Visions of a new Upper River dancing in their heads: Four dazzling proposals

An overflow crowd at the Walker Art Center last Thursday saw four dazzling proposals for redesigning Minneapolis’ Upper Riverfront. The winning design will be announced on Feb. 10.

 

I’ll offer a few brief observations:

 

• Turenscape of Beijing offered the most tantalizing concept in the flashiest form. The presentation was a techno-marvel, and the actual content wasn’t bad either. The river, cleansed by storm water filtering systems, would be clean enough for swimming and fishing. A beach, a farmers’ market, a series of new islands and marshes, a streetcar circuit, lots of urban gardens and a considerable amount of new development were all part of the picture.

   

• Tom Leader Studio of Berkeley, Calif., had the most politically savvy approach. Leader has gone the extra mile to connect with local citizens, and the presentation touched a lot of buttons that will resonate with Mayor R.T. Rybak and other city leaders. More than the other plans, it stressed the importance of fitting the city into the ecosystem of the river. It’s most memorable proposal: extending Folwell Park over Interstate 94 all the way to the river’s edge.

 

• Ken Smith Landscape of New York delivered the most classic ideas: A boulevard running near the river’s edge, bordered by the kinds of parkways that Minneapolis is noted for. That connection to the Grand Rounds was probably the presentation’s central feature.

 

• Stoss Landscape Urbanism of Boston made the most surreal presentation, including even a series of searchlights “to show people where the river is.” More than the others, the Stoss proposal tried to be intellectual, but I didn’t quite get it.

 

Having a vision is, of course, a good thing. Whether the city and private interests can finance an Upper River redo over the next several decades, that’s the big question. See what you think.