While visiting the site we were tasked with being aware of the sites conditions, choose something that pops out at us about the site, and to create a transect that will lead us towards a design system. 

The Gowanus Canal is notoriously known for having a strong odor coming from it's decades of pollution from surrounding industries. With this in mind I chose to investigate the array of smells that I could pick up as I walked around the site, since the site is fenced off from visitors. From here I decided that I wanted the community to be involved with the site socially and economically, for much of the vegetation on site to be hyper-accumulators to absorb the toxic metals in the soil, and incorporate a science and education function to keep track of the pollution levels in the air, water, and soil as well as inform future generations what heavy pollution can do to an area, their food supply, and their health. 

The community based programs centered around those most people know by smell and that could be based on-site (bakery, cafe, etc), those that could be brought in to provide a green market area by reusing the track structures (herbs, candles, vegetables, florist, etc), and then some seasonal events and items (trees, wreaths, potpourri, etc). The site also allowed for community gardens, sitting and leisure areas, and the possibility to connect with some future recreational activities.