WRT's Sinem Metin, an urban designer with the firm's Coral Gables office, was a presenter at the International 4th Urban Design Congress held on May 27 and 28, 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey. The congress featured speakers from a variety of countries, including Mexico, England, Italy, and the US, with topics ranging from a discussion on the state of urban design education to an exploration on the role of climate sensitive urban design.
Sinem's presentation—which focused on "Using Green Infrastructure to Shape the Urban Environment," relying on WRT's Trinity River project as a case study—generated a great deal of interest among the congress' participants. This paper focuses on the role of green infrastructure in recasting cities as sustainable environments. The Trinity River is one of the most important natural landmarks in the city of Dallas (TX), yet for years has been a mostly inaccessible, barren floodway separated from the city. The transformation of this river corridor is the largest green infrastructure initiative in the United States, and establishes a model for creating character and measuring sustainability for green infrastructure projects that is transferable to similar projects in urban contexts all over the world.
The entirety of Sinem's paper can be found on WRT's Publications page.
