These words from Gail Thomas, Director of the Center for the City at The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, set the tone for the conference on the Trinity River held at the Dallas City Hall on January 26.   Dr. Thomas, an honorary AIA who has headed numerous initiatives for quality of life in the city, created an opportunity for visualizing the Trinity River’s potential to be a great unifying, humanizing force for the center of our city.

    Larry Allums, Director of The Dallas Institute, in his welcoming speech, related the greatness of the world’s cities to their ability to protect their natural environments.

    Ann Breen, co-chair with Dick Rigby of the Waterfront Center, a nonprofit research, publishing and consulting corporation in Washington, D.C., inspired attendees with before-and-after pictures of successful projects in many other cities.  Ms. Breen is co-author of The New Waterfront:  A Worldwide Success Story and Waterfronts:  Cities Reclaim Their Edge,

    Gary Lacy, a civil hydraulic engineer with a Masters Degree in Urban and Regional Planning, showed examples of his work with communities that are bringing dying rivers back to life in such places as Boulder, Colorado, Caspar, Wyoming, and Farmington, New Mexico.

    Robert Trammell weaved together poetry, history and imaginings about the Trinity,  such as the story of salons being held beneath a riverside cedar grove by Julia Considerant, wife of the founder of La Reunion Colony.  Rebecca Dugger, P.E., spoke of activities she is supervising as Director of the Trinity River Corridor Project.  One current project is creation of canoe launches near the Sylvan Street bridge and Loop 12.  Bud Melton spoke about the Trinity Trails System and its benefits for bikers and pedestrians.   Karen Walz, Director of the Dallas Plan, and Steve Madison, AIA, spoke of the Box City project and its use of the River as a unifying element.

    In the words of Graham Greene, AIA, longtime Dallas Institute board member and Center for the City sponsor, “The work being done at the Dallas Institute’s Center for the City illuminates the most profound concerns we have about the design of the built environment and its meaning in our urban culture.”