Jake Stehr

LAND 7280
September 4, 2014


Sustainable Waterfront Redevelopment
Judd Langham
The author of this thesis is attempting to alter the way in which a historic civilization interacts
with the Mobile bay. This is a lofty challenge that has been well taken on by the author. Langham
attempts to use best management practice implementations to drastically reduce the pollution being
deposited in the bay, while allowing the river to take on a more naturally evolving path through time.
The author does a good job up describing the history of the location, and also why this area has been
chosen. The author feels that his personal knowledge of the area is an advantage, and he uses his
hometown as a testing ground for his design. The Author does a good job of providing case studies to
support his desires to naturalize the river and bay. He also successfully supports the redevelopment of
tidal marshes that have naturally protected the city historically from storm surges.
Langham draws heavily upon the history of the city to provide his design with a strong footing in
the history of Mobile. The author says, The key to the redevelopment of the city of Mobile, Alabamas
waterfront is to accept that it is an every-changing kinetic landscape. Also, a community must learn from
its cultural heritage and its mistakes.
1
This cultural history is something that the author complicates
through some of his design work. Though this does not take away from the strong and well-designed
infrastructure it does call into conflict the importance of history, or also the history that we decide to
value as designers. Langham seems to value the period of economic boom that turned Mobile from a
sleepy French village to an industrial giant. The design builds upon and celebrates the industrial forms
through the railroad park, and the reuse of industrial buildings.
This view of history is directly in conflict with the stance that Mobile should not have moved so
close to the bay. Mobile has been affected directly or indirectly by forty different hurricanes.
Shockingly, it seems that the citizens of Mobile lack a cultural memory. The residents pushed forward
into the river, developing its edge, instead of restraining themselves to stay behind the high water mark
that was historically defined by tidal marshes.
2
This stance on the varied value of the past seem to be in
conflict with other his other values. The author does not try attempt to bridge the logical leap through
time to the varied valuations of Mobile history. The naturalizing of these forces pushes back the existing
occupation of the city to allow for the expansion, and reintroduction of tidal marshes.
The author with his importance of Mobile history attempts to move the port further south away
from the city proper. This is an important leap that the author stats as an obvious move. The city and the
port developed a symbiotic relationship throughout their history. Though the author does state that this
relationship has become problematic over the past couple of years the port is still of economic
importance to the state of Alabama. This is evident through the continual dredging of the Mobile bay to
allow for shipping lanes. The moving of port infrastructure or construction of a new port would be a very
large economic undertaking. The construction of the Boubyan Island port in Kuwait is estimated to cost
around $410 million for the first phase.
3
Langham does not attempt to justify this move financial for the

1
Judd Langham, pg. 25
2
Ibid.
3
Construction Week Online
Jake Stehr
LAND 7280
September 4, 2014


state of Alabama, but just glances over this aspect of the project. This is a drastic leap to make on such
simple a recommendation without a large body of supporting information.
Judd Langhams thesis is a well written and researched paper. It does, however, take a common
stance on history that a lot of landscape architects take. Langham falls into the trap of selective history.
If designers are going to take this stance on history it would be better for the merit to stand on stronger
footing, such as, ecological reasons, re-use of industrial infrastructure, and solid well thought out design.
History can act as a crutch that hides the hard and diligent work of a strong designer.