Seminar: "The Jersey City Embankment Urban Forest – A Light Touch" - Frank Gallagher & Sean Gallagher
Landscape Architecture Seminar
Sean A. Gallagher is a Principal and the Director of Sustainable Design at Diller Scofidio + Renfro, as well as adjunct faculty at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. His past work includes the United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum, the U.S. Massena Land Port of Entry, and Microsoft’s “The Square” project. Most recently, Sean led the biofiltration system design for CanalCafé, which received the prestigious Golden Lion Award for Best National Participation at the 2025 Venice Biennale.
Frank Gallagher, Ph.D. For over forty years Frank has explored the connection between people and landscape through both land management and academic research. Serving as Chief of Interpretive Services, Administrator and Assistant Director of the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry, offered practical experience in an array of land management issues.
The Embankment is the massive stone section of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Harsimus Branch running parallel to 6th Street in Jersey City. The Embankment comprises six segments extending from Brunswick Street to Marin Boulevard on the east. This historic fabric, a remnant of the Industrial Revolution, is about to be adaptively repurposed as a linear park. Since its abandonment in 1999 there has been little or no access and a Novel Urban Forest has developed. Adapted to the dry rocky soils the existing vegetative assemblage is providing the foundation for the planning initiative. Rather than create a new planting plan, we chose to prioritize the mix of native and non-native species that have proven viable within the urban site. A “light touch” is guiding the design of the Harsimus Branch from beginning to end. Design decisions, informed by Secretary of the Interior Standards, will preserve the historic integrity of the Embankment while concepts of 4th Nature target the improvement of ecosystem services. The ecosystem services have been characterized by a team from Rutgers University, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The Embankment Preservation Coalition formed in 1998 as a working group that evolved from meetings of more than a hundred neighbors who were concerned about a proposal to demolish the Harsimus Branch Embankment and develop the site. After many legal battles the property has been transferred to the City of Jersey City and the Coalition’s design team has developed Conceptual Open Space Plans.