It was epic.

It was Sunday Parkways on the Green Loop.

On July 22, 2018, tens of thousands of people (roughly 33,000) flocked to the Central City to experience a concept, an idea – of what the future could look like. A day Portlanders and visitors from all over the region may look back on and say, “I was there.”

It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship between community members and their city.

Relive the moments through pictures

Watch a video of the event

What’s the big deal?

The Green Loop concept has been around since the early days of the Central City 2035 planning process. As community members expressed a desire for a car-free way to get all the way around the central city, urban designers, land use and transportation planners, bike and pedestrian advocates, and many others gave birth to the idea of the Green Loop:

A six-mile linear park around the Central City, where people of all ages and abilities could enjoy a safe way to get to work, go for a jog, meet friends or family, see a cultural event, have a picnic or take a nap.

As plans for the Central City evolved, so did the Green Loop concept. And in May, City Council adopted the former and passed a resolution to move the latter forward.

Then Sunday Parkways happened. And the Green Loop went from concept to reality in one sunny five-hour afternoon.

It was as envisioned:

• People on bikes
• Kids on trikes
• People in wheelchairs
• Skidders on scooters
• Drummers, strummers and hummers
• Fish, goats and pets large and small
• People splashing in fountains
• People jumping in the river
• And, of course, balloons and bubbles
• And so much more.

Missed it?

Read all about the day of the event as well as media coverage beforehand.

Tribune: Green Loop gets city moving for Sunday Parkways

BikePortland.org: Let’s keep the Green Loop rolling

KOIN: City to kick off Sunday Parkways on the Green Loop

KATU: Sunday Parkways gives residents a preview of Portland's "Green Loop" location

KGW: Portland 'Green Loop' gets symbolic thumbs-up

And stay connected!

Visit the Green Loop website to learn more and sign up to stay informed and support the Green Loop.

See you on the Loop! 

You may have heard of it, but … what exactly is it?

The Green Loop will be a six-mile linear park around the heart of Portland’s Central City, with ample room for people to play, wander, walk or ride a bike.

It will be a place for everyone in the heart of the city. Whether on foot, bike or mobility device, people of all ages, abilities and incomes will be able to get to work, go for a jog, shop, eat, rest or meet friends in the park via the Green Loop.

The Green Loop is quintessentially Portland: natural and urban, creative and entrepreneurial, sustainable and dynamic.

It's a movement to help people immerse themselves in the urban core in a new and exciting way, along trails and pathways that offer unique experiences and encounters with nature, art and each other.

The Green Loop will support businesses and social services, improving access to places where people can get the staples and support they need. And it will reconfirm Portland's commitment to greater access to parks and active transportation.

In turn, the Green Loop can become an iconic symbol of a city that values and supports all people: residents, workers, students and visitors of all ages, shapes and sizes, origins and incomes.

Healthy hearts need healthy arteries

The Central City is the region's hub — with more jobs, housing and cultural attractions than any other city in the tri-county area. And more people and jobs are coming.

As Portland grows and more people need to get around the city, we’ll need new ways (and infrastructure) for people to move in, around and through the heart of the city. The Green Loop offers a clear “artery” that won’t be clogged with cars and buses. 

The Green Loop will support the growth of jobs and housing in the city center, create and connect green spaces, and offer signature public spaces for all to enjoy and experience. It will give people unprecedented access to the heart of Portland, stringing together nearly a dozen distinct districts that surround the Willamette River, each with its own history, attractions, communities, and unique look and feel.

While the Green Loop will be in the Central City, it will serve people all over Portland and the region. Whether you live in Southwest, North Portland, East Portland, or the Inner Eastside, the Green Loop will connect to bikeways that can take you to the heart of the city and back home safely and easily.

There are some segments of the Green Loop that largely exist today — like SW Moody to the Tilikum Crossing Bridge across to OMSI. And key links of the alignment will get built with other major capital improvement projects, such as the Sullivan's Crossing bike and pedestrian bridge over I-84, which will break ground in 2019. Or the U.S. Postal Service redevelopment site.

