Saving Rodney Reservoir
UD faculty, students and staff lend a hand to help a Wilmington community save a public space
Sakhi Phang, a senior in the University of Delaware’s Landscape Architecture program, has spent the past two summers working with the residents of the West Side of Wilmington, Delaware, to develop their vision for a public park and community garden on the grounds of the defunct Rodney Reservoir.
Local residents formed the grassroots organization Green for the Greater Good with the goal of keeping the site safe, public and green. Over the past two years, Green for the Greater Good has engaged academic experts from across the University to help inform its work.
“Green for Greater Good has focused on being that connector between residents, the space and expertise — like resources at UD — around design, science and sustainability,” said Jamila Davey, a community leader who volunteers with Green for the Greater Good.
Prior to being abandoned in the 1990s, the city-block-sized reservoir served as a public space for more than 100 years. Working with local nonprofit organizations, west side residents negotiated an agreement with the city to use a portion of the site for a community garden about 15 years ago. But in 2022, safety concerns led the City of Wilmington to announce plans to demolish the reservoir’s concrete structure and sell the land for private development.
To help residents understand how the demolition of the reservoir might impact human health, Emily Maung-Douglass, urban watershed specialist with UD’s Delaware Sea Grant, translated portions of technical documents related to the demolition into plain language.
“Based on follow-up questions from these community members, I did some fact-finding, sharing scientific information from state agencies about the processes and procedures in place to protect human health,” said Maung-Douglass. She also connected Green for the Greater Good with the Clean Air Council, a nonprofit environmental health organization “which installed air quality monitors at homes bordering the reservoir as an added layer of assurance.”
Funded as a Community Engagement Summer Scholar in 2023, Phang worked with Anna Wik, associate professor of landscape architecture, and Green for the Greater Good to develop case studies and identify parks and gardens that could serve as models to help residents imagine how the space might be used once the demolition was complete.
A Wilmington Partnership grant funded community engagement through UD’s Living Lab, led by undergraduate students Grace Sisifo, Grace Duffy, Carolina Cassel-Durr and Phang in summer 2023. That fall, students in Wik’s studio worked on designs for how the Rodney Reservoir could be transformed into a community- and nature-based park.
For inspiration, the UD team and West Side residents traveled to Baltimore, a national leader in urban ecology efforts, to learn more about some of that city’s urban farming and food sovereignty projects where residents grow produce that is shared with others in the neighborhood.
The trip was organized in conjunction with McKay Jenkins, professor of English and coordinator of the UD’s Environmental Humanities program. Jenkins, steward of the Baltimore City Farm Rock Rose Food Justice Project, connected the visiting group to the city’s tight-knit food justice community.
“The goal of all this is to partner with … people that are doing this kind of work to learn from each other so that nobody feels like they’re reinventing the wheel — whether it’s the planning or the science or the community engagement or the education,” Jenkins said.
Back in Delaware, the group visited the University’s Lab School, housed on the College of Education and Human Development’s Children’s Campus, to see the nature-based classroom run by Master Teacher Katie Pollock and learn more about how the space could serve the youngest members of the community.
“Outdoor play provides children with opportunities to engage in risky play, which builds confidence,” Pollock said. “It also allows for more choice in how they will interact with their surroundings, enhanced imagination, movement and muscle strengthening, a developed sense of wonder and lowered stress.”
“All children should have the right to beautiful green spaces, but they do not,” Pollock added. “This project allows for children on the West Side to have just that, and the benefits are undeniable.”
As the project advanced conceptually, big moves were happening to bring the park to fruition. This past February, the city secured state funding to turn the site into a public park, and in late July, released a timeline for construction.
Student designs became reference materials for Hinge Collective, the landscape architecture firm contracted by the city to create final designs for the park.
Green for the Greater Good is now focused on working to relaunch the community garden and imagining how it might continue to engage West Side residents.
“Community engagement is something that you can never stop doing,” said Christian Willauer, a community leader and volunteer with Green for the Greater Good. “The heart of the work, it’s about greening, but it’s also about building community and bringing everybody in to create public spaces that reflect their ideas.”
Phang said that through her work on this project, she confronted more real-life urban space planning issues, like where to place compost or how fencing might be utilized. She also learned how to get community members talking.
“Through this whole process, I’ve loved working with the community,” Phang said. “They’re so passionate about this space. Seeing it come to life is amazing. All the hard work has paid off.”
Photos courtesy of Green for the Greater Good.