1. Nov 7, 2012 TKF Site Visits
Landscapes of Resilience
An integrated, transdisciplinary partnership to
increase understanding of how urban
green spaces and the process of their
creation serve as catalyzing
mechanisms within disrupted systems that
confer resilience across scales.
Keith Tidball, Erika Svendsen, Lindsay Campbell, Rebecca
Salminen Witt, Traci Sooter, Nancy Chikaraishi, Jennifer
Silva Brown, Christopher Cotten, and Donna Coble

2. Who we are – our two city
transdisciplinary team

3. Who we are – our two city
transdisciplinary team
Detroit, MI
Joplin, MO
across scales, across borders

4. Resilience is…

5. Red zones
“Red Zones” refer to multiple settings
(spatial and temporal) that may be
characterized as intense, potentially
or recently hostile or dangerous,
including those in post-disaster
situations caused by natural disasters
such as hurricanes and earthquakes,
as well as those associated with
terrorist attacks and war, or longer
term decline of capacity and
resilience.

6. Red zones

7. Red zones cont.
OSSPs in Red Zones
› Some will be sudden, some will be longer term or ‘slow-burn’.
› But wherever a given city is on that gradient, green
spaces,
the act of greening, and its sacred symbolic
resilience will form a common thread.
› Our team is documenting this important role of OSSPs in ‘red zones,’
and furthering the understanding about the nature of red zones
themselves, the gradient previously mentioned.
› We are demonstrating OSSPs value as not simply optional
decoration in the landscape, but as fundamental and critically
important adaptations; as
sources and demonstrations of
resilience in the urban environment, at multiple scales.

8. The Story
Detroit & Joplin
› Detroit and Joplin experienced different kinds of disturbance,
at different places on the ‘red zone’ gradient.
› They are now experiencing similar adaptations around the role
of greening; using OSSPs as catalysts for rebirth and
rebuilding. It is a fascinating and compelling story.
› The research implications are easily applied to the larger idea
of expanding the support for and presence of OSSPs
nationally and internationally as a matter of strategy
or policy.

9. Context
Detroit: a “slow burn” red zone

10. Context
Detroit: a “slow burn” red zone

11. Context
Detroit: a “slow burn” red zone
2012

12. Context
Detroit: a “slow burn” red zone

13. Context
PORTAL

14. Context
Eastern Market

15. Context
Lafayette Towers

16. Context
Dequindre Cut

17. Context
Detroit Riverfront

18. Context
Jefferson Avenue

19. Context
Corporate Citizens

20. Context
Greening
Workforce

21. Context
Green Corps

22. Concept
Path
Detroit Concept
› Through the elements of Path,
Portal
Destination and Surround, the Portal
individual experience comes together within
the context of a broader relationship with the
surrounding community and landscape.
Destination
Surround

23. Concept
Detroit Concept reconnecting to self
› Allows Detroiters to ’see’ and ‘know’
each other to strengthen a shared sense of
culture and heritage.
connecting to each other
connecting to land

24. Design
Detroit Conceptual Master Plan
› The park design reconnects Detroiters
to themselves, the land, and each
provide a deeper
other to
human experience.
› It seeks to
foster social
awareness and dialogue,
and build opportunities to recognize
and share past and present social
heritage and culture in the context of
the natural environment.

25. Design

26. Park Vision

27. Design
Story Markers
› The site has the potential to be
the heart of a radiating
network of sacred
moments within the City, in
that is both highly visible and
linked to a network of green
open spaces.
story marker =

28. Research
Detroit Research Summary
› What are the distinct attributes of OSSPs
and OSSP creation in “slow-burn”
contexts?
› How do these attributes compliment and
contrast with OSSPs and OSSP creation in
sudden red zone contexts?