The Green Loop is still a concept, however. Public process to date has helped establish the general alignment along the Park Blocks on the west side and SE 6th or 7th through the Central Eastside and Lloyd Districts. But there is still more community engagement needed to work through design alternatives as well as design and engineering work to do prior to construction of the entire loop.

How will it be funded?

While specific funding sources for the Green Loop have not been determined, the project will require its own fundraising campaign.

But it will not take away funding already slated for other active transportation projects around Portland. Similar projects in other cities have raised funds through combinations of public financing, state and federal grants, and private philanthropy. Currently, the Green Loop is not expected to be built all at once, so its funding strategy will likely use a phased approach.

Projects like the Green Loop add value to their cities. Think New York’s Highline, the Atlanta Beltline and Indianapolis’ Cultural Trail. These infrastructure revitalization projects began as ideas from the community, which were subsequently — and enthusiastically — embraced by the public. The Green Loop will also need both public and private support to get started.

And like the Highline, Cultural Trail and Beltline, the Green Loop can stimulate billions of dollars in private investments, expand property tax bases, attract new businesses to the urban core and generate thousands of new stewards of vibrant places.

Green Loop booth @ Guardian Games on SE Taylor

On Sunday, the Green Loop team will be in front of Guardian Games at SE 3rd and Taylor. Other Green Loop-related booths (including Friends of the Green Loop and Central City in Motion) will be at the Trailblazers Plaza and the northern and southern end of the Sunday Parkways crossing over I-84 (the future Sullivan's Crossing). Stop by for a chat and some swag.

Who knows? Someday you’ll be able to say, “I was there at the beginning.” 

Read more about the City Council vote to endorse the Green Loop

Visit our new website

As Commissioners prepared to vote, Mayor Ted Wheeler proclaimed, “The Green Loop is a fantastic vision, and I look forward to seeing it – perhaps not completed during my tenure – but I’d certainly like to see it well underway.” He went on to say that the Green Loop is an “extraordinary asset to the city,” and praised the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) staff’s early leadership and advocacy.

“It’s always hard to be the pointy end of the spear,” he acknowledged, “but at the end of the day, everyone will show up and say you were right.”

Commissioner Dan Saltzman called it a visionary project that will connect Portlanders in a way they haven’t been before. “And it will redefine how we keep our residents safe and get around,” he concluded.

What others said

Before voting, Council heard from BPS and PBOT leadership as well as business leaders and advocates for the Green Loop.

Art Pearce, PBOT’s policy, planning and project manager, pointed out how the Green Loop will help the City achieve its Vision Zero goals. “The majority of Portland’s high-crash bicycle intersections are in the Central City as well as some of the high-crash intersections for pedestrians," he stated. “The Green Loop will emphasize those streets, making it a safe and inviting route around the Central City."

Pearce also talked about how the Green Loop can help resolve conflicts between freight trucks, pedestrians and cyclists in and around the Central Eastside.

Susan Anderson, BPS director, emphasized community support and enthusiasm for the Green Loop. "Today,” she began, “we want to focus on a segment of the Green Loop where we think the first projects are likely to happen – in the Rose Quarter and Lloyd District. There are investments already planned for this area, including the Sullivan's Crossing Pedestrian and Bike Bridge. Potential partners such as Go Lloyd, Albina Vision Trust and others make this a really strong candidate as a place to start."

Go Lloyd’s Administrative and Transit Program Manager Jenny Taylor said, "The Green Loop will help create stronger connections to our inner eastside and downtown neighbors; encourage our interested-but-concerned population to choose active transportation; and help make us a safer, healthier and more livable community.

“In addition,” she continued, “by making Lloyd the first neighborhood to receive investment in Green Loop, you get Go Lloyd as a partner in promoting it.... We are prepared to work with the City and all of our partners to make the Green Loop a long-term success for Portland."

Stated Wade Lang, vice president and regional manager of American Assets Trust, "Lloyd is a community … [with] a long history of public/private partnerships. We see value in sharing ideas, listening to stakeholders and brokering compromise to reap the highest public benefit. … The Lloyd community would be willing to work with the City to explore funding strategies and help to make the Green Loop a reality."

Watch the video of the Council session and the Green Loop resolution vote (Green Loop starts at 2:22:15.)

So, what exactly is it?

