What if the Keystone XL Pipeline project wasn’t a black-or-white issue? In our Houston office, we’ve been hearing a lot about both sides of the Pipeline debate—and after several in-office conversations earlier this year about the efficacy of the project, we started thinking: what could be done to make this project better? What would a… Read more »
What if the Keystone XL Pipeline project wasn’t a black-or-white issue? In our Houston office, we’ve been hearing a lot about both sides of the Pipeline debate—and after several in-office conversations earlier this year about the efficacy of the project, we started thinking: what could be done to make this project better? What would a landscape architect do? What can a designer remember about this infrastructural project and all its component parts?
Infrastructure projects are rarely black and white issues. So many failed infrastructural projects across the US have been too unilaterally (narrowly) focused on solving a singular problem (moving water, moving cars, efficiency), without remembering all of the other layers of development that are often working in concert with the development within the same space. People need space to ride bikes, walk, move; etc. This idea—“Landscape Infrastructure”—that the design and creation of landscape architectural and infrastructural projects can have multifaceted benefits while still solving infrastructural problems—is one of our key tenants in our firm.
So, how would we address the landscape of the Keystone XL Pipeline? In a somewhat tongue-in-cheek proposal, we thought that if they are going to develop 5000 miles of infrastructure, we might get 5000 miles of bike paths out of the project. (more…)
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Louis Zimmerman
I really like this idea. As a person who has walked the Coast to Coast Wainwright Trail across Northern England and am familiar with other English Trail Systems I think the presence of such a path could be a tourism boon for small towns along the path much as those paths have been for small English villages. Interpretive sites are an unnecessary expense because over time guide books would develop. Making the trip would be a challenge and people like challenges.