Revitalizing the Meander is a project that seeks to mitigate flooding issues along a portion of the Upper Kabana River in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, through the creation of soft-ecological interventions, while also creating new connections across the river where they are currently missing. 

Most of the housing on site along the river is poorly constructed informal housing built close to the bank due to a lack of space from the rapidly growing population of the city. This informal housing easily floods due to the winding meanders of the river and contributes to erosion along the banks. The proposed master plan for the site relocates residents who live in flood-prone areas to new housing structures that also function as bridges, creating new connections across the river and providing amenities to residents. These connections are determined by where “green streets” can continue across the river, allowing pedestrians new modes of travel. 

Zooming into the bridge structure that was further designed at a higher resolution, one can see the connection that is created between the two proposed green streets at either side of the river. Bioswales from the green streets continue over the bridge structure, filtering runoff water. On one side of the structure, a market acts as an entry point to the bridge, while on the other side, new housing relocates those prone to flooding. The bridge has arms that extend off it, fostering additional connections to lower levels of the structure, as well as to the river and the slow mobility path which stretches along the river. In the center, urban agriculture provides a local source of food for the surrounding neighborhoods and helps to mitigate fluvial flooding.