Urban Instigators: Reclaiming the Duwamish Waterways

Abstract

The Duwamish waterway is a river shaped and scared by industry. It has been a vital working waterway of Seattle for over 100 years. The Duwamish Waterway is the larger of two MIC's (manufacturing and industrial center) in Seattle and is a crucial job base for the region by employing more than 100,000 people. The Duwamish Waterway is an interracial part in Seattle's economy by supporting commercial navigation, employment, and commerce. As a result the shores of the Duwamish have been heavily industrialized and its waters contaminated from over a century of industrial use. Communities along the Duwamish, such as Georgetown and South Park have been cut off from its shores leaving discarded lands and communities disconnected from recreational use. My thesis proposes a community based re-industrialization of experience economies on discarded sites in effort to reintroduce the Duwamish Waterway to the surrounding communities. To accomplish this I propose the insertion of a new manufacturing industry focused on the production of experience economies using the tools of industry, such as shipping containers and barges to deploy program elements down the Duwamish Waterway to reclaim discarded sites for the surrounding communities.