Environmentally-friendly development: Rust Belt to Green Belt in Milwaukee
Dave Steele | Thu, Jan 24th, 2008 | Category: Report | City: Milwaukee | Tags: dave steele, milwaukee, industrial midwest, greenbelt, closed factories, hank aaron state trail bike path, rust belt development, sierra club
When most people think of the industrial Midwest, “environmentally-friendly development” is not usually the first thing to come to mind. But in Milwaukee, a city built on wetlands and bluffs on the shores of Lake Michigan—a city that rose to prominence as a center of heavy manufacturing—the rebirth of Menomonee Valley shows that the terms “industrial job creation” and “environmental sensitivity” need not be mutually exclusive.
Long before Europeans settled in Milwaukee, the low-lying and marshy Menomonee Valley performed two vital functions: collecting water from the Menomonee River watershed, and serving as a source of fish and wild rice for the Potawatomi and other Native American tribes that gave Milwaukee it’s name (derived from the Algonquin for “gathering of the waters"). With rapid industrialization in the 19th Century, it was only a matter of time before this verdant valley was bought up and filled in to make way for factories and rail yards. So, in time, the Valley became the site of dozens of heavy manufacturing concerns such as foundries and tanneries, as well as stockyards and one of the largest rail service yards in the region.
You know the rest of the story: by the 1980s most of the factories went out of business or downsized, leaving behind thousands of unemployed workers decaying buildings and environmental contamination. Even if you’ve never been to Milwaukee, you can easily picture in your mind what the Valley used to be: shuttered, forlorn buildings, covered in weeds, pockmarked with graffiti. Dead, dying, and downright depressing. All in the midst of densely populated neighborhoods full of workers and those looking for work.
Now the Valley is home to a new bike path connecting the west side to Downtown, a new park complete with soccer fields and canoe launches, a motorcycle museum built by Milwaukee’s own Harley Davidson, and, most crucially for the future of our city, new, high-paying jobs that don’t necessarily require a college degree to obtain: jobs in printing, light manufacturing and food processing. And the Valley’s environmentally sensitive development helps return it to its ancient function of collecting storm water from throughout the watershed to prevent flooding and overwhelming the city’s wastewater system.
So how did we get from the classic Rust Belt nightmare to industrial redevelopment that has received recognition from the Sierra Club as a model of green urban development? Back in the mid-1990s, back when Al Gore was practically the only national figure talking about the country going “green,” back when Milwaukee and other Midwestern cities were reeling from the bottom dropping out of their industrial economies, a group of organizations representing the diverse neighborhoods immediately adjacent to the Valley formed a partnership with the companies who still hung on there. The purpose of the partnership was simple: to create, clean, family-supporting jobs where they were needed the most.
It took vision, and many years of effort, environmental remediation and new infrastructure to bring the Valley back. It was never an “environmental” project or an “economic” project. It was, and is, an environmental and economic development effort. It’s environmental sustainability and human sustainability at the same time.
Not only a great place for a bike ride, the Menomonee Valley is a reminder of what is possible when urban redevelopment puts people first and takes care of the basics: clean, livable space and good jobs.
Dave Steele is a planner who lives and works in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He works for a Milwaukee foundation that works to develop and support innovative approaches to urban education.
Matthew
Thu, Jan 24, 2008 at 6:31pm
Excellent.
My home town of London, Ontario, Canada should use this as a model for future development.
(The bottom is just falling out of it now - looks more and more like a “rust belt” town).
karl
Fri, Jan 25, 2008 at 4:17pm
As a former resident of Milwaukee, I’m glad that the valley is redeveloping, but I also kinda miss those old industrial buildings. I did a lot of “urban exploration” (before anyone used that term) down there when I was in High School. The former Milwaukee Road shops were my favorite place to explore, although they claimed the life of one of my friends in a fall (R.I.P. Paul). I’m glad I took some pictures.
Dave Steele
Fri, Jan 25, 2008 at 4:52pm
Thanks for the comment, Karl. I remember very well when your friend Paul passed away—though I didn’t know him his fall was of great interest to those of us who were drawn to exlpore abandoned buildings (which were abundant back in the mid 1990s). Very tragic.
I also miss the ruins of the old Milwaukee Road Shops, which is why I’m so glad that the City and its partners were able to save the old smokestacks (pictured above). I find them to be quite moving—two lone monuments standing as a testament to the generations of men who made their livings on that site.
bob stokes in Optional
Tue, Mar 04, 2008 at 1:41pm
For rustbelt cities, the primary task of sustainability seems to be remediation or reuse. That is, undoing the non-sustainable practices of their forefathers. And this would seem to put this class of cities at a severe disadvantage due to the expense of even the most prosaic clean up effort. .The good news is that for the most part, these cities have also inherited land use patters, mass transit systems, cultural institutions, etc, that give them a leg up on broader sustainable goals. Politically, it seems the movement for sustainability coincides with small shifts in city populations towards more affluent and educated folks. Does anyone know of any larger environmental movements in cities since Reagen that have been largely driven by less affluent folk in more traditional neighborhoods (that have not been driven by University faculty)?
Dave Steele
Tue, Mar 04, 2008 at 1:43pm
Walnut Way Conservation Corp is an interesting group here in Milwaukee ... it’s a grassroots organization in a low-income community on the city’s north side that has planted 40 community gardens that grow vegetables for the residents of the neighborhood.
Here’s the website: http://www.walnutway.org