Reinterpreting the Pollock’s Branch Watershed is an interdisciplinary mapping project undertaken by the University of Virginia’s Center for Cultural Landscapes and led by faculty in the Department of Drama and the School of Architecture. It focuses on the Pollock’s Branch Creek watershed which runs south of Garrett Street downtown to Moore’s Creek and from Avon Street to Ridge Street. This diverse area comprises much of the IX property as well as several public housing properties and portions of the Belmont and Ridge Street neighborhoods.

Reinterpreting the Pollock’s Branch Watershed envisions a model of urban, movement-based exploration and storytelling— rooted in Lawrence Halprin’s participatory design process—that can augment the top-down engagement efforts by public agencies and external design consultants. The project methods draw on community-based workshops to explore the psychology and politics of space and reveal the experiential qualities and invisible boundaries embedded within the urban landscape south of the Downtown Mall. These workshops offer alternative ways to “see” the Pollock’s Branch. Through embodied forms of analysis— including movement within the landscape and sensorial experiences—the project investigates the complexities of the project area as it is lived and felt with the potential to amplify future analysis and urban design initiatives undertaken by property owners, the community, and the City of Charlottesville.

In this research roundtable, listen to Project Directors Rob McGinnis (Landscape Architecture; Center for Cultural Landscapes Fellow) and Katie Schetlick (Drama) discuss the project methods and outcomes. The project website and analytical maps will be shared with the audience to solicit feedback. This event is free and open to the public.

This project is funded in part by a UVA Faculty Research Grant for the Arts and through funding made available from the UVA Center for Cultural Landscapes, the Department of Drama, and the School of Architecture. Technical geospatial support is provided by the UVA Scholars’ Lab.

Image: Market Street Walk, San Francisco, CA. Experiments in Environment Workshop, July 8, 1966. The Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania by the gift of Lawrence Halprin.