3 Rivers 2nd Nature (3R2N) is a 5-year project (2000-2005) which aims to address the meaning, form and function of the three rivers and 53 streams of Allegheny County, Western Pennsylavania. By focusing on:

• water quality;
• the value of nature in urban areas;
• community engagement;
• public realm access and use

the project aims to help citizens and decision makers understand the evolving opportunities of this post-industrial waterfront. The 3R2N team is concerned with how art and science inform aesthetic perception along the waterfront. They advocate that empirical study can inform discussions about public experience, perception and value.

Concept/Approach
The project holds that an artistic approach can offer solutions which may not have been achievable through conventional methods or institutions. Furthermore, they believe art can provide a means to describe and understand experiences that are new and unexpected and lost or forgotten. This is the framework for an instrumental art of change. The project educates and offers a platform for creative dialogue about the conditions of the waterfront.

The 3R2N team believes radical planning can support a restorative approach to urban redevelopment, in both aesthetic and ecological terms. The goal is to develop the scientific tools to enable this approach.

The project takes as its premise the fact that the public realm demands the attention of artists, scientists and citizens. One hundred years ago industry came to the waterfronts of the Pittsburgh region, homogenizing its forms and privatising its uses. Today, abandoned post-industrial waterfronts are ripe for transformation and provide an impetus for change. Such sites harbour a combination of recovering nature, toxic soils, and dilapidated infrastructure. The 3R2N project works to inform and enable the community to contribute to defining the future of this landscape.

Inter-disciplinary teams focus upon terrestrial and aquatic issues as well as community dialogue and planning. The teams include artists, architects and historians from Carnegie Mellon University. Additional members of the team include environmental scientists, biologists, geologists and a conservation planner from other nearby universities and private practice. Experts in regional and state regulatory interests serve on a technical advisory committee while non-profit organizations form the basis of an outreach advisory board.

Scope and Implementation
Defined by the course of the three rivers and streams of Allegheny County, the project addresses the whole of the area to the very edges of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. There are two phases: a 3.5-year research phase and a 1.5-year community design phase. The research phase aims to map and investigate the ecosystems along the three river areas: the Monongahela Valley, the Allegheny River Valley, and the Ohio River.

During the design phase a broad county-wide study is undertaken. A team of artists, urban designers and a conservation planner have been assembled to work on waterfront conservation and restoration plans. A
smaller scale community study will be undertaken with artists and designers during a month-long residency within specific communities in June 2004. The aims of the design stage are to produce a county-waterfront plan, a 56-stream sub-watershed water quality plan and specific concept designs for communities along the Monongahela River Valleys. Implementation of the designs is determined by the desire and interest of citizens and municipal leaders who participate in the process.

Methodology
The project team has developed rigorous field methods to gather scientific data to inform understanding of the existing river conditions. They then conduct a computer map analysis of each subject area to understand the forces affecting water quality, botany, bio-diversity, public access, use and bank conditions. The team also examine historical material to understand the rivers and the range of human activities that have influenced their change over time. Using these tools, 3R2N seeks to identify the potential for preservation and restoration of natural and cultural systems.

Current Outputs
Three reports have been published over the past three years on aquatic, terrestrial and social issues along specific areas of the river. The teams are currently applying their collected data to three separate scenarios. Firstly, a county-wide plan based on artistic and scientific data and strategy devised by artists and policy experts. Secondly, an artist residency programme aiming to create a formula for new thinking by uniting the right artists with the right activist non-profit interests. Thirdly, Groundworks, initially presented at the Miller Galleries at Carnegie Mellon University, will be an exhibition and conference that presents a range of international artists. The exhibition will address the question of how artists create social and ecological change. The gallery is currently making arrangements to travel to other venues in 2005 and 2006.

http://3r2n.cfa.cmu.edu

Funding for 3 Rivers 2nd Nature is provided by the Heinz Foundation, The Warhol Foundation, the Pittsburgh Foundation and other sources.