The Green Loop will be a place for everyone in the heart of the city. Whether on foot, bike or mobility device, people of all ages, abilities and incomes will be able to get to work, go for a jog, shop, eat, rest or meet friends in the park via the Green Loop.

It’s an initiative that will add to the Central City network of great public spaces with formal and informal places integrated with new development like the Broadway Corridor redevelopment of the old Post Office and OMSI’s redevelopment of its riverfront campus.

It can become a recognized and attractive route connecting Central City destinations and neighborhoods like the Park Blocks, the Portland Art Museum, PSU, South Waterfront, the Central Eastside and the Moda Center. Think New York City’s Highline, Atlanta’s Beltline, the Miami Underline or the Indianapolis Cultural Trail.

And, it starts to become a reality in the Lloyd District, with projects like the Sullivan’s Crossing bike and pedestrian bridge over I-84 at NE 11^th/12^th Avenues.  

Featured attraction

The featured attraction at last year’s Design Week Portland, this year the Green Loop will be the route for Sunday Parkways in the heart of the city. We hope you’ll join us on July 22, 2018, to experience the early days of the Green Loop.

Who knows? Someday you’ll be able to say, “I was there at the beginning.” 

For more information about the Green Loop, please visit our new website. And sign up for e-mail updates as Portlanders move the concept into reality.

But come July, the city will be in full blown summertime. And the river will be sparkling, and the hills will be glorious and green.

And what better way to enjoy the best of Portland than a ride, roll or stroll in the fresh air around the river during a Sunday Parkways event? You can start in the Park Blocks, cruise through Director Park (see below) and head north to cross the Broadway Bridge, weaving through the Lloyd District, crossing over I-84 and heading south into the Central Eastside to OMSI, and finally back across the river via Tilikum Crossing to PSU.

That’s the Green Loop in a nutshell.

While still in the planning phase, the Green Loop is gaining traction within the community. City Council is scheduled to approve the concept as part the Central City 2035 Plan, which they will vote to adopt on May 24. And supporters and enthusiasts have banded together to create Friends of the Green Loop.

Visit our swanky new website and map app for the Green Loop

So, this year's Sunday Parkways event is a great way to see what it is and envision what it could be … A new way for people to be in the Central City — active, safe and fun. Whether on foot, bike or mobility device, people of all ages and abilities will be able to use the Green Loop to get to work, go for a jog, shop, eat out, play, and meet friends for lunch or a concert in a park.

Like Sunday Parkways every day, the Green Loop will create an exciting place for people to experience the Central City in a whole new way.

Sunday Parkways on the Green Loop

On July 22, 2018, you can join Portlanders from all over the city who will flock to the Central City for the immensely popular Sunday Parkways event. As you travel along the Green Loop alignment through thriving neighborhoods, business districts and communities along the way, you'll get a glimpse of the future of the Central City.

It's the ultimate Portland experience

The Green Loop is quintessentially Portland: natural and urban, creative and entrepreneurial, sustainable and dynamic. It's a movement to help people immerse themselves in the urban core in a new and exciting way, along trails and pathways that offer unique experiences and encounters with nature, art and each other.

The Green Loop will support businesses and social services, improving access to places where people can get the staples and support they need. And it will reconfirm Portland's commitment to greater access to parks and active transportation.

In turn, the Green Loop can become an iconic symbol of a city that values and supports all people: residents, workers, students and visitors of all ages, shapes and sizes, origins and incomes.

Come see the future of the Central City and what Portland’s version of New York's Highline could look like. Bring your family, friends, kids and critters. It’ll be summer in Portland and a great way/place to get outside.                        

As the main attraction at Design Week PDX, the Green Loop concept didn’t just meet expectations for community engagement, it knocked them out of the ball park. It seemed that the work of Untitled Studios was a perfect fit for the DWP Headquarters in the Central Eastside’s The Redd.

The group of young designers and architects filled the 20,000 square foot space with myriad displays, interactive exhibits and plenty of opportunities to learn about and comment on the proposed loop for walkers, strollers and bikers of all ages and abilities.

Throughout Design Week, people could wander through the Headquarters building and experience Untitled Studios’ at their own pace.

