Vancouver's Rain City Project Part 2 with Melina Scholefield
RAINCITY STRATEGY (part 2)
by Andrea Valentine Lewis with Melina Scholefield
ABOUT MELINA SCHOLEFIELD: Water Steward is the manager of green infrastructure at the City of Vancouver. Scholefield is dedicated to fostering leadership, culture, and values within an organization that enables collaboration, innovation, and actions to reduce dependency on fossil fuels, mitigate and adapt to climate change and protect and enhance the environment. Melina is the proud recipient of the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association Water Steward of the Year Award for 2020! More at WATER CANADA
In the first half of our interview (April 7, 2021), Melina provided some chilling facts about Vancouver’s current rainwater collection systems and shared some details about the city’s long-term initiative called the Rain City Strategy, a relatively new large-scale project designed to address rainwater sediment and pollution through innovative and often aesthetically beautiful green infrastructure in and around the urban centre. You can read Part ! here.
Here, in the latter part of our conversation, Scholefield went on to discuss some incredible artistic collaborations the City has seen through the Rain City Strategy.
For example, the St. George Rainway Project, located along St. George Street from Kingsway to False Creek, is a community-initiated project.
It started in response to one individual who noticed the sound of running water one day. That sound happened to be coming from te Statlew, a small creek that was built over during the development of the area.
The neighborhood came together through community events and acts of artistic expression to draw support from the municipality to unveil this creek and make it a part of the community again. In 2012, the St. George Rainway street mural was painted on St. George Street featuring renderings of waves, aquatic animals like fish and frogs, in addition to inspiring phrases.
These visual elements work to draw awareness to the area and what urban development has concealed. These community-driven efforts have been brought to the attention of the City of Vancouver and have been incorporated into the official plan for the Mount Pleasant neighborhood.
St. George Rainway Project mural.
Courtesy of Rita Wong.
Another example of an artistic collaboration with the Rain City Strategy was with the Museum of Vancouver called “Reconciled Futures,” an art mentorship program for Indigenous youth.
Over a week-long camp during the spring of 2019, youth were mentored about public art and various art practices by artists from several host Nations, in addition to learning about green infrastructure; at the end of the camp, the youth were invited to create some designs that were subsequently produced at a large scale and installed at 63rd and Yukon Street.
St. George Rainway Project mural.
Courtesy of Rita Wong.
Reconciled Futures, located at 63rd and Yukon Street, Vancouver, BC.
Courtesy of the City of Vancouver.
Reconciled Futures, located at 63rd and Yukon Street, Vancouver, BC.
Courtesy of the City of Vancouver.