VISIONS FOR THE RIVER RÖDER

Invited to propose solutions for public space in a rural flood plain near Dresden, Germany, Jackie Brookner conceived a plan for a multifunctional wetland park that would serve aesthetic, recreational, cultural, ecological, and agricultural needs–with walking and bike trails, restored habitat areas for amphibians and birds, and wetlands, meadows and sculpted berms to absorb floodwaters. The spiraling wetlands and walkways surround demonstration sites for wetland agriculture that would provide resources for sustainable textile products and research for sustainable wetland agriculture for the adjoining two and a half mile flood plain. Renewing the area’s long and now defunct textile tradition could help reduce the region’s staggering unemployment.