Reimagining Covington's Riverfront

The Ohio River waterfront in Covington, Kentucky, which once operated as the city’s service yard for shipping, goods transfers and industry, is currently underutilized. A new zoning plan for the site will change what had been industrial warehouses associated with the waterfront into a mixed-use residential neighborhood. The site is straddled by concerns of water – stormwater flows into the site from the city on the south, while river floods swell into the site from the north. Our studio section specifically studies the potential of floodwater and stormwater management as a way of reorganizing an urbanism prioritizing streets to an urbanism prioritizing usable public space. In turn, new visions for riverfront living emerge that might serve as models for the city at large.