{"id":607,"date":"2009-09-11T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2009-09-11T16:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cityblock.wordpress.com\/?p=607"},"modified":"2009-09-11T12:00:58","modified_gmt":"2009-09-11T16:00:58","slug":"waterfront-precedents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/2009\/09\/11\/waterfront-precedents\/","title":{"rendered":"Waterfront Precedents"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"SW<\/a>

SW Waterfront. By M.V. Jantzen<\/p><\/div>\n

Following up on discussion on having the Anacostia emulate Paris<\/a>, I thought it would be nice to look at some precedents of urban rivers in other places.\u00a0 The idea that bothered me the most was the notion that narrowing the Anacostia’s channel by half would be no big deal to the river’s ecology.<\/p>\n

Encouraging good urban waterfronts is a fantastic idea, but I fail to see why replicating Paris is necessary.\u00a0 Surely, the great density of bridges in Paris is a nice condition and helps connectivity, but there are plenty of other urban rivers to draw from as well (not to mention ‘one-sided’ urban waterfronts that face oceans, bays, or lakes where bridges won’t do you any good).<\/p>\n

Not all of these are applicable to the Anacostia, but I thought it would be a cool exercise to see what’s out there.\u00a0 Also, it’s worth noting that you can have successful urban rivers with wide channels.\u00a0 I don’t mean for this to be extensive or exhaustive by any means, just showing what can be done (and by extension, how far we have to go in DC).<\/p>\n

Chicago<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chicago River<\/a><\/p>\n

Width: ~300 feet<\/p>\n

The Chicago River surely isn’t a paradigm of environmental purity.\u00a0 Engineering projects reversed the river’s flow so that Chicago’s sewage and waste flowed away from Lake Michigan (and the city’s water supply), not into it.\u00a0 It’s perhaps one of the most ‘urban’ rivers in the world, flanked by massive skyscrapers and the double-decker Wacker Drive.\u00a0 Numerous bascule lift bridges cross the river, making it seem as if the river barely interrupts Chicago’s grid.<\/p>\n

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