Being acknowledged as the nation's Rail Hub, Chicago's railroads support $1 trillion worth of goods to be carried, transferred and distributed across the country. However, some of the rail roads continue to face closure and ultimately abandonment. These rail tracks ran through neighborhoods and were physically a barrier for neighborhoods to merge while they were in use and they remain a barrier even after closure. As Lori Rotenberk on Grist states "abandoned tracks criss-cross The City of Big Shoulders like scars on a brawny boxer."
In recent years the City of Chicago has realized the potential for transforming these barriers into binding elements for community interaction and development. The 606 trail is the recent development that connects a number of community areas that were once separated by the Bloomingdale rail line. As days are getting warmer, the trail has been showcasing its full potential and the purpose it was meant for.
Biking from downtown on Friday evening after work, I witnessed everything that I was hoping for in the trail. As I approached Walsh park, I could see neighbors and residents flocking towards the trail. Climbing up the trail and continuing on west I could see a diverse gamut of people including residents with their kids, people on work out clothes jogging through, professionals trying to take a small walk and students.
Three most interesting aspects struck me while biking through the trail. Firstly, the intersections the trail had with the communities/buildings on either side of the trail. Second, the ease of accessibility and third, the art components that were integrated at the plazas that provided continuity to the ground level.
Studying about therapeutic landscapes in the past weeks, there is no doubt that "access to urban green spaces can..be seen as a public health priority" (Nordh.H. et al 2009). I believe, the 606 trail meets all the four restorative experiences (Being Away, fascination, extent and compatibility.) characterized by the Art Theory (Kaplan and Kaplan, 1995). The trail is lined with a a good balance of hard and soft scapes that makes it successful as a restorative element to the neighborhoods. The variations in the landscape including small trees, shrubs and flowering plants offer a break in the monotony.
From the three hours I spent on the trail biking back and forth, the interaction i had and I saw between the users was nothing short of a success that the project is meant to manifest. The break out spaces allow successful social interaction. I was able to see people dancing for music, group of friends resting in the steps after a skating spree etc.
The trail is a great project that serves as evidence for further successful redevelopment of under utilized spaces in Chicago. However like every other development initiative, the trail projects (the 606 and the other proposed in Chicago) are perceived as a gentrification initiative. The city of Chicago has been performing tremendous initiatives through community engagement. "By developing under-utilized spaces, we're working to improve quality of life for everyone who lives in the area," Scheinfeld said.(dna info, March 2016. Projects like the 606 trail and the upcoming projects are reinforced with successful evidences, research and community involvement. They simply need to be seen as a community development element that can improve safety in the backyards of the communities. They also foster public health and interaction.
Lawndale with its industrial corridor boundary once housed several manufacturing units that lay abandoned. Although the abandoned railroads are not elevated they still split the residential areas physically and they would foster the same potential as much as an elevated rail park provides at the 606. Such a abandoned rail road development on the ground level also will be a great success given that the idea is about providing more green spaces for the communities in need.
References:
Nordh, H., et al., Components of small urban parks that predict the possibility for restoration. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening (2009), doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2009.06.003
https://grist.org/cities/chicagos-new-sky-park-will-make-the-high-line-look-like-a-punk/
https://www.bettergov.org/news/as-the-nations-rail-hub-chicago-is-an-expensive-and-dangerous-bottleneck
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160320/pilsen/pilsens-own-606-trail-rahm-announce-new-paseo-project/
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