Permaculture, Community Revitalization, and Sustainable Design

A small, but growing, group of neighbors in East Liberty, called the Borland Garden Cooperative, have come together in order to develop a sustainable, multi-purpose urban garden that eliminates vacancy, adds vibrancy and biodiversity, and serves as an educational tool and community gathering space.   

Funded by the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh, Sprout Fund, and the Sarah Heinz Foundation, the Borland Garden Cooperative partnered with East Liberty Development Incorporated, Pittsburgh Permaculture, and GTECH Strategies to develop a unique urban garden model.  Pashek Associates was hired to develop a master plan for the garden in which energy and water will be captured, materials will be recycled and reused, and everyone who works in the garden shares tools and the harvest.

The group envisions the garden as a place in which the surrounding community can come together to learn, share resources, work together, grow together, and share in the bounty.  Some of the unique features of the garden include an urban food forest, traditional vegetable garden, water cistern, bio-shelter, rain gardens, chicken coop, outdoor kitchen and gathering space, and a labyrinth.   

Chimney swift habitat helps offer pest management as well as doubling as educational signage.  A windspire serves as a sculptural focal point as well as powering lighting.  Bee and butterfly habitat promotes pollination within the garden.  A sensory garden entices the public to walk up to, smell, touch, taste, see and interact with the garden.  Compost bins help recycle chicken manure, garden waste, as well as compostable materials from adjacent neighbors. 

The master planning process is almost finished but that does not mean the work is done.  The Cooperative will be out in full force to prepare for the installation of the rain gardens, cistern, street trees, and urban food forest in the fall. 

Natural Playgrounds

More and more research is showing that children benefit from playing outdoors, specifically in nature.  Children are happier, healthier, and smarter when they connect with nature.  Several new movements in playground design have sought to incorporate nature in the play experience.  In addition, several playground manufacturers have responded by creating new lines of play structures and features that are nature inspired.

What are natural playgrounds?  Simply put, they are areas where children can play with natural elements such as wood, plants, rocks, dirt, and water.  Natural playgrounds incorporate features such as tunnels made from hollowed out trees, grass mounds, slides built into the hillside, tree stumps to climb and sit on, boulders to climb over, edible plants, butterfly gardens, and vegetable gardens.  Natural playgrounds offer opportunities for environmental education, unstructured play, social interaction, along with a more aesthetic setting.

A natural playground concept

Some playground equipment manufacturers are creating equipment made to look like tree houses, stumps, climbing boulders, and balance beams.  They are also promoting placing equipment into more naturalized settings with lots of trees and shrubs.  Whether you can call this a true “natural playground” is not the point.  The bottom line is, children should have access to playgrounds with more natural features, whether it is an existing playground that integrates manufactured play equipment with lush plantings, a brand new playground that includes all natural features, or a combination of both.

Traditional playground equipment incorporated into a naturalized play space

For more resources on natural or naturalized playgrounds check out NatureGrounds and the Natural Learning Initiative.  Or contact us about designing a natural playground for your community.

New York City Five Boroughs Ride

Pashek Associates staff member Mike Kotyk made his first journey to New York City for the 34^th annual Five Boro Bike Tour.   The ride took place on Sunday, May 1^st with more than 30,000 cyclists participating.  Featuring 42 miles of car-free streets through all five boroughs, the tour cruised by sites such as the Empire State Building, historic Harlem, Central Park, and the Statue of Liberty.

Mike and his wife stayed on the Upper West Side throughout the trip, which afforded them the opportunity to utilize the Hudson River Greenway to travel to and from the tour.  The Greenway is known as the most heavily used bikeway in the United States and is the longest trail in the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway system.  The planning and design of the greenway is remarkable as it provides a completely car free multi-use trail for commuters as well as for recreation.  The trail follows along the Hudson River for more than 13 miles providing great views and open air breezes off the water as it passes through several parks, playgrounds, and court complexes.  The southern terminus of the trail is at Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, which is where the tour began.

One of the things Mike was most looking forward to along the course of the tour was gaining a new perspective of the architecture throughout Manhattan.   Though he tended to focus more on not crashing into the plethora of other closely packed cyclists, the experience of being on a bicycle along Avenue of the Americas was awe inspiring.

The sharp contrast of leaving the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan and entering the lush green of Central Park was fantastic.  Taking in the beautiful scenery riding through the Park with 32,000 fellow cyclists was truly an experience Mike will never forget.

The first major rest area in Astoria Park was the most memorable.  Located along the East River in Queens, Astoria Park is situated adjacent to the Robert F. Kennedy (Triborough) Bridge.  The park contains New York City’s largest swimming pool and utilizes the space underneath the bridge deck for a skate park.  The views of the Triborough and Hell’s Gate Bridges, as well as the Manhattan Skyline across the East River, were absolutely beautiful.

The ride finishes dramatically by taking cyclists across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.  When opened in 1964, it was the world's longest suspension span bridge.  The entrances of the bridge are at historic Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island.  The Five Boro Bike Tour and the New York City Marathon are the only two events that allow people to cross the bridge without using a motor vehicle.

The tour culminated with a Festival at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island.  Finally, there was a short three mile ride to the Staten Island Ferry which was packed with bicycles as it floated by the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor on its way back to Battery Park in lower Manhattan.  In all, the ride was a very rewarding experience and one of the most spectacular events Mike says he has ever participated in. Needless to say, he’ll be making the trek back to New York City for the 2012 Five Boro Bike Tour.