from eye sore to a must see: creating urban parks from thin air and adding real estate value (gerdo...

Gerdo Aquino, President | SWA

‘Landscape infrastructure’

From Eye Sore to “A Must See”: Creating Urban Parks from Thin Air and Adding Real Estate Value

Entangled

Adaptive

GRIFFITH PARK OBSERVATORY

Only 14% of Angelenos live within ¼ mile of accessible open space

14%

Los Angeles River today

landscape infrastructure a methodology that expands the typical parameters of a

designed landscape to a multi-functional, high performance system, including those systems

originally ascribed to traditional infrastructure

Hollenbeck Park, Los Angeles

Parc Nus de la Trinitat, Spain

Cheonggyecheon- Seoul, Korea

South-to-North Water Transfer Project - P.R. China

milton street parklos angeles

Mountains Recreation and Conservation AuthorityBaldwin Hills Regional Conservancy Authority

State Coastal ConservancyCity of Los Angeles

SWA Landscape Architecture and Urban DesignPSOMAS Engineering

7 miles

Project location

40ac sub-watershed1.2ac linear park

Katy TrailDallas

Friends of the Katy TrailCity of Dallas

SWA landscape architecture and urban designThe Office of Chris Miller

Oracle EngineeringHossley Lighting

James Richards, artist

300,000 Residents within a mile of the trail

30 acres3.5 miles

15 community access points and growing

Infill development at intersections and along the edges has increased

Separate bicycle and pedestrian paths provide safe and enjoyable experiences

The Katy Trail attracts more than 15,000 walkers, cyclists, skaters and runners weekly. That’s 720,000 users a year.

720,000

The trail integrates new plazas and small pocket parks

Katy Trail Survey Results (9/2011)- The Users* 1.38% use the trail after work.2.83% of users felt very safe or somewhat safe due to the number of people using the trail and the proximity of homes and businesses

3.50% of responders would financially support the continued expansion of the trail into other neighborhoods

*source: Friends of the Katy Trail

Key Areas of the Annual maintenance and operations budget for the 3.5 mile Katy Trail $112,000 – landscape and maintenance of the trail$25,000- Security$20,000- Electricity$3,000- irrigation and drinking water$2,400- Dog waste bags______________________________________

$162,400**$400,000 total annual operations budget paid by The Friends of the Katy Trail (source: Friends of the Katy Trail)

Annual events like the Katy 5K Run, hosted by Friends of the Katy Trail, raises money to help pay for the maintenance and operations of the trail. This year’s event raised over

$140,000 (roughly 35% of the annual budget).

buffalo bayou promenade

Houston

Buffalo Bayou PartnershipCity of Houston

SWA landscape architecture / community outreachUnited Engineers

L’Obervatoire Intl lighting designFugro South, geotechnical

Ken Tan, structural

Downtown Houston, the Buffalo Bayou and freeway infrastructure

During flood

Buffalo Bayou Promenade

Gerdo Aquino, President | SWA

‘Landscape infrastructure’

From Eye Sore to “A Must See”: Creating Urban Parks from Thin Air and Adding Real Estate Value