Albina Vision Community Investment Plan Wins a BSLA Award
The Boston Society of Landscape Architects recognized the Albina Vision Community Investment Plan with an Analysis & Planning Merit Award!
“We are intentionally designing a new kind of community in the lower Albina area of Portland. The ground is special. It is a place where the racial inequity of urban renewal came, then came again, and again…. Promises were made and broken. Black people and immigrants were displaced. Wealth was taken. The past mandates a special approach to a new and brighter future.”
– Albina Vision Trust
The Albina Vision Community Investment Plan is a framework for returning home. Following decades of urban renewal, interstate highway construction, and development that prioritized large, inwardly facing civic spaces, this plan sought healing through community-driven design and radical joy. Community youth, artists and advocates came together for over 18 engagement sessions, during the pandemic, to craft a 100-year community vision. The collaborative mission has resulted in a neighborhood that enables community governance, generational wealth, and planning literacy. The outcome is a framework for livable spaces, a renewed sense of belonging, Black wealth generation and a vibrant public realm.
Congratulations to the Albina community and the dedicated leaders who shepherded the project – Albina Vision Trust and Oregon Metro; as well as El Dorado, Soapbox Theory, the Meadows Group, ECONorthwest, and Ideas and Action. We would also like to thank the wonderful community leaders who shared time and inspiration – Cameron Whitten, Bobby Fouther, Sharon Gary-Smith, Emmanuel Williams, Hobbs Waters, and many others.
Congratulations also to the other BSLA award winners! See the other award winners here.