Scharmen's image on the survey site is a wall of kudzu, an invasive and fast-growing vine: "It's cheap, easy and green," he said.
Organizers of the Infill Survey don't know of other cities around the nation or world with such sites. There is another site in Baltimore called BaltiMorphosis. which is not affiliated with any agency. It allows users to post their visions for an area in West Baltimore that was decimated by a transportation project dubbed "highway to nowhere." It was supposed to be a six-lane highway connecting interstates, but it was abandoned after fewer than two miles.
The Infill Survey, however, has attracted attention and images from people as far away as Serbia and Bolivia. Someone from Argentina suggested the tightrope.
One man took the city's template, which shows a fallen tree on an empty lot between two sets of rowhouses, and simply straightened the tree. Perhaps weary from Baltimore's multiple challenges, he wrote underneath: "Gotta start somewhere."
Randy M. Sovich, an architect for RM Sovich Architecture, used his experience in designing city projects to create an image of housing that incorporates outdoor and community space within the infill site, but also stretches over the vacant housing next door. He said the image is based on a thought from Einstein: creating order where there is disorder.
"If you leave decay on either side, that's not a solution," he said. "I know this in my heart because we've worked on projects over the years where we take down a vacant building, and we're looking at more vacant buildings. We're working against nature."
He also said that maybe the solution isn't more buildings but more forested land. John Ruppert, a sculptor and chairman of the art department at the University of Maryland, College Park, agrees. He suggested the glaciers and waterfalls, though he said he would understand if his vision doesn't become reality. He's fine as long as people are thinking about nature within the landscape.
"If we had a cold winter, there could be some system to make snow and create some kind of event, like at a ski resort," said Ruppert, who recently won a Baker Artist Award, in a largely online competition for Baltimore-area artists, and has work on display at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
"I like the idea of a rowhome and then a chunk of landscape."
More ideas
To see more ideas submitted to Baltimore Infill Survey's photostream or to add your own, visit flickr.com/photos/
baltimoreinfillsurvey
