Baltimore’s founding river has been hidden below I-83 for over 50 years, overlooked and mistreated.

As the elevated expressway covering the Jones Falls nears the projected end of its lifespan, more and more Baltimoreans are imagining and asking what might come next instead.

What future do we want for the river at the heart of our city, and how might we get there?

These questions propel a new exhibition we’ve organized of speculative works that envision a radically restored and reimagined Jones Falls, currently on view at The Peale Museum through November 22.

These visions for the river in 2076 – fashioned by artists, designers, writers and community members – conceive the Jones Falls through the lens of possibility, reimagining the river unburied, reconnected, repaired and recentered as the ecological, social and civic heart of Baltimore.

The works also ask deeper questions about our relationships to the river, to our human and non-human neighbors, and to future generations to come.

Befouled and Buried

The Jones Falls was the waterway that made possible the rise of Baltimore as an American industrial powerhouse.

But the many mills and factories along the river also contributed to its degradation and neglect. By the early 20th century, the lower Falls was so polluted that city leaders entombed its waters and sent it underground.

In the 1960s, city government went one step further, building a highway over the buried river, dividing Baltimore’s residents from each other.

Today Baltimore’s founding river is out of sight and out of mind for many residents. Mention the name “Jones Falls,” and most people think of the JFX freeway, not the river beneath.

Sections of the elevated highway are already reaching the end of their projected lifespan (if you’ve driven on the highway in recent years, you’ve noticed the multiplying cracks and potholes).

When the highway is decommissioned, will it be rebuilt in a multibillion-dollar reconstruction project that the city cannot afford?

Or can we build an entirely different future for the Jones Falls and surrounding communities that doesn’t involve a highway at all?

Civic Momentum

Twentieth-century urban highways like the JFX have left deep social, economic, ecological, and health scars in cities across the United States, segregating neighborhoods, dividing communities, draining tax bases, and subjecting countless residents to increased air and noise pollution from passing vehicles.

In recent decades, cities around the world – from Milwaukee to Seoul, from Detroit to Paris – have revitalized their central waterways as vibrant centers of social, economic, and ecological life.

From Milwaukee to Seoul and Detroit to Paris, cities have revitalized their central waterways as vibrant centers of social, economic and ecological life

Baltimore residents deserve the opportunity to reclaim the Jones Falls as an anchor for ecological restoration, but also as the heart of a thriving future city.

There is no better time to begin thinking about these questions than right now.

In the past few years and months, the Jones Falls valley and watershed has emerged as the focus of multiple major projects in the planning and design stages, such as the Jones Falls Watershed Strategic Plan, the Jones Falls Gateway Project, the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network, and Remington on the River.

Last year, an administration plan (since dropped) to relocate a city waste transfer station near the river, and the prospect of residential development in proximity to the waterway, ignited passionate community debate about the Jones Falls’ future.

Our project aims to build on and supplement this civic momentum by looking ahead more aspirationally to the more profound change that remains within reach.

The ongoing Jones Falls 2076 exhibition at The Peale, upcoming public events, and other Jones Falls 2076 project activities seek to expand the realm of the possible for the waterway.

Daring to Dream

Earlier this year we held a series of River Reimagining Workshops with diverse constituencies and encouraged participants to develop creative and radical visions for the future of the river.

Over the summer we hosted many community-led “Dreamwalks” along the Jones Falls that explored the history of the waterway and also what these spaces could become in the future.

Typical planning dynamics are reactive and top-down, governed by immediate necessities and administrative constraints.

In contrast, “Jones Falls 2076” imagines these processes as proactive – unbounded rather than constrained. Working within the realms of speculative design, art and writing, we have sought to encourage unexpected forms of creative thinking and imagination.

What futures might emerge for the Jones Falls if we start from a place of possibility, not limitation?

The collective experiences we’ve shaped with this project show that grassroots energy and radical ideas can shape urban development trajectories.

We’ve seen how participatory design processes can reach new audiences and elevate ambitious concepts that can motivate and inspire people.

Our recent Community Design Charette at The Peale confirmed yet again that there is no shortage of creative imagination or community will for a more aspirational future for the Jones Falls.

Fifty years is a time span that invites dramatic forms of possibility and change, yet one that remains within the lifetimes of younger Baltimoreans.

Over these decades to come, how might residents in the city start to relate differently to the river, the valley, the watershed, and all of its human and nonhuman inhabitants?

Generational thinking is imperative in addressing our most difficult challenges. We invite you to join us in this collective journey at The Peale this fall and beyond.
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• Co-organizers of Jones Falls 2076 are Lee Davis, co-executive director of the Center for Creative Impact at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA); Anand Pandian, Johns Hopkins University professor of anthropology and co-founder of the Ecological Design Collective; and Bruce Willen, creator of the Ghost Rivers public art project and founder of Public Mechanics studio. Contact: hello@jonesfalls2076.org

Upcoming free events at The Peale at 225 North Holliday Street:

Future directions for the Jones Falls: A panel of city officials, planners and environmental leaders will discuss ideas and considerations around possible highway removal and river restoration. November 12, 6-7:30 p.m.

Stories of Rivers Reclaimed: Panelists from Baltimore, Washington and New York City will share case studies of other cities that have decommissioned highways and restored buried waterways. November 15 , 2-3:30 p.m.

The Jones Falls 2076 exhibition: Featuring 14 newly-commissioned speculative works that envision a reimagined Jones Falls as well as depictions of the Jones Falls from the 1800s through the present. On view in the 3rd floor gallery, through November 22.