Visioning:
Imagine a report about our area in the year 2020
What else could be happening?
Imagine a report about our area in the year 2020
What else could be happening?
Coatesville highbridge with wind turbines - artist: Michael Green
Electric generation from turbines under Coatesville Amtrak high bridge:
Electric generating wind turbines are installed high up under the arches of the high bridge. A feasibility study showed that there was sufficient wind current caused by the arches even on the calmest days. They are owned by the City and can power all the municipal lights if there is a power cut, but usually the power is fed straight into the grid and earns money for the City.
Electric generating wind turbines are installed high up under the arches of the high bridge. A feasibility study showed that there was sufficient wind current caused by the arches even on the calmest days. They are owned by the City and can power all the municipal lights if there is a power cut, but usually the power is fed straight into the grid and earns money for the City.
Greenhouse complex:
Acres of food greenhouses are established on the 'flats' under and around the high bridge in Coatesville. The complex is heated in winter by excess heat from the steel mill, either by hot water or air circulation. This also has an Aquaculture (fish and plant production) initiative. A garden center selling a whole range of products is adjoined. The restaurant topped it off making it a local buying and tourist destination. A Coatesville historic interpretation site is also installed there.
Food initiatives:
Acres of food greenhouses are established on the 'flats' under and around the high bridge in Coatesville. The complex is heated in winter by excess heat from the steel mill, either by hot water or air circulation. This also has an Aquaculture (fish and plant production) initiative. A garden center selling a whole range of products is adjoined. The restaurant topped it off making it a local buying and tourist destination. A Coatesville historic interpretation site is also installed there.
Food initiatives:
- More and more people growing food becomes the norm
- Micro urban CSAs (community supported agriculture) specializing in a range of products proliferate
- Garden share, where someone shares their garden with a grower to produce food for a crop share
- Food growers swap meets easy on social media
- Some keep chickens, sell eggs to neighbors, create local brands
- Produce sold at Cville farmer’s market
- Many people install water barrels and containers in their yards to help with irrigation
- Hospitals rent their grounds to local farmers who dig up the grass to grow fresh produce for the hospital food system (HSA: Hospital Supported Agriculture)
- People start food stores: bakeries, local produce stores, etc., based on the CSA model
- Community supported agriculture creates a proliferation of small farm starts
- Most homeowners and landlords are retrofitting their buildings for efficiency
- Some houses in Coatesville become zero energy properties, and some, with solar panels, even generate more power than they use
- Area municipalities initiate the Rain Water Retention Code that assesses properties for their ability to keep their roof and surface water on their land. It is expected that the West Brandywine river that runs through Coatesville, with less storm water runoff stress, will be able to support a larger fish population and prevent flooding further downstream. An estimated 70 million gallons annually will now stay on the land in Coatesville, much of it going subterranean to help replenish other water sources and area wells.
- Large iconic relicts from steel mill, the big stuff, have been saved and placed about Coatesville
- Coatesville historic district becomes a frequented tourist destination
- Life through the ages: Rebecca Lukens house, Terracina, Graystone. 3 houses of history. Wood, river, coal, whale oil, and petroleum power ages displayed
- History of steel making in Coatesville interpretation site installed inside greenhouse complex
- Many historic sites have been mapped for the tourists that now plan trips around the region
Community infrastructure:
- Gateway Park in Coatesville is tree planted, with paths leading radially toward the center where there is a large bandstand
- A multilevel boardwalk is built on the east side of the river at First Avenue in Coatesville, and extends towards the high bridge. There is a fisherman casting platform
- With help from the City, at some corners in Coatesville a building has been removed to make way for a communal space with benches and shaded structures. The block has meetings to discuss and build what features they want on the corner. They become meeting spaces and spontaneous and planned micro-local community events take place there
- Bicycle usage increases and bicycle stores and repair shops have opened
- The train station transport hub is now very busy with a bus terminal, local train service from Septa and commercial train deliveries of goods and supplies. Buses also double as cargo carriers to local businesses (Ride Guide)
- A proposed plan for a raised steel walking and bicycle track constructed in sections and installed above the rail line from Coatesville to Exton is given the go ahead for a feasibility study
- With less long-range tourism, due to high energy costs throughout the world, Coatesville becomes one of the hubs for people arriving by train to begin and end their cycling tours of Chester and Lancaster county
- A small tourism bureau is set up to serve the Western Chester County region encouraging Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York residents to visit for a day or a long weekend
- Sign of the times:
- Working with many authorities it has been agreed to install a micro-hydro, electric generating system along the West Brandywine river where it makes its way through the old steel mill. Special care will be taken to not affect the fish population
- Much of the old steel mill property is now a commercial park dedicated to small, local manufacturing businesses, repair shops of many kinds, sewing establishments with their own specialties, local food processing outlets, and warehousing, etc.; also, a large Art and Reskilling Center
- Children no longer bus to far-away schools. Due to raised oil prices students are fitted into local schools and some schools are reclassified to fit the educational needs of their local community. Local bus trips are still carried out, though where possible children form ‘walking trains’ and ‘bicycle trains’, large groups that meet and go together to school. Surplus buses serve the public transport sector. Distance learning using computers and neighborhood schooling increases exponentially.
- Household economy takes off
- Web-based local business resource-interconnectivity directory formed: Waste sharing, services, manufacturing, food production, repair, repurposing, etc.
