Proposal for the Steelyard Commons Segment Ohio and Erie Canalway Towpath Trail Extension Cleveland, Ohio

Frances Whitehead, Lead ArtistLisa Norton, Art and Economics Consultant

2005-2006

Proposal for the Steelyard Commons Segment Ohio and Erie Canalway Towpath Trail Extension Cleveland, Ohio

Background information:

The Trail will be constructed in six segments beginning at the south end.

The Steelyard Commons segment, segment #2 in the sequence, is being built by a private developer as part of a shopping center with steel heritage theme.

This segment lies directly west of the Cleveland Works, Mittal Steel plant and passes by a prominent slag pile and other industrial elements related to the mill.

The soil is largely slag fill from decades of steel production on this site. Hard, non-retentive and highly alkaline, the “soil” is hostile to most plant material except some hardy wild species rarely cultivated.

Location of Steelyard Commons site

Ideas

• Understand and make visible the (g)local. • Identify and make visible other invisible economies.• Find new uses for local materials and by-products.• Consume what is produced at hand. • In so doing, use the first segment of the trail to generate materials that you

use to make the trail itself.• Build citizen and organizational capacity for new methodologies.• Build the machine… that makes the Towpath machine… that will make a

sustainable future.

• Thematically

• Conceptually

• Physically

Observations:

• The Towpath is a machine that is making the future of Cleveland. A catalytic project.

• The “chute” appears straight … but is actually a superorg of cycles of

(g)local production + consumption.

Premise:

• Frame the “chute” by developing both ends.

• Local Innovation theme at south end corresponds to Steel Heritage theme at north end.

Mittal Steel Air Cooled Blast Furnace Slag View at south end of Steelyard Commons

La Farge’s Alpena MI Cement Plant Reprocesses Cleveland Works’ slag

Essroc - Middlebranch, Ohio Grinds GGBFS 20G tons 1998 / 100G tons 2004

Slag Cement Sales 1996-2005

Cuyahoga

Cuyahoga River RAP River Sediment Forebay• Captures sediment early• Makes it available for topsoil production• Public Art Opportunities

Metroparks “zoo poo” + Local restaurant waste Amend river sediment for TP Trail soil production

The Urban Wild

The Natural Flats - Cleveland’s local Urban Wilds

The flats of the Cuyahoga River Valley are populated with

slag tolerant, first succession species

Trailside test plots to study propagation of slag tolerant species

Tech Aesthetic - Cultivating Biodiversity

Mega GraphicsInformation Interpretation and Amenity Thematics

• Maps, Graphs, Data, Code • Explain systems and economies • Relay Corporate Responsibility • Connect Virtual and Physical• Public Art Opportunities

QuickTimeª and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

An example of a CIVIC EXCHANGE Kiosk

Including place-making, and digital exchange potentials

biosphere

semiosphere technosphere

Sustainability

Culture: The fourth pillar of sustainability

Cultural Vitality

Well-being, Creativity Diversity & Innovation

Economic Health

Material Prosperity

Environmental Responsibility

Ecological Balance

Social Equity

Cohesion, Justice, Engagement

Sustainability

Culture = Values Sustain What? Creative City