The RAPID 5 Project is a collaborative effort between the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) and the Urban Land Institute Columbus (ULI) to develop innovative visions to enhance the five major riparian corridors that run through Columbus. These watersheds include The Big Darby, Scioto, and Olentangy Rivers, and Alum and Big Walnut Creeks.
RAPID 5 aims to provide communities with safe, easy, and equitable access to the areas ‘green and blue’ assets while creating the amenities and programming that will further draw people in. The eventual goal of the project is to connect the corridors into a cohesive greenway system that serves to connect the numerous socioeconomically diverse communities in the Columbus metropolitan area.
This studio set out to move the vision forward in a tangible way, transitioning from a high-level concept to practical, local improvements along Alum Creek in East Columbus and Bexley.
Five professional design firms were originally tasked with brainstorming ideas for enhancing the vibrancy of these underutilized waterways. This studio capitalized on the positive momentum created by AECOM’s Vision for Alum Creek, a community-led vision to plan for a future where natural resources, parks, and rivers are integrated into the fabric of the neighborhoods and communities surrounding Alum Creek. Taking the idea to perform outreach and generate localized ideas for stakeholders a step further, the students coalesced this semester and overcame the lingering effects of a global pandemic, connecting with people and stakeholders to identify opportunities to create equitable access to the waterway.
The studio intended to create an implementable plan that furthered the goals of the RAPID 5 Project in the Alum Creek Watershed, with three primary goals in mind.
- Enhancing community engagement and seek input from people and organizations that make use of the Alum Creek Watershed
- Becoming more knowledgeable on the communities that are directly affected by Alum Creek
- Expanding upon the ideas put forth in AECOM's vision with clear recommendations and a plan for implementation
Students:
- Jacob Ball
- Greg Bowman
- Brian Brightbill
- Zach Bristol
- Braelyn Buchler
- Emma Dingeldein
- Connor Johnson
- Daniel Kromer
- Alex Lammers
- Lakesha Lewis
- Jacob Miller
- Elizabeth Phoung
- Kayla Robinson