Think about it: What would you like to see happen along the Green Loop route?

In addition to the displays, interactive maps and a life-size mockup of the loop, DWP featured several presentations and discussions focusing on the Green Loop. Hundreds of Portlanders came to listen, learn and workshop how the Green Loop is “a new type of civic ecology,” “a tool for social good,” and the subject of “Branding Strategies for Public Space.”

The University of Oregon held a design charrette, with dozens of participants, about how the Green Loop could serve as a new type of civic ecology for Portland.

Beer and virtual reality tour feature the Green Loop

And as if that weren’t enough, Portland’s own HUB brewery developed a special edition IPA just for Design Week PDX. The Green Loop IPA was on tap at the opening night party, where more than 800 people enjoyed the beer, cotton candy, dancing, speed portrait drawing and a virtual reality experience of the loop.

This is what it looked like from the outside …

And from the inside (with goggles) …

Participants said the VR experience made the case for the Green Loop. “After experiencing the VR version of the Green Loop, I felt like we have to do this! It really made the case for it,” said one participant. Others expressed similar feelings: the VR experience made an abstract concept real and arguably a good thing for the Central City.

Lots of ways to stay involved

If you missed Design Week, no worries …

You can still experience the Green Loop and help make it happen! We’ve got a new Green Loop website and map app, with lots of information and ways for you to engage moving forward. Learn more about the Untitled Studios exhibition, explore the loop and make comments on the map app, join Friends of the Green Loop, watch a video featuring Mayor Ted Wheeler and others, and then sign up for email updates.

Then read more coverage of the Green Loop at DWP.   

Next steps

In the next few weeks, Untitled Studios will compile all the comments and ideas they collected at DWP to share with the Green Loop team.

Meanwhile, the Planning and Sustainability Commission will vote to recommend the Central City 2035 Plan to City Council on May 23. The Green Loop is such a “Big Idea” in the CC2035 Plan that the PSC will vote separately on it that day. City Council will hold public hearings on the Recommended Draft in late July/early August. Portlanders are invited to testify in person or in writing.

Learn more at www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/cc2035

Twenty years ago, I don’t think anybody could have anticipated the degree to which Portland would grow and thrive, that we’d have so many people moving here, bringing increased diversity, energy and new businesses.

In the next 20 years, roughly 200,000 more people will have moved to Portland – for jobs and lifestyle choices, because of climate change. And that raises the question: How will all of us get around? What kind of transit systems will be in place?

The Green Loop will be a 21^st-century answer to that question: how our community works, how it thrives, how we move through our city … to jobs, schools, activities and back home – as well as for recreation and fun.

Bringing us together

I’m eager to help develop an active transportation system that orients to the Willamette River. For so long it has divided our community into East and West. But now, with the Central City 2035 Plan, we have a concept for a linear park around the river that will connect us with the landscape, the community and each other.

People may think of the Green Loop as an infrastructure program, but it’s much more than that. It’s a new way to experience the Central City without a car. It’s about bringing people together around a safe, inclusive, attractive, dedicated pathway for walking, biking, rolling and strolling all around the Central City.

The heart of the city

It’s deliberate where the Green Loop is located; the Central City has the region’s largest concentration of housing, jobs and cultural attractions, as well as social services for those in need. By placing this community asset squarely in the heart of the city, we ensure that the greatest number of residents, workers, students and visitors will be able to enjoy it. And our most vulnerable community members will have a safe way to get home, access healthcare or go to a new job.

But this is not an either/or proposition. We can – and should – make similar investments in other parts of Portland, particularly East Portland, where so many community members, particularly communities of color, have suffered from lack of public dollars and civic attention.

The Lents Green Ring is what I would call a sister project to the Green Loop in the Lents neighborhood. The City has partnered with community organizers and supports the planning efforts for this new community asset in East Portland, which will connect to the Green Loop via a network of greenways and help us meet health, resiliency and prosperity objectives.

Present vs future investments

The investments we make today in the Green Loop will be relatively small and incremental, but they’ll pay in spades down the road. The economic multiplier effect of this visionary initiative – the value it will bring to neighborhoods all over the city, the degree to which it makes our community more attractive to innovation and technology companies – will bring huge economic benefits for the entire community and region.

