NASHVILLE RIVERFRONT PARK MASTER PLAN
Nashville, TN
A former wharf turned into dysfunctional amphitheater, sand and gravel barge operations, an NFL stadium, riverboat paddlewheelers, record flooding, a commuter rail, kudzu and country music, bicycling and BBQ festival, and historic replica forts that everyone wants to save but no one wants to maintain. All in competition for space on the riverbanks of downtown Nashville. Add in a hundred different city master plans, the Nashville Riverfront Master Plan unifies previous planning efforts, conflicting and competing uses, while proposing a visionary intervention into Nashville’s downtown. The New Riverfront Park is designed to provide new public attractions, parkland, waterfront access, and event programming logic, giving residents and visitors a reason to come and enjoy both sides of the riverfront. When fully implemented, the project area will be ten times the size of the existing Riverfront Park and include a 2-mile experiential pedestrian loop along both sides- and over- the river.
A primary goal of the restructured and expanded riverfront is to create an astounding recreational and visual attraction for residents and visitors, or as I coined: “to create a new front porch” for Nashville. The park design is heavily influenced by event programming, in particular, expanding the possibilities for musical performance on the riverfront. Through manipulation of riverbanks and careful consideration of flexible programming, the management of riverfront uses have a logical organization that provides opportunities for families and festivals. My work on the project included project management of 18 subconsultants as well as design and client management for the larger riverfront park as well as the first phase Play Park, which is currently under construction.
More information can be found here.
CLIENT:
Nashville Metro Parks, Nashville Metropolitan Development Authority
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Hargreaves Associates, Project Manager; Lead for Play Park