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Project Method The 3R2N project team develops strategic knowledge and broad community discussions about rivers and streams. The strategic knowledge helps us understand what is happening in and along our rivers and streams and how we can either help or hinder their recovery. The project team has developed rigorous field methods to acquire this knowledge, gathering scientific data that leads to a spatial understanding of the the existing river conditions in terms of water quality and bank conditions. We then conduct a map analysis of each subject area to understand the forces affecting water quality, botany, bio-diversity, public access, use and bank conditions. We also look at historical material to understand the rivers and the range of human activities that have influenced their change over time. Using these tools, 3R2N seeks to indentify the potential for preservation and restoration of natural and cultural systems. In year two (2001), we began a series of Living River Dialogues to engage citizens in issues of water quality, riverbank diversity, stream restoration, and river advocacy. Community discussions insure that the widest ranges of voices are heard. Living River Dialogues not only provide us with the opportunity to share our previous year's research findings with the affected communities; they also provide the participants with a platform to discuss their relationship with the area's rivers and streams. Our goal is to build a groundswell of interest in the natural form and function of our three rivers in hopes that citizens will take an active role in defining an ecologically sound relationship with them. In the final stages of the project, we will work with citizens and policy makers to produce art, designs and restorative metaphors that result in progressive public-space action plans. The previous years' research will inform our approach as well as our results. We will identify a range of baseline practices with clearly defined social-political strategies, designed to enable communities to be involved in determining the future of their rivers and waterfronts. 3R2N attempts to provide the context from which the creative voice of Allegheny County citizenry will emerge, primed to develop the public policies and private economic programs that mark and define our urban places and ecosystems.
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 Stream Daylighting Workshop |
