Introduction
This document, the Memphis Riverfront MASTER PLAN Summary, concludes a threephase study of the Mississippi Riverfront Study Area defined by the Riverfront Development Corporation.
The study area, which has been the focus of numerous proposals for more than two decades, includes approximately five linear miles of riverfront extending from the Wolf River to the north, Chickasaw Heritage Park to the south, the Mississippi River to the west, and Second Street to the east. The consultant team was encouraged to be creative and inventive, while being mindful of important existing conditions, regulatory issues, proposed public and private improvements by others, and incorporating public comments.
The Riverfront Development Master Plan for Memphis is not only about the creation of a waterfront destination that showcases the Mississippi River, but more importantly, a plan which sees the downtown and riverfront as one, and connects all parts of downtown and the riverfront into a seamless whole. The work must, one, be sensitive to the people, place, economy and implementation process that will achieve maximum impact and leverage; two, solve the site problems; three, create real visions that resonate with the culture and welfare of Memphis. The vision must be both stimulating and compelling. And four, it must define achievable projects, priorities and phasing.
The Mississippi River should be the starting point for a city-building strategy for downtown Memphis. The physical plan for the riverfront and the continued redevelopment of the downtown should naturally reinforce each other. All aspects of the riverfront plan must recognize and promote the essential relationship between the land and water, and all new development must occur within this context. The plan’s framework is about the creation of a public realm; i.e., those aspects of the physical environment that are visible and accessible to the public, including both open spaces and the buildings that help define and frame them. This concept includes areas long thought of as public, such as parks, tree-lined boulevards, sidewalks and streets, but also areas held in private ownership that are truly public in terms of their function and impact on the streetscape or historic context.
The creation of the public realm for Memphis’ riverfront involves a layering of elements:
- An activated and publicly accessible riverfront where land and water meet;
- A street and block plan that controls where development occurs;
- View corridors and pedestrian ways that bring people from downtown and its neighborhoods to the water;
- A riverwalk and an open space system that connects the different neighborhoods and districts along the riverfront;
- The creation of distinctive, mixed-use places that will sustain themselves and bring more life to downtown; and
- Revitalization of a memorable historic maritime and commercial imagery that characterizes Memphis.
In this manner, the Riverfront Plan can evolve directly from the existing physical character and assets of the downtown and the city, rather than being a sporadic series of isolated events or attractions that fails to reinforce the authentic nature and character of Memphis.
The Design Process
Given the civic responsibility of planning such a large area, a three-step process was followed to ensure public review and comment: analysis, options and final plan. Analysis involved review of policy goals, community issues, historic concerns, economic parameters, and the existing conditions and constraints. The analysis concluded with a series of design principles that established the rationale for the overall framework and guided the rest of the work.
A considerable amount of time was spent developing a variety of design options, which were presented and discussed at public workshops. More than two-dozen design concepts were reviewed by the public at these workshops, with an emphasis on narrowing the choices to a consensus that met as many public objectives as possible.
The Master Plan described herein reflects the input from community members, review comments from public agencies, the business community, the local and national development communities, and the best judgment of the consultant team to compose many ideas into a flexible, fundamentally sound, economically feasible Master Plan. We trust the plan will be a reliable guide, allowing for appropriate flexibility, for public and private actions on the Mississippi riverfront for many years to come.