Envisioning McKeesport
McKeesport, PA, 2004
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In June 2004, artists Jackie Brookner,
Stephanie Flom, and Ann Rosenthal were invited by the
Monongahela Conference of the Studio for Creative Inquiry,
Carnegie Mellon University, to explore the potential of
waterfront public space and the restoration of ecological
systems in McKeesport, Pennsylvania .
Speaking with a broad cross section of the community
clarified the necessity of linking social, economic and
ecological revitalization. The team looked for potential nodal
points where needs and problems intersect, and solutions could
build upon existing resources. The keystone of our concept plan
for McKeesport as a Trail Town is to create a vibrant youth job
training program where youth learn and earn as they help create
the trail system.
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To help McKeesport
imagine itself as a thriving place where people want to
work and live, and to instill local pride about rich
natural and social resources, we created a fictional
tourist brochure set in 2020, after McKeesport had won
the coveted 2018 Urban Conservation Excellence Award.
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We also provided a conceptual
plan with step-by-step phasing to realize the vision. The plans
include a trail system integrating historical and industrial
buildings with ecological and economic revitalization; a new
park that will celebrate the confluence of the two rivers and
Mckeesport’s rich history, and will demonstrate sustainable
watershed practices; as well as a youth job training program
that will create new skills for local youth, from building to
ecological restoration. |
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railroad roundhouse |
water round house |
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| In this post-industrial city at
the confluence of the Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers,
vegetation finds opportunity amidst the remnants of the steel
industry infrastructure. |
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