Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
nature preservation and future land development to retrofi tting a built
environment that is embedded with competing economic, cultural, and
political meanings.
Metropolitan Nature in Austin
Since its humble beginnings in 1839, Austin has frequently been recog-
nized as a city with great potential to develop in harmony with nature.
A 1970s citizen's group notes that “the idea of a greenbelt city has cap-
tured the imagination of Austinites from the city's founding.” 1 The fi rst
comprehensive plan for the city, the 1928 City Plan , presented detailed
plans for municipal parks along Austin's waterways because “the natu-
ral beauty of its topography and the unusual climate [make] it an ideal
residential city.” 2 In 1961, a newly adopted master plan introduced the
concept of greenbelts or linear parks along the major inner city creeks and
subsequent master plans continued to emphasize the importance of urban
nature. 3
One of the most fully realized visions of Austin's metropolitan nature
is the bicentennial project of 1976, which proposed a comprehensive plan
for the city with the creeks as organizing elements for recreation and trans-
portation infrastructure. Both Shoal Creek and Waller Creek underwent
civic improvement projects in the 1970s and 1980s to realize the greenbelt
visions of various planning endeavors while providing fl ood and erosion
control. However, the 1976 plan continues to be an idealized dream of
integrating the creeks in the urban fabric. Construction and maintenance
of creekside parks and hike-and-bike trails is intermittent and public access
tends to be limited to short stretches of creek. Meanwhile, construction
continues on the Shoal Creek hike-and-bike trail to undo the damage of
the Memorial Day fl ood almost three decades ago.
Related to the local desire for metropolitan nature is a call to protect
water quality. The issue of water quality has been a central aim of urban
planning since the beginnings of the Austin Tomorrow Comprehensive
Plan process in the mid-1970s, due in large part to the cultural impor-
tance of Barton Springs. A 1987 poll of the general population found that
water quality trailed only traffi c congestion as the most pressing problem
faced by Austin residents. 4 The emphasis on water quality in the urban
core is a product of the historical importance of the creeks and rivers to
early residents, evolving knowledge about the state of the environment
through scientifi c study of the region's water resources, and environmental
degradation concerns that emerged in the 1970s.
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