During the summer of 2021 Dreemweaver Concepts began contractual placemaking work on the Cart Blocks Food Cart Pod located in Downtown Portland, Oregon. This particular pod was set up to accommodate the relocation of the Alder Street Food Cart Pod which was one of the largest and longest running food cart establishments in Downtown Portland. The lot that these carts used to occupy was redeveloped into a Ritz Carlton hotel and the resulting displacement was challenging for both food cart owners and the patrons that frequented this pod. The vacant and fenced-off Ankeny West Park is located five blocks from the original Alder Street site and it was identified as an ideal location to reestablish these carts. While the park is located in a highly visible and centralized location the cumulative impacts of long term neglect and disinvestment created a need for robust placemaking interventions at this site.

Reimaging the Decommissioned Ankeny West Park: The adjacent image shows Ankeny West park during the week after the grand opening of the Cart Blocks. This particular view is from West Burnside which is the main thoroughfare running through Downtown Portland. While this location provides good visibility the wide open park space between the sidewalk and the food carts makes the location appear abandoned and inactive, resulting in no sense of “place”. It was clear from the very beginning that if this pod was to be successful placemaking interventions were needed to make this location more appealing and inviting.

The Cart Blocks opened in August of 2021 to a very challenging Downtown environment. Downtown Portland has historically catered to office workers and tourists and both of these constituencies abruptly disappeared at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The residential population in Downtown Portland is small relative to other similar locations and this particular community could not support the vast landscape of eateries and retail establishments in this area. There was hope that the Cart Blocks could be a catalyst in bringing patrons back to the central city but for this to be accomplished much work needed to be done in the form of placemaking and activation.

Our planning and design work for this location centered on beautification and a diversification of offerings. The wide open park space serves as a canvas that allows for a wide variety of functional components. When the Cart Blocks inherited this space the vast majority of the park was covered in gravel. Softening in the form of grass and plant life was needed to make the environment more appealing and comforting. A series of garden trellises were recommended for the exterior walls of the bathhouses to add additional greenery and to deter spray paint tagging, which had become a persistent issue for the site. The park space also came with a bland and monotonous color scheme and bright colored accents were added to the functional elements that were proposed for the site. Due to persistent struggles with foot traffic in the Downtown core a diversification of offerings was recommