Bayamón Riverfront
Bayamón, Puerto Rico

Bayamón Riverfront Smart District

Project Type: Economic Revitalization, Urban Design, and Transportation Planning
Project Status: Completed
Dates: August 2023
Site Area: approx. 52 acres
Team: Plusurbia Design

The City of Bayamon is one of few Puerto Rico cities with all the necessary ingredients for reinvestment to translate into remarkable transformation already taking place.

With visionary leadership, Bayamon has revitalized its downtown historic architecture by restoring its architecture and integrating art through a captivating facade improvement program featuring vibrant murals. In addition, the city has prioritized reinvestment in its infrastructure, enhancing streets, expanding sidewalks, and improving accessibility to the metro station. The Tren Urbano, an elevated metro line, seamlessly connects Bayamon to the vibrant San Juan Metropolitan area, creating the possibility for a car-free lifestyle only possible in a few places, making this municipality a genuinely enviable place to live, work and play.

Plusurbia Design was commissioned to envision the revitalization of Bayamon’s Riverfront. An area currently underutilized and in need of redevelopment.  The proposed vision is for a vibrant space that seamlessly blends natural and man-made elements. The urban infill plan includes a variety of complimentary uses to bring life back to the area. Those uses are largely connected through a series of  pedestrian friendly spaces, emphasizing public amenities along the riverfront, increasing access to the waterfront, and more importantly creating an identity for the district.

Our studio believes that sustainability should be the cornerstone of all its projects. Sustainable strategies, such as stormwater management, green infrastructure and energy conservation and generation are incorporated into the design.  This project serves as an example of how sustainable urban design can help create meaningful public spaces and encourage positive environmental, economic and social change.

With the goal of creating a vibrant district that encourages interactions between people, businesses, the waterfront and nature through thoughtful design and planning, the plan proposes a variety of uses including residential housing, commercial/retail, and public open space. The plan also puts forth a vision for greening the district with a strong emphasis on urban agriculture. Community gardens, edible landscaping, green roofs and food hubs are all proposed as ways to foster social interaction while increasing access to challenging food deserts. Additionally, this type of programming encourages environmental stewardship by reducing water usage through rainwater collection and energy conservation through the use of renewable energy sources.