1. Gasworks Park and its relation to Urban Ecology in Seattle
Linyi Ge, Tessa Rough, Daniel Schimidt, Taj Singh
BIS 406/ BPOLST 593 Urban Planning and Geography
March 14, 2016
Table of Contents
2. 1. Intro
2. Background and History of Gas Works Park
3. Data
4. Discussion: Gas Works Park and Urban Ecology
5. Conclusion
6. Appendix
7. Reference
Intro
What is the importance of public parks and spaces in Seattle? We were interested in the
topic of urban ecology and how it applies to the city of Seattle, so we decided to research
3. frequently visited public parks situated in Seattle, more specifically we wanted to study the
relationship between Gas Works park and the urban population that surrounds it. According to
UN study, the number of people living in urban centers is expected to increase to about two-
thirds of the entire world. The number of people living in urban Seattle is growing and getting
more densely populated than ever before, and as a result the relatively new field of urban
ecology has come into the spotlight. Urban ecology studies the interaction between living
organisms and urban areas. Urban ecology is a vital tool to maintain, grow and shape large urban
cities such as Seattle. For example, Gas Works park is located along the waterfront of Lake
Union north of Seattle and offers stunning views of downtown Seattle and the Space Needle, and
has more than 20 acres of open space, previously it was a gasification plant for the Seattle Gas
Light Company and spewed pollutants into the atmosphere, but was converted to a public park in
1975. Now Gas Works park serves as an extremely popular destination for locals residents on
Settle and is the site for many events held throughout the year such as various festivals, it's a
popular destination on the 4th of July to watch the Fireworks show, the Burke-Gilman trail goes
through it and a huge number of people are interacting with it in some way shape or form.
Background/History
The Seattle Gas Light Company targeted the land formerly known as Brown’s Point for a
future gasification plant in the early 1900’s. The location was perfect for the production of
cheaper and cleaner hydrogen gas as the process requires a fair amount of fresh water. After the
Seattle Gas Light Company’s acquisition of the land in 1906, the company became the city of
Seattle’s primary source of power. In the 1930’s, new gasification technology was invented and
crude oil became cheaper than coal. With Seattle’s new ship canal, oil shipments were frequently
4. made to the Seattle Gas Light Company and the plant switched from gas to petroleum. In 1956,
natural gas became available to the Seattle area after the completion of the Trans Mountain Gas
Pipeline from Canada, and ultimately ended the Seattle Gas Light Company’s business.
The city of Seattle bought the land for park purposes in 1962. Unfortunately, the soil and
groundwater located on the property were highly contaminated from the previous land use of the
gas company. A Seattle-based landscape architect named Richard Haag was hired in 1969 as the
Master Planner of the area and immediately called for the cleaning of the park through a process
called phytoremediation. Phytoremediation is the process of restoring areas that have previously
been contaminated through the introduction of plants that mitigate environmental problems
naturally. Although this process helped decrease the levels of pollutants in the area, the
Environmental Protection Agency established a program intended for more extensive clean up
methods.
Richard Haag also played an enormous role in preserving the remains of the sole
remaining coal gasification plant in the United States. By protecting the industrial aspect of the
park, Gas Works is an excellent example of the drastic change that took place in the Seattle area
since the industrial revolution. The urban ecology in Seattle since the industrial revolution has
changed in a way that honors this particular location’s connection with nature and the
environment, instead of depleting this area’s natural resources for the production of harmful
pollutants.
In 1972, Richard Haag completed his master plan and in 1978, the last phase of park
reconstruction was finished.
Data
5. Richard Haag designed Gas Works park in a way to accommodate the homeless
population. He planned to include fire pits and public restrooms but unfortunately, this also
negatively affects the image of the park and Seattle. The city of Seattle has a large homeless
population, particularly in the neighborhood in which Gas Works park is located, and much of
this population of homeless people often spend the night and camp out at Gas Works park,
discouraging possible visitors. In 2008, a voter-approved parks levy allocated $1.4 million to
remodel the play area located at Gas Works. The play area often becomes home for homeless
encampments nearby, so the plan was to make the area more open and “less desirable for those
more-negative uses”, according to the city of Seattle.
In both 2005 and 2012, the state of Washington’s Department of Ecology placed two feet
of clean topsoil and geotextile fabric in order to protect human health and the environment from
the contaminated soil below. This was not the only environmental cleanup action that GasWorks
Park has experienced in previous years. In 2001 and 2006, soil and groundwater were cleaned up
at the Southeast corner of the park.
According to the City of Seattle GIS data, the area in which Gas works park is located in
is designated as council district #4 and includes the University district, the areas is 6,126 acres or
9.6 square miles, with a population of 88,168, and unemployment rate of 6.8%, and 18.6% of the
population fall below the poverty level which may be associated with the homeless problem.
Discussion: Gas Works Park and Urban Ecology
The experience of growing in the rural Kentucky shaped Haag’s viewing of the world as
“living and working with nature as lover.” His sustainable and environmentally friendly
philosophy behind his design of Gas Works Park is like a guideline to other city landscape
6. designers especially in the post-industrial period. By having such philosophy on his designing,
Haag made his most famous work Gas Works Park a perfect presentation of how he turned
someone else’s trash to his treasure. Gas Works Park is an excellent model for city landscapes
that it twisted itself from a polluting factory to a wonderful green space.The following
paragraphs will talk about how Gas Works Park got involved in the urban ecology of Seattle.
