Back in 2007, we at Urbanite were trying to find a way to encourage innovation in the city, and we knew one of the best ways to do that was to bring together folks from different disciplines and viewpoints. So we launched the Urbanite Project. We matched up unlikely teams of two or three, putting an architect with a neurosurgeon, or a writer with an environmental lawyer, and asked them to collaborate on a project of their choosing. To us, the end result wasn’t the point—although several projects had physical manifestations, including the 2007 “Black + White = Green” project, which brought together a multi-racial crowd under the banner of care for the environment during the inaugural EcoFest. It was the collaboration between these people from very different worlds—who might never have met had we not introduced them—that we thought was vitally important.
This year, we’re taking the project a step further, focusing on these ideas coming to fruition.
Introducing Urbanite Project: Open City Competition, a project of Urbanite, the year-long Exhibition Development Seminar at Maryland Institute College of Art, the D center, the Maryland Transit Administration, and the Baltimore City Department of Transportation.
We’re inviting self-organized teams to compete for $10,000 in prize money and the chance to implement their solution to a pressing city issue: the quality-of-life issues brought about by the construction of the Red Line.
The proposed Red Line is a 14-mile, light rail transit line that will run east-west from Woodlawn through downtown Baltimore, Fells Point, and Canton to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Campus. It will link up with the existing Light Rail, Metro subway, and MARC train lines, creating a comprehensive transportation system. When constructed, the Red Line will run mostly in the median of existing roadways, with a few miles of tunnels.
Baltimore, whose neighborhoods were once connected by a network of streetcars, is now served by one light rail line and one subway line, which do not serve many of the city’s neighborhoods in East and West Baltimore. The Red Line has the potential to not only alleviate traffic and provide all the usual public transit benefits, but also create connections between communities that are traditionally disconnected.
In addition to these potential benefits, one major drawback of the Red Line is that construction could dramatically disrupt life in the communities through which it is to pass: noise, dust, traffic disruption, and limited pedestrian walkways. Construction is estimated to begin within five years and could last up to five additional years.
While many look at the construction period and see nothing but hassle and inconvenience, this kind of disruption also brings opportunities. For several years, sections of this town are going to be torn up, with traffic stopped or slowed and pedestrian access limited. We think we can take advantage of this period to create a unique, vibrant, productive urban space. Call it creative urban design, installation art, whatever: We have an opportunity to turn this construction period into an economic benefit, help open up conduits of travel and communication along the route, and potentially leave a lasting positive impact on the city.
How about a string of community gardens along the route, with cookouts to draw the neighboring communities together? How about turning much of the line into a walking mall, bringing new businesses and art galleries to formerly boarded-up storefronts? How about designing artwork to mask construction walls?
The deadline for entries is June 3. For more information, >download the RFP here and sign up to receive e-mail updates (coming soon) on the competition and the information session, scheduled for March 8.
Note: Individuals directly associated with the D center and the Exhibition Development Seminar at MICA, as well as employees of the MTA and Baltimore City DOT and their consultants whose work directly relates to the development of the Red Line, will not be eligible for entry into the Challenge.