RiverVision is a far-reaching and broadly participatory waterfront development plan for Davenport, Iowa and Rock Island, Illinois. Seldom, if ever, have two cities in two states planned and implemented a bi-coastal water’s edge riverfront and brownfield reclamation project. The project continues to redefine the Quad Cities’ region, attracting more visitors and branding the Quad Cities as having one of the most compelling riverfronts in the nation, even the world.
The RiverVision project is on the Mississippi River, one of the largest and most significant rivers in the world. World renowned urban designers, Hargreaves Associates of Cambridge, Massachusetts, have worked with hundreds of Quad-City residents to shape RiverVision, a plan that has won the approval of the Cities of Davenport and Rock Island and has garnered the priority attention of business and civic leaders alike.
The RiverVision planning process is a unique model for cooperation between two cities and states to achieve both shared regional objectives as well as projects specific to the needs of each city. By pooling the resources and energy of two cities and states for the greater good, the communities of Davenport and Rock Island have created an ambitious model for neighboring communities across the country. The RiverVision Plan provides a coordinated framework for channeling development and configuring urban public open space to enhance and improve the quality of living in Davenport and Rock Island.
The RiverVision initiative is noteworthy in many ways. That two neighboring cities through open processes are working together on a revitalization and economic development program – rather than competing with each other – is quite rare. That the cooperation crosses what is increasingly viewed as an artificial state line is extraordinary. That the plan, which received unanimous support from both cities (along with unanimous support from groups as diverse as the local chambers of commerce and conservationists) integrates two fundamentally different approaches to floodplain management and urban design is … unprecedented, remarkable, amazing...
To learn more about the 2004 RiverVision Plan,
click here.
To learn more about the RiverVision Plan 2014 Update,
click here.