Ginger Hansen

Ginger Hansen

MLArch Student Landscape Architecture

decorative image for the presentation

MarshLab Philadelphia

Eastwick, Philadelphia

Emerging urban wetlands in Philadelphia can act as catalysts for fundamentally changing how people live in the city when they are developed as wetland “learning settlements,” wherein residents collectively meet core needs for food, medicine, shelter, craft, and community through direct relationships with the wetland landscape, rather than through wage labor and consumer markets.

This graduate capstone project proposes that emerging urban wetlands in Philadelphia, particularly those shaped by sea level rise and post-urban transition, can become catalysts for fundamentally transforming urban life. Rather than treating wetlands solely as ecological buffers or recreational amenities, the project advances the thesis that they can be developed as wetland learning settlements where residents collectively meet core needs for food, medicine, shelter, craft, and community through direct, place-based relationships with wetland systems instead of relying primarily on wage labor and consumer markets. Through phased restoration strategies including invasive removal, hydrologic repair, native planting, and the integration of polyculture systems such as rice and fish production, the proposal combines ecological restoration with settlement design, stewardship infrastructure, and land-based skill development. The result is a long-term framework for ecological repair, community governance, and material self-provisioning that positions wetlands not as marginal lands, but as foundations for a regenerative urban future.