29. Next stop… Joplin, MO
Detroit, MI
Joplin, MO
OSSPs across scales, across borders

30. Welcome to Joplin- Storm Facts
› On May 22, 2011 an EF5
tornado cut a path 6 miles
long by ¾ mile wide through
Joplin
› The storm continued for 21
miles across 2 counties
› 161 people lost their lives, 3 in
Photo: Kansas City Star Books
Cunningham park
› Over 7,500 homes were
destroyed or damaged
› Over 5,000 buildings were
destroyed or damaged

31. Importance of Cunningham
Park
› Cunningham Park is considered ground zero as the storm
reached it’s highest intensity here
› Contains 3 elements the people of Joplin consider memorials:
• Victims Memorial, Children's Reflecting Pond, Volunteer Tribute
› At times over 1,200 people
per day visit the park
› Has become a gathering
place for important events
for the community
• Six month anniversary
• one year anniversary
• 10,000 person walk of Unity

32. Path of Tornado
Cunningham Park

33. Aftermath

34. Cunningham Park

35. Cunningham Park

36. Cunningham Park damage video
Add video
http://lrd.buffalohair-jage.com/2012/01/16/cunningham-park-in-joplin-missouri-before-f5-tornado-now/

37. Site today

38. Master plan

39. Connection to park and
neighborhood

40. Worden’s Four Tasks of Mourning
1. The Portal: Worden’s Task of Mourning #1: Accept the Reality of the Loss
“Through the portal the individual crosses over into sacred space” - TKF
Crossing over into acceptance of the new reality
Could symbolize the crossing over of a threshold from one status or identity to another in the
presence of witnesses such as married to widow, victim to survivor, etc.
2. The Path: Worden’s Task of Mourning #2: Process the Pain of Grief
Provides structure to the individual’s experience within the space and on their grief journey
Provides a sense of safety
Walking the path provides opportunity to reflect (meditation) on the loss and the rebuild
(resilience)
3. The Destination: Worden’s Task of Mourning #3: Adjust to a World Without the Deceased (or
what was lost)
“A defined point toward which the individual moves on the path.” - TKF
“Destination is an end-point to which the individual is drawn, having moved through the
portal and walked on the path.” - TKF
Symbolizes renewal of the community
4. The Surround: Worden’s Task of Mourning #4: Reinvest in Society while maintaining an
enduring connection to the deceased (or what was lost)
“Provided through plantings, fencing, trees, sculpture, or whatever else provides an
encompassing sense of boundary, safety and enclosure within the OSSP.” –TKF
Outline of houses, Bench and Journal all symbolize enduring connection, we move on but
don’t forget
Symbolizes the resilience of the community

41. Application in the Gardens
1. During the May 22, 2011 tornado over 8,500 homes were erased from the landscape
of Joplin. Sitting at the high point of the area, the design suggests “penciling in” the
outline of 3 homes that were destroyed on the site of the gardens. This metaphorical
sketch of the homes responds to Worden’s first task, accepting the reality of the loss
and our assignment of that task, the Portal. Visitors will pass through the same
location of what was the portal of the lost home, the front door.
2. The Path takes the visitor on a journey around the site allowing for Processing the
Pain of Grief and promoting reflection. The directional nature of the path addresses
the need for structure along the journey.
3. Because of the vast number of people affected by the tornado, there are 4 areas
that act as destination along the path with one destination having more hierarchy
than the others. All four spaces include benches, a small bubbling water feature
and OSSP journals; in addition, the fourth has a larger bubbling water feature and a
water wall tiled with drawings made by local children adding hierarchy to the
space and tranquil sound to the experience. All of the water features represent the
renewal of the community. Planting beds surrounding the destinations contain
native plants laced with a variety of fragrant species and alternating blooming
seasons. The water features and plantings engage the visual, auditory, sense of
touch and smell.
4. Along with 11 native Missouri shade trees and native plantings the unifying circle of
the “Butterfly Garden” provides a connection from space to space while also
providing the encompassing sense of boundary, safety and enclosure within the
OSSP. At the Overlook, the “outline” of the house also acts as surround; plaques
telling the story of the tornado, the destruction, acts of heroism, miracle and survival
all provide an enduring connection to the deceased (or what was lost) -We move on
but do not forget

