REIMAGINE MIDDLE BRANCH

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

Working with the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership, the City of Baltimore, community partners, and a large multi-disciplinary team of collaborators, Field Operations was the lead planner for the Reimagine Middle Branch Plan. The Reimagine Middle Branch Plan is a community-driven initiative to reconnect South Baltimore with a system of world-class parks, trails, programs, and economic development plans along 11 miles of the Middle Branch shoreline on the Patapsco River. Four “Equity Frameworks” (Restore the Shoreline, Transform Barriers into Connections, Create Active & Inclusive Parks and Support Communities with Equitable Development) structure the plan’s design vision. The equity frameworks translate community input into design, programming, development, and policy recommendations to be implemented over the next two decades.

While the plan outlines a visionary physical transformation of the Middle Branch, it is also meant to catalyze the intangible transformation of place for one that is equitable and inclusive. To that end, the plan recommends a series of capital improvements along with public programs, partnerships, policies, job opportunities, and equitable economic development initiatives. As a result, this plan imagines a holistic transformation of place and is fundamentally about environmental and social justice, resilience, and health.