This
Plan and Analysis for the City of Aurora’s proposed downtown
River Edge Park integrates ecological practices of river, park,
and urban design with financial programming, through a multidisciplinary
public consensus process. The Master Plan rehabilitates the
post-industrial Fox River shoreline into a setting of natural
beauty, where the
flow of the river is felt, connections to history and community
can be realized; a place for exploration, celebration, interaction,
and nourishment of the human spirit.
Aurora, Illinois is a quickly growing city of more than 150,000
people situated on the Fox River at the far western edge of
the Chicago metropolitan area. Despite its dramatic growth and
stature
as the second largest city in Illinois, it has struggled to
bring vibrancy to its downtown core. In an effort to affect change,
municipal and private groups joined together to promote the
creation
of this plan for a new “Central Park” for Aurora that
would become a regional destination and create a new image for
the City. This Master Plan calls for the creation of a River Edge
Park which will be world-recognized for its use of contemporary
innovative design, its depth of local history, its community based
facilitates, its connection to adjacent neighborhoods on both
sides of the river – all the while celebrating the cultural
and ecological life of the Fox River.