But any time we consider new public development, large or small, we need to think first: How will people who are affected by that development benefit from it? Does it improve the space in which they live, make it more livable? Does the project help connect them to the kinds of services, jobs and institutions that make their lives and their community more robust?

Nobody wants to live in a city without access to open space or active transportation, and Portland has a long tradition of commitment to both. With no more room for additional streets and cars in the Central City, we can repurpose existing rights-of-way to create a new way to get to work, a quiet place to eat lunch or a spot to meet friends. The Loop also provides an affordable way to access regional and cultural attractions like the Portland Art Museum, PSU, OMSI, the Oregon Convention Center and Moda Center.

Creating community

The City of Portland is advancing in many exciting ways. People are moving here from all over the country, all over the world. In part because of the speed at which our economy is developing and the relatively lower housing costs. They also like our access to arts, culture, music and good food, and all the things that come with living in Portland, Oregon.

But as our city grows, we will be challenged to continue to keep that small, livable feel. We will need to keep innovating to meet our climate action and equity goals. The Green Loop addresses these issues by creating a walkable, bikeable and safe community asset. I think this is exactly the kind of big vision that Portlanders can get behind.

As with any big vision, there will be challenges; nothing this important ever comes easily. But other communities around the country and around the world are already doing this: New York, Chicago, Indianapolis, even Denver is getting ahead of us on this one.

I think the Green Loop will bring us together as a community. If there’s one thing we need in America today, perhaps more than anything else, it’s figuring out how to close our computers, put our phones down, turn off the Facebook and Twitter, and get out into the community and meet each other again. And that’s maybe my greatest hope for the Green Loop. I think it’s going to make us a community again.

Mayor Ted Wheeler

Portions of this letter excerpted from the video Green Loop: A Potentiality by Untitled Studios and Kyle Wallace of Reframed Pictures.

­­­­­­­­­­­­

A bold new concept of the Central City 2035 Plan, the Green Loop is a linear park that connects people to places within and beyond Portland's downtown neighborhoods and the Willamette River.

Welcoming riders, striders, walkers, rollers and strollers from 8- to 80 years olds, the Green Loop is for people of all ages and abilities. It's a 10K run, a gentle ride or stroll, both recreation and respite.

It’s about people

Everyone has a place in the heart of the city. The Green Loop will be for people who live outside the Central City as well as inside the urban core. Like families who come to OMSI on the weekend on the MAX. Or PSU students who bike to the city center from North Portland. Or a retiree and avid trail enthusiast from Southwest.

By 2035, the Central City will have 51,000 new households and 174,000 jobs. As the Central City absorbs 30 percent of Portland’s growth over the next two decades, the Green Loop will be a catalyst to repurpose streets, reinvent our transportation connections and create new spaces for people — not cars.

Healthy. Healthy cities need healthy hearts, and more trees mean fresher air and more shade on hot days. Which means cooler temperatures and  more enjoyable places for walking, jogging, rolling, cycling and resting. And that means fewer people in cars and lower carbon emissions.

The Green Loop will be designed for safety, welcoming kids on bikes and elders alike. It’s like Sunday Parkways every day. And it’s free!

Connected. As Portland’s population grows (and grows) our roads and freeways will carry even more traffic. We need reliable and safe ways to move people in and out of the urban core. The Loop builds a healthy web of connectivity between nearly a dozen districts — from the West End to the Lloyd to South Waterfront — and cultural hot spots like the Portland Art Museum, OMSI and the Moda Center.

It will link to major transit hubs and be the central path of a citywide system of park-like greenways reaching all neighborhoods of Portland. The Loop connects and partners with sister projects outside the Central City, like the Lents Green Ring, to share and build momentum for grassroots efforts.

Equitable. The Green Loop will be an urban pathway accessible to all. The Central City is home to 60 percent of the City’s affordable housing units. It has the largest concentration of social services and care providers in the city, especially shelter service facilities. 

Living wage work is a cornerstone of equity — and people need affordable and safe ways to get to jobs. A third of Portland’s jobs are in the Central City, and more than 50,000 new jobs are coming in the next two decades. Building the Green Loop offers a chance to harness opportunities for all the people that call the Central City home.

