of energy. This woud produce food for the community and beyond, provide job opportunities, bring wealth to the community through taxation, and gradually change the air pollution and soil contamination.

Open public areas

Food Industry

On the eastern side of the site near Turtle Creek we propose a cultural anchor which could hold several art-related activities, functions, and receptions. The other building can be changed into a museum where people could learn about the historical past of the plant and the lives and labor of steelworkers. There is a pedestrian bridge connecting two buildings, which also provides a good view of the Turtle Creek waterfront spaces.

It can also be a research- and education-based center to attract more institutions. Since the Fifth Season is close to the plant, we think the fifth season can expand its production here.