Set to catalyze Jacksonville’s environmental, economic, and cultural potential as an urban oasis, the Emerald Trail is a 30-mile multimodal urban trail network that connects Downtown Jacksonville to its surrounding native ecosystems and historic neighborhoods. To guide and unify these efforts, SCAPE worked with Groundwork Jacksonville and the City of Jacksonville to develop a comprehensive set of design guidelines, establishing a strong sense of identity for the entire Emerald Trail.
The resulting guidelines identify elements that will act as motifs, remaining consistent across the network of trails, as well as site-specific features that allow the trail to respond to varying environmental contexts, ensuring the system is legible, safe, resilient, and implementable. The guidelines prioritize nature-based strategies, such as planting native species that withstand flooding and maintaining trees as critical infrastructure that maximize shade. The trail is currently under various phases of design and construction with multiple teams involved across the system. When complete, the trail will create a cohesive, pedestrian-oriented urban core for Jacksonville and a cultural asset for future generations.
Check out the Design Guidelines below:
Client
- Groundwork Jacksonville