Prosperous. The Loop will carry people through employment districts, from Portland State University and OHSU to downtown, the Pearl and Lloyd. It will give Portlanders more options to reach jobs, education, services and return home. And it will guide tourists to shopping, cafes and entertainment.

Healthy circulation through the Central City and out to the city’s myriad greenway networks will support businesses and social services, improving access to places people rely on.

Uniquely Portland. The Green Loop will be a new place for art and expression. A place to pause and meditate or to gather socially or in solidarity.

With the growth projected for Portland, the Green Loop can help us gracefully evolve into a world-class city — that attracts global attention and investments — while still preserving and accentuating the things that make Portland livable, unique and special.

It’s a transformative investment in our low-carbon ethos and an iconic symbol of a city that values and supports all people: residents, workers, students and visitors.

The Green Loop is destined to become Portland's version of New York's High Line, Miami's Underline, Chicago's new 606 or the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. 

A “Big Idea” from the Central City 2035 Plan, the Green Loop concept has been shepherded by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability’s Urban Design Studio, in collaboration with other bureaus, agencies and community stakeholders. Last year, the University of Oregon/Yeon Center for Architecture and the Landscape held a design competition called Loop PDX, which invited designers to flesh out the circular open space concept. Untitled Studios, a group of young designers, won the $20,000 prize and has spent the past year refining and expanding the concept based on a lot of public outreach.

They will be sharing their latest work at DWP Headquarters at The Redd all next week.

See what others are saying about it:

• Green Loop exhibit at Design Week Portland (KGW)
• Live From Portland Design Week (OPB's Think Out Loud)
• Design Week finds a place for civic engagement (Portland Business Journal)
• Check Out 'Design Week Portland's' Green Loop Exhibit (KGW Live at 7)
• Could Portland’s Proposed Green Loop Reshape the City? (Portland Monthly) 
• STRONG DESIGN (Portland Tribune)
• The Many Ways the Green Loop Could Change Portland, Explained Live (Portland Monthly)
• News from the Green Loop blog

You see a street sign that says you’re are at SE 6^th and Washington. But this intersection is different than it used to be. There are more street trees, benches with people eating lunch and reading the newspaper. And that café? It’s now a pizzeria, its garage doors rolled up and beckoning you to sit down for a slice.

As you take it all in, several bicyclists zip by your shoulder. They were close, but you feel safe because they sped along a painted track that keeps you comfortably separated. Seconds later, a laughing child runs in front of you as her mom gives chase. You turn left and see that a parking lot is now a three-story building with restaurants on the first floor and offices above. You wonder if you’ve stepped into the future. 

Welcome to virtual reality.

What you just experienced is Portland’s Green Loop. Conceived by the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) to be a linear park, the loop will provide residents, workers and visitors a place to walk, bike, run and play along a 6-mile loop around the Central City.

In the past, BPS has shown what new development could look like with maps, photos and drawings. But as part of Design Week Portland, the bureau partnered with Oregon Story Board and Shovels and Whiskey to create a virtual reality experience of the Green Loop.

Virtual reality (or VR) is best known in the computer gaming world, but it’s now being used by health care practitioners, educators, artists and marketers. VR uses headset viewers to create immersive visual experiences that can feel very real. Employing it as a community engagement tool is pioneering and — as far as we know — BPS is one of the first planning agencies in the country to do so.

If you are at Design Week Portland’s Opening Gala, you can try it for yourself. Later in May, BPS will release a version of the Green Loop virtual reality experience to view online or with the Google Cardboard App. Look for more details about that soon.

So stay tuned for more exciting new about the Green Loop and how you can continue to experience it at www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/greenloop.

This year, Design Week Portland Headquarters will bring to life the Green Loop, a planned pedestrian/bike urban promenade linking the city’s east and west sides around the Central City. A “big idea” from the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability’s (BPS) Central City 2035 Plan and shepherded by BPS’ Urban Design Studio, the Green Loop concept caught the eye of Untitled Studio, the winners of last year’s LoopPDX competition.

