Margie Ruddick’s office created a master plan for the 250-acre interior of Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. The site, an old rail yard and waste site, had been cordoned off for decades. The site became a wonderful demonstration of a successional landscape, from clonal patches of pioneer species, to bog mats in wetter areas, and open fields and savannahs.
The master plan laid out circulation according to the paths of the rails, the path of water, and the movement of successional species through the site. The interpretive component of these paths drove their design: The rail path was conceived to re-use metal found on site and in nearby waste landscapes; the water path wound over a series of causeways over existing and restored wetland; and the successional path was actually conceived to be a modular boardwalk system that could be moved to follow the march of successional species through the site.
In addition, the plan called for new gateways at key entry points, and a new recreation park formed from the materials excavated to restore both a tidal and a freshwater wetland.
Size: 250 acres
