Many
of the designs can change Boston by helping its citizens to better understand
the workings of the city--by allowing them to participate in the systems
that allow the city to function. If people better understand the systems
of the city, then they can better understand their places within the city.
And by making their understand more than merely facts--by making it part
of their aesthetic experience, in all its dimensions--then each person can
discover his own personal connections to the larger services that connect
all citizens to one another and to the larger city.
Ann O'Hara Wilkiemeyer connects the underground conduits with the visible
flows of the Muddy River and shows the beauty of cleaning polluted water
into a substance that serves the city directly by stopping fires.
Leigh Fitts makes a disdained activity like dredging polluted rivers
into a functional and fascinating activity that is part of building the
city and making it better. Rui-ling Zhang
takes people on a simple walk that helps them understand the technical workings
of past history of municipal water services and makes it a rich contemporary
experience. Tracey Miller's 'dredged
gardens' that clean water and soil allow people to viscerally participate
in making the city better. And Ah-Yeon Kim's
design explores flooding throughout all of its dynamic regimes.
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