Industrial Riverscapes
This six-months research I developed at Oregon University, Landscape Architecture Department, discusses the triangular relationship among landscape, industry and water. The contribution of practitioners (interviews) and five study cases along the Willamette River, enrich and substantiate the goals of the research.
This work is leading to a new book, The Blue Industry.
order here
The University of Oregon funded this research work
This work is leading to a new book, The Blue Industry.
order here
The University of Oregon funded this research work
The Industrial Willamette River
The Willamette is one of the few major rivers in the U.S. that flows primarily north. Originally, the river meandered in a wide swath across the valley floor; today, the Willamette is rather tame by comparison: dams, revetments, dredging and flood control projects have altered the flow patterns to create a simpler, deeper channel.
The main Oregon cities are located along the Willamette River and in the past, a dynamic industrial waterfront characterized each of them: Portland, Oregon City, Salem, Albany and Eugene had distinctive waterfronts that |
were their economical core. Paper mills, can-ning factories, flourmills, timber factories, power plants, etc., developed along the water from the early1800s to the mid 1950s.
Water was intensively used for agricultural purposes, for the transport of goods as well as of passengers. Steamboats were the main transport system until 1920 when truck and rail transportation dominated shipping in the valley. With the decline of river commerce, wharves and docks were torn down and industries, cities and towns began dumping their wastes directly into the river. |
By the 1930’s the river was heavily polluted and almost biologically dead. The 1967 cooperative project ‘Oregon’s Willamette River Greenway program’ gave a strong contribute in recovering, maintaining and in enhancing the qualities of the river and its adjacent lands.
Nowadays, along the highly transformed river, still stand vast and dismissed industries with remarkable buildings of historical and architectural value, as well as a long series of locks that characterize the heritage of the Willamette water landscape. |
Irene Curulli © 2020 Industrial Waterways