As part of their winning proposal for the Green Loop, Untitled Studio reimagined the design process as a public celebration. So along with City bureau partners, they will host a weeklong exhibition that invites the community to engage, react to, discuss and further envision the Green Loop’s potential.

The Exhibition

The concept for the Green Loop put forth by Untitled Studio, The Portland Mosaic, is a framework to be filled through collaborative efforts – a massive mosaic in which every Portlander can have a tile. With this exhibition, Untitled Studio invites community members to join them in imagining a diverse yet unified Green Loop.

In the exhibition, participants can experience and engage with the concept through collaboration, creative programming, a streetscape prototype and a large-scale interactive map. A special feature of the exhibit will be a virtual reality “tour” of the Green Loop, where participants can explore the various features of the loop through an immersive experience.

The Events

Because the Green Loop is the “headliner” event for this year’s Design Week, a series of workshops, charrettes, evening lectures and happy hour events will be coordinated with the Green Loop or larger themes about public space and city design, including:

• Randy Gragg's Bright Lights Conversation on Monday, April 24: "Portland's Green Loop: The New Central City Rising"
• The Design Week Portland Opening Party on April 22
• A workshop titled "Making the Place: Branding Strategies for Public Space" on Friday, April 28, including a discussion with Chloe Eudaly on "Designing a Political Campaign"  
• An evening panel, "Dreaming the Future: Portland 2035," where speakers will pitch their ideas for the Portland of the future. 

Green Beer!

No, it’s not St Patrick’s Day again. But in honor of the Green Loop, Hopworks Urban Brewery has created a new IPA dubbed … you guessed it: Green Loop IPA. A limited edition beverage from one of Portland’s most popular brew pubs, this “deliciously hoppy” IPA was made with “Certified Salmon-Safe Chinook and Crystal hops to represent the river that intersect the districts in the loop.”

So enjoy a “green beer” during Design Week while you experience the Green Loop. Cheers! 

On August 20, hundreds of Portlanders braved the heat to join the Oregon Walkways: Connect the Park Blocks on the Green Loop event. A mile-long celebration of public space to promote active transportation on the historic Park Blocks, the event illustrated how a potential Green Loop could feel on the ground. Co-sponsored by Oregon Walks and Better Block PDX , the all-day event was also supported by Metro, Neighbors West/Northwest, Portland Bureau of Transportation, Portland Parks and Recreation and the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

The winner of Design Week Portland and UO John Yeon Center’s  Loop PDX design competition, Untitled Studio was a key attraction along the walk route. Members of the design team engaged passersby in a pop-up exhibit, featuring two interactive displays: a large map of the Central City and a 3D model of a typical intersection. Participants were asked to share their insights about the future design of the Green Loop through writing and drawing. Untitled Studio hopes to assemble these ideas into a future exhibition for Design Week Portland next spring.

Placed along the mid-town blocks were historical markers, created by Chet Orloff and Linda Wisner, showcasing the history of Portland’s transportation and planning in the Central City. In addition, the route featured programming and activities sponsored by community organizations, institutions and businesses such as the Multnomah County Central Library, Portland Art Museum, Oregon Historical Society, City Repair, Portland Bocce League, Nelson/Nygaard, Street Roots and many more. 

Missed the event?

Watch a short video of people interacting with the Untitled Studio displays. Or view and interact with the displays in person, along with the historical markers and photographs of the event, in the lobby of 1900 SW 4^th Ave from Monday, August 29 to Friday, September 9.  

Our mission is to advance the design quality of places citywide. We develop concepts and ideas to illustrate future physical changes as Portland continues to grow, and we use visual and graphic technologies to envision and communicate a variety of experiences with the public. We translate visions and ideas into policy, objectives, guidelines, and projects to forward community-supported design. Our practice builds upon Portland’s unique setting and history, its special places and its changing population, to enrich the quality, health and livability of the city.

In the advancement of design citywide, the UDS:

• Leads and facilitates community design workshops.
• Explores and develops potential design approaches.
• Creates urban design concepts and policy direction.
• Produces design guidelines.
• Assists and advises planning projects throughout the city.
• Engages design professionals, institutions, and community groups.
• Applies visual and graphic technology to illustrate and communicate concepts.

For more information, contact us.