Lost Community to Resilient District

Community reconnection is dependent on the revitalization of the site chosen for this project. Revitalization strategies that rely on universal fascinations such as waterfront beauty, culture, history, food, and recreation, have the potential to provide people from the downtown San Fernando area with reasons to reconnect to the currently neglected project site. Access to unique and novel experiences in addition to options not available in the downtown area become invitations for personal and community enhancements that reconnect those living and working downtown to the revitalized site. In turn, this reconnection creates an opportunity for the deserted site to survive and become resilient. Its resiliency provides stability to an even larger, expanded canal district. This project strategically layers a select set of universal fascinations in a revitalization project. These interests rely on several specific experiences with: urban environments and waterfronts; travel and food related to culture sparked by family and site histories; “making,” playful structures, and art such as collage; techniques such as mapping; concepts such as resiliency, survivability, reuse, and revitalization; and finally, a knowledge of precedents that rely on solutions regarding green spaces, markets, low-income housing, and transportation