Fascinating Historical Park: First of all, Gas Works Park is a fascinating historical park
that perfectly combines the art with the public park. It has gradually become one of the most
popular city landscapes in Seattle which presents the environmental friendly mode of
development in Seattle.
Public Space for Events and Activities: Besides its basic characteristic as a park, Gas
Works Park also provides Seattle residents with a public space and playground in the central
Seattle area. The convenient traffic condition and great city view from Gas Works Park attracts
people to have picnic and even weddings. The park is the traditional end point of the Solstice
Cyclists and the start point for Seattle's World Naked Bike Ride from Fremont each year. In
addition, the park is connected to the Burke-Gilman bicycle and foot trail, laid out along the
abandoned right-of-way of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway. By holding such events
and activities, Gas Works Park becomes the best place for the locals and visitors to communicate
and interact with each other.
Park as Art: Gas Works Park has become a gathering space for people to hang out at and
experience Seattle, and art. People use Gas Works Park to have weddings and picnics because
the park is next to the Lake Union and has an amazing view of downtown Seattle. Gas Works
Park has become a place of art because people have become fascinated with the remaining
remnants of the Seattle Gas Light Company. People from all over have come to this park to take
7. in the view of this city and the industrial buildings. While many people are there they use their
camera to capture the beauty of Gas Works Park and people often sell pictures of Gas Works
Park as art.
Gas works park as an important part of ecological system: Urban ecology is one of the
four key concepts of urban geography. In North America, urban ecological scholars focus more
on the social science of the urban landscape without considering the biota; in Europe, scholars
usually examine the biota of urban areas. If we look at Gas Works Park from the ecological
perspective, it also plays an important role. Based on the announcement published on November
6, 2012 by the Washington State Department of Ecology, a half-acre field at Gas Works Park in
Seattle was closed from November to March for a project to add a layer of soil, upgrade
irrigation and drainage, and establish a new lawn. This action is part of a larger plan being
developed to clean up contaminated sediment at the bottom of Lake Union along the park.
Sustainable Development of the Gas Work Park: One of the major causes to make Gas
Work Park successful is the sustainability. Unlike Pruitt-Igoe which was tore off because of
lacking of maintenance, the local government and organization both pay a lot attention on the
maintenance and renovation of Gas Works Park in order to use it in a sustainable way. In
December 2013, a renovation project was discussed and will start the construction in fall this
year and finish in spring 2017. This project is being coordinated with the Gas Works Park
comfort station renovation and east entry improvements. As the report published by the
government of Seattle, the Parks and Green Spaces Levy allocates $1.4 million dollars for
planning, design and construction. Additional funding is provided by the comfort station
renovation major maintenance funding. As we can see in the picture 1, the renovation mainly
focuses on the playground area. The project is trying to fix some problems such as lacking of
8. access for disabilities, the poor conditions of many existing site elements and lack of seating and
multi-generational amenities. Through the maintenance and renovation, the Gas Works Park can
play a better role in enhancing the interaction among the public facilities and residents.
Social Problems: It is important to notice that Gas Works Park is also affected by some
social problems. As Seattle Times reported in July 2014 that “Seattle police are trying to pull
fingerprints off alcohol bottles and spray-paint cans they say were left behind by dozens of teens
who caused about $8,000 of damage in a graffiti spree at Gas Works Park.” The graffiti not only
hurt the beauty of Gas Work Park but also makes some people afraid to go to the park since it
makes the park seems unsafe. In addition to the graffiti, homeless people and litter especially
along the coast area largely damage the attractiveness of the Gas Works Park. Though we all
know that such problems is not unique only in the Gas Works Park, it is still should not be
ignored and need government and relevant organizations to pay more attention on.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Gas Works park is the only one of its kind in the world with its unique
structure that combines aesthetic beauty with functionality in a perfect ratio, it is in an ideal
location close to an urban center that provides convenient access for the local people of Seattle
and tourists to experience its iconic design and beauty. Gas Works park promotes the residents
of the city to interact with the natural environment in the city as opposed to traveling to the
outskirts just to see open park land, which may be true for some highly developed and densely
populated large cities with very little green space and more concrete structures and roads instead.
Ultimately the goal of urban ecology is to promote the interaction between humans and the
environment in an urban setting and Gas Works park in Seattle does an excellent job at this.
11. This census data from 2000 looks at the poverty rate in the wallingford neighborhood of Seattle
where Gas Works parks is located in, there may be a association between poverty rate and
number of homeless people.
References
12. Nations, United. "World urbanization prospects: The 2009 revision." (2010).
Liz, Camuti, Beyond Gas Works Park: The Life and Legacy of Richard Haag, July 2nd 2015
<http://dirt.asla.org/2015/07/02/beyond-gas-works-park-the-life-and-legacy-of-richard-
haag/>
Seattle Parks and Recreation, <http://www.seattle.gov/parks/projects/gas_works/>
Jennifer Sullivan, Police seek vandals who struck Gas Work Park with graffiti, July 29th 2014
<http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/police-seek-vandals-who-struck-gas-works-
park-with-graffiti/>