42. Site plan:
Overlook and Butterfly Garden

43. Cunningham home
before & after

44. Site after storm

45. Remembering the past

46. Maintain an enduring
connection to the past

47. Portal, Path, Surround, Destination

48. Butterfly Garden, Overlook,
Plantings

49. View as visitors approach

50. Portal

51. Path

52. Sense of Surround

53. Destination, Bench, Journal

54. Destination, Bench, Journal
Joplin design 5

55. Architecture Master Elective
MARC 531 Elective
Carlo Scarpa details
Art of the Detail
Details, when they are successful, are not mere decoration. They do not distract or
entertain. They lead to an understanding of the whole of which they are an inherent
part. Peter Zumthor, Thinking Architecture
When: Spring 2013
Credits: 3 hours
Instructors: Nancy Chikaraishi, co-taught with Traci Sooter
Course Description:
This course will take a real-world project from conceptual design to buildable details.
Precedent research will be a critical component of the exploration and development of
understanding detailing. This class will look at how architects have created details that
reinforce and express their design ideas. Each student will have the opportunity to
investigate the various ways a specific detail has been used to express tectonics and
materiality leading to a greater understanding of the whole.
Application of the Art of the Detail will be explored through design details of the Joplin
Butterfly Gardens and Overlook project in Cunningham Park, an “Open Space, Sacred
Place” proposed for the City of Joplin. This project recreates the outline of three existing
homes erased by the 2011 Joplin tornado, a pavilion, five water features, story boards, a
butterfly garden and four sacred spaces and benches. We will work with the Joplin
community, contractors and sub-contractors as we develop creative details that are well
crafted and sustainable while working within a budget. We plan to build this project in a
subsequent class in the Fall 2013 semester.

56. Research
Landscapes of resilience
Primary Research questions:
› How are natural resources and open space
employed by communities as mechanisms to
enhance resilient, adaptive processes of
recovery?
› What are the differences between and
similarities across these processes in response
to different perturbations and across different
time scales?

57. Research
Research sub-themes
› Discourse / nature narratives
› Sacred space
› Community processes / governance /
stewardship
› Individual / site user experiences

58. Research
Research methods
› Content Analysis
› Interviews
› Participant Observation
› Visual methods
› Individual survey

59. Research
Individual resilience research
› Individual Resilience – capacity for positive
adaptation (Masten, 2001)
› Not simply lack of psychopathology
› Fostering of protective factors (minimize risk)
› Promotion of post-experience responses:
› Optimism (Dispositional vs. Situational)
› Constructive Coping
› Comparative investigation into the role of fostering
protective factors and psychological resilience (in
both Joplin & Detroit OSSP users)

60. Research
Individual research
conducted
› Joplin Impact Project – August 2011
› Examines the effect of the storm on
residents’ psychological, social, and
physical well being.
› May/June2012 (12 month follow-up)
Assessment of Joplin residents
› Incorporated additional open-ended
questions related to OSSP design for Joplin

61. Research
OSSP Planning Grant research
in progress
› Two site visits per location with participant
observation by research team completed
› TKF Book and Bench journal data analyzed
via Leximancer
› Executive Summary for web completed
› Journal article in process – including analysis by
site type
› In-depth stakeholder interviews conducted
and transcribed (N = 20)

62. Research
Communications plan
› Mutual learning, site exchange visits, symposium at
NYC Urban Field Station
› Network of multi-media websites
› Publications: whitepapers, journal articles, book
chapters
› Lessons learned presented at conferences
› Training and messaging for urban forestry strike
teams / disaster response teams

63. Conclusion
Joplin & Detroit: Towards a
universal understanding of OSSPs

64. March, 2012