charrette schedule

Return to the River: A Vision for Reuniting a City with Her River

Distinguished as the third oldest river in the world, the French Broad has seen a lot of changes throughout its existence; life has come and gone, mountains have been pushed up and worn down around it.

In more recent times, the river has been exposed to the human experience. The city of Asheville grew up along its banks. During the city’s early years, the river’s edge was adorned with parks, lagoons, and strolling paths. A riverboat transported people up and down the river and it became a destination for visitors visiting Asheville via private train cars.

The end of the 1800s brought with it an industrial surge which took hold of the easily-developed river plains. Factories, warehouses, and commercial railroads began to choke the waterway and forced people away from the river.

The stock market crash of 1929 slowed Asheville’s economy to a trickle. Most of the industry along the river struggled and collapsed. Adjacent neighborhoods followed suit and also fell into disuse, barricading the river with scrap yards and deteriorating structures. In time, the city turned its back on the river and used it as a dumping ground and sewer.

In the late 1980s, the city began to once again take notice of the river. RiverLink, a non-profit organization, was created to “spearhead the economic and environmental revitalization of the French Broad River and its tributaries as a place to work, live, and play.”  Many community groups and programs have also taken root along the river and seeds of redevelopment are being sown.

Our 2007 Internship will focus on finding innovative ways for the city of Asheville to re-embrace the river.

The 10-day charrette will bring top students from across the country into a creative design forum with city officials, design professionals, and other key stake-holders to explore ideas and identify opportunities. The team will engage in a collaborative problem-solving process in order to develop these ideas into a set of realistic recommendations that can guide future planning and development activities. These recommendations and ideas will be applied to create a vision for future development.

Three critical sites have been selected as focus areas. These areas each provide a unique set of challenges and opportunities for students to test their ideas and develop credible plans that will meet the crucial objective of reconnecting the city with the river. The sites are as follows:

1. The River Arts District – a vital neighborhood which lies between downtown Asheville and the French Broad River.
2. The Norfolk Southern Rail Yard – a large rail yard that sits at the crux of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers.
3. The Biltmore Village Neighborhood – a historic planned community at the entrance to George Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate.

This summer’s internship charrette promises to be both challenging and exciting as we embark on the monumental opportunity to help the City of Asheville Return to the River.

We hope you’ll play a role in this pivotal event and we invite you apply online now and view our charrette schedule.