Project Details

2005 - 2007, implementation ongoing

Phoebe Crisman with Crisman+Petrus Architects, the Elizabeth River Project and Dr. Frank Dukes of the UVA Institute for Environmental Negotiation. Crisman designed an environmentally sustaining urban plan for the co-existence of thriving waterfront industry and ecological regeneration at Money Point, a 330-acre neglected site along the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Virginia. Supported by a Virginia Environmental Endowment grant, the design work was a critical component of a public process convened by The Elizabeth River Project and facilitated by the UVA Institute for Environmental Negotiation. Several green strategies were configured into a restored biological network integrated with the existing infrastructural network. The ten-year plan was published in October 2006 and Phase 1 (June-October 2009) is complete. This $1.3 million phase including green stormwater improvements, a three-acre restored oyster reef, seven acres of tidal wetlands and forested shore have been restored to provide critical habitat. 800 cubic yards of contaminated river sediments were dedged to restore the river bottom. The $5 million Phase 2 (November 2009-2012) is underway. Twelve more acres of tidal wetlands will be restored and 80,000 cubic yards of contaminated river sediments will be dedged. Crisman published the research in two peer-reviewed papers. The 2007 EDRA/Places Planning Award was presented to Crisman+Petrus Architects for the Money Point Sustainable Revitalization Plan by the Environmental Design Research Association.

Visit the website or download the full study.

Publications

Crisman, Phoebe. "Working on the Elizabeth River," Journal of Architectural Education, v.61:1 (2007): 84-91.

Crisman, Phoebe. “Money Point: a Model of Urban Practice,” in Getting Real. Design Ethos Now. R. Cheng and P. Tripeny, eds. (Washington: ACSA Press, 2006): 251-259.

Crisman, Phoebe. with The Elizabeth River Project. Rediscover the Treasure: Money Point Revitalization (Portsmouth: Money Point Revitalization Taskforce, 2006).

Moffat, David. "The Money Point Sustainable Revitalization Plan," Places, v.19, n.3. (2007): 18-23.

Kobell, Rona. "Elizabeth River Rises from the Depths," Chesapeake Bay Journal (July/August 2011).

Harper, Scott. "Once-Toxic Stretch of the Elizabeth River Teeming Again, The Virginian-Pilot, 10/12/2010.

Harper, Scott. "Money Point in South Norfolk Finally has a Plan," The Virginian-Pilot, 10/20/2006.

"Coming Clean: Bringing a Polluted Riverfront Neighborhood in Chesapeake Back from the Brink,The Virginian-Pilot, 6/13/2005.

"Region 3 Taskforce to Revitalize Money Poin Industrial Corridor in Chesapeake, VA," EPA Mid-Atlantic Region Environmental Newsletter, May 2005.

"Collaborating around Contamination: Revitalizing the Elizabeth River," Colonnade, vol. XXI, no. 2, Fall 2005.

"Re-discovering the Treaure at Money Point," Mudflats, Summer 2005.

Presentations

"Reviving Toxic Industrial Sites for Green Business," Good Jobs Green Jobs Conference, Blue Green Alliance Foundation, Washington, DC 4/2013.

"Pollution and Revitalization: What's the Future of the Elizabeth River and the Chesapeake Bay?" Engaging the Mind, Nauticus: The National Maritime Center, Norfolk, VA 3/2007.

"Collaborating around Contamination," with Dr. Frank Dukes, Association for Conflict Resolution Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA 10/2006.

"Money Point: a Model of Urban Practice," ACSA Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT 3/2006.

"Engaging Nested Territories and Multiple Scales over Time," Territorial Practices Conference, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 10/2005.

"Revitalizing What? For Whom? Ethics and Aesthetics: A Brownfields Case Analysis," Dialogue + Design: Paths to Sustainability Symposium, Institute for Enviromental Negotiation, Charlottesville, VA 11/2004.

"Bridging Urban Fractures: Academic Inquity + Community Collaboration, American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC 11/2001.