We’re excited to share that construction of the community-designed World Garden Commons at Rabanus Park is nearing completion. Gast Construction and subcontractors are working on the final details, which include raised trails, a boardwalk, the basin overlook and natural play features, including the “spiral log” concept designed by Westside Elementary fifth graders. This final stage of construction…
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Community-driven design projects in underserved neighborhoods can not only change the built world, but also provide opportunities for residents to build their own capacities. A new book by Barbara Brown Wilson, Resilience for All: Striving for Equity Through Community-Driven Design, features the World Garden Commons at Rabanus Park, the pilot site of The Fargo Project…
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Much of the work planned for World Garden Commons at Rabanus Park is emerging during construction this fall. Today the most notable are the raised paths. Mowed and raised paths connect the features and encourage people to explore the urban prairie installation within the stormwater basin. They are built on a rock bed that allows…
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All across Fargo, large stormwater basins temporarily hold water runoff, sometimes for only hours at a time, during heavy rains or snowmelt. These basins are hidden in plain sight to most residents. Many of the basins are uninviting, unadorned, sunken grass lots with limited plant and wildlife diversity. An exception is the World Garden Commons…
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Adam Laschkewitsch, a 17-year-old Boy Scout from Fargo, recently completed a service project at World Garden Commons that may earn him an Eagle Scout designation. His project will help transform a neighborhood stormwater basin by providing a boardwalk over a wetland. Often, the conditions leave the basin muddy and make it difficult to walk. The…
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Thankfully, temperatures are back to freezing in the region. Spring can wait at the World Garden Commons until our winter work at the northeast inlet is nearly complete. Because the soil at the bottom of the basin remains mushy and soft, and never fully dries, some of the heavy work at the site had to…
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Construction at World Garden Commons, the pilot site for The Fargo Project, started August 2015 and is slated to continue through this year. Planning the sequence of Commons projects has been a balancing act as we strive to keep stakeholders informed and involved – while we honor the region’s unpredictable weather. After all, there are…
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The City of Fargo is doing something few in the country have ever tried: it’s designing a community commons by reintroducing natural features to a simple, engineered and barren stormwater basin. Built in the 1980s, the stormwater basin located at Rabanus Park was designed with a single purpose of flood control. It is one of…
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Fresh, home-made chocolate pudding, warm, just off the stove is a favorite treat during cold winter evenings. After it comes off the stove, the pudding is in a semi-liquid state that requires you pour it into a bowl to eat or let it cool and solidify in the refrigerator. While our top soil is some…
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Prior to construction in 2015, the World Garden Commons stormwater basin had a concrete channel. It was removed as an experiment of The Fargo Project to answer many questions including, can stormwater basins be green spaces within an urban area that feature streams which mimic those found in nature? Under Natural Resources Management Professor Jack…
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