- I have a thing for ferries.
Says Dr McDreamy to Meredith in Grey’s Anatomy when they first start dating. Well, I have a thing for ferries too. I loved the years when my friends Matt and Elizabeth lived over at Bainbridge Island and I had to be on the ferry most every day while staying with them. An who doesn’t have a thing for ferries? Certainly not the cameras spotting them in every movie or TV series taking place in Seattle, floating land marks.
We don’t have ferries in Umeå any more. There used to be, when I was a kid, ferries taking passengers between Umeå and Wasa in Finland. But the Umeå River isn’t deep enough for modern ferries, the bridges crossing the river too low, and the port moved out to the coast. And left the Umeå waterfront empty and abandoned.
The Seattle waterfront is nothing but abandoned though, Elliot bay makes it very busy. But it isn’t friendly in a welcoming way. The Alaskan Viaduct Highway 99 and the parking underneath has been cutting it off from Downtown making it an emotional grey zone when it comes to places to visit. Well, that is all going to change now. Exactly like the waterfront in Umeå is changing.
My two cities share the same vision: to turn the cities’ face to the water. To reconnect the city to the water. To build a city front porch where people want to hang out feeling happy and safe.
Seattle has chosen landscape architect James Corner (maybe best known for the Highline in New York http://www.thehighline.org/james-corner-field-operations-and-diller-scofidio-renfro), as the designer of the 26-block transformation which will take place the coming years up to 2020 http://waterfrontseattle.org. Umeå is ahead of Seattle, already finished Broparken, one of three parks in the 9-block area called The City Between the Bridges http://www.umea.se/umeakommun/kommunochpolitik/planerochstyrdokument/utvecklingochplanering/stadsplaneringochbyggande/projekt/stadenmellanbroarna.4.5c07cebb11a983a683e8000779099.html, and the main attraction Väven http://kulturvaven.se, the new building for cultural arts well on it’s way, changing the Umeå skyline in a big way.
Wednesday this week James Corner was in Seattle presenting his work, this far. And even though Greater Seattle inhabits 3,5 million people and Umeå 117 000, the intentions for the new front porches are very similar. Even though the Seattle waterfront is 26 blocks and the one in Umeå only 9, the visions are to transform them into a green and friendly space, attracting people to walk, bike, listen to concerts, play, eat, roller skate, parkouring (Umeå) swim (Seattle, there will be a big pool on a barge at the water in Elliot Bay) and just hang out with an ice cream people spotting.
Seattleites are asked to dream big and to be involved in the design. The Parkour park and the skate park in Umeå happened in collaboration with skaters and the Umeå association for Parkour, UPKF http://www.stolterman.com/upkf_english_/start.html. Interactivity is the new black. Big changes usually causes big worries, so letting ordinary people into the process is not only strategically smart, it is also beneficial for the project.
The original idea was to open Väven, the building for cultural arts, at the inauguration of Umeå the European Capital of Culture 2014 some month ago. Well, the building is there, the spectacular glass exterior inspired by the graphic birch stem is up, but the interior is yet to be finished and the opening scheduled to November.
That’s a minor thing though compared to the stalled situation in Seattle. Bertha (yes, she has a name), the huge drill boring the tunnel through Seattle which will replace the Alaskan Viaduct 2016 making it possible to connect Downtown to the waterfront, is for some unknown reason stuck since weeks, even months back, making the time plan for the waterfront project uncertain.
I love the ideas for both my two waterfronts. I love that the city centers will expand all the way down to the water. I love the wood, different kinds of stone and grass, the materials chosen for feet and paws to walk on. I love the parks and the greenery, and the vision that the waterfronts will change to a social and vibrant welcoming spot all year round. I love how my cities want it’s citizens to be comfortable and thrive at the heart of the town, at the artery that Umeå River and Elliot Bay are.
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