Cawrse Discusses Rewilding Urban Parks with Architects Newspaper

Senior associate and landscape architect Anna Cawrse, ASLA, PLA recently joined Kinder Baumgardner, SWA Group on Architects Newspaper’s webinar, Trading Notes, to discuss various approaches to urban parks in an era of Covid-19. Watch the recording of the webinar to hear the entire conversation.

The webinar kicked off with a discussion about how widespread business closures during the pandemic have been putting pressure put on cities’ finances. “COVID may have exacerbated funding issues, but what we don’t want to do is create a short-term solution for a long-term problem—a problem that has been around for awhile,” responded Cawrse.

“At Sasaki, we sometimes need to think about the end of a project to inform its early designs. As we come out of this pandemic, we, as designers, need to be agents of change. We need to be advocates for helping fund parks. We can think about how we can lend our voices to cities to help influence decisions that will impact the future of parks. We need to advocate for impact fees so that as new development comes online, some money is going back into the public realm. We also need to look to other cities for creative ways they are tackling issues, like using diversified funding streams instead of just one source of money. All this work will ensure that a love of urban parks is supported by funding.”

When discussing rewilding urban parks as a strategy for designing for the pandemic, Cawrse pointed out that designers also must consider how their designs are reacting to climate change. Designers must also think about what kind of park their communities are looking for, because not every community will be excited about less-manicured parks. “Involving the community in the design process gives them more opportunities to feel ownership of the space,” says Cawrse.

Rewilding Greenwood Community Park in Baton Rouge, LA

Cawrse also discussed Sasaki’s design strategies for rewilding aspects of Greenwood Community Park, a large neighborhood park in Baton Rouge, LA. Since completing the park’s master plan, Sasaki has begun implementing Phase I of the design, which includes restoring the park’s Cypress Bayou.