Migration Baywalk Pop-up
The Baywalk Pop-up is a temporary environmental art installation intended to publicize the desire and need for improvements towards a permanently developed and connected waterfront trail in Downtown Miami benefiting both people and wildlife. As cities compete for talent and investment by offering better parks, cultural, and social offerings, Miami can contend by capitalizing on the beauty and magic of more than 2 miles of waterfront. Currently, a recently-opened segment is unmarked, barren, desolate, and unsafe. Small improvements now will have a large and immediate impact. We propose a temporary environmental art installation which will show the potential of a permanently improved and connected waterfront trail in Downtown Miami, while highlighting the disappearance of tree habitats for bird migration. By re-purposing invasive melaleuca tree skeletons without roots, as brightly colored “beacons,” acquired through restoration efforts, this sculptural installation will serve as an environmental reflection on the threat of invasive species which cause the displacement of native plant communities.
White painted silhouettes of birds in flight will represent the motion of bird populations overhead, drawing pedestrians to experience a safer, more accessible and scenic route along the waterfront. Beneath each barren trunk, blue circles will be painted on the pavement to signify both the lost tree canopy of days gone by, and the potential native tree canopy that may be achieved through vision and investment. Each circle is an opportunity to show the shade that can be created for man, and the diverse benefits to migrating birds. Creative groupings of the pink tree trunks will be temporarily embedded into existing lawn and hardscape surfaces, guiding people along the most confusing portion of the existing Baywalk in Miami, while serving as perches for birds in migration. The project is a joint effort by Miami Parking Authority, PAMM, ArquitectonicaGEO and Melissa Hege City Planning. It is endorsed by Miami District 2 Commissioner and DDA Chair, Ken Russell, County Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, The Nature Conservancy, Bayside Marketplace and Bayfront Park Management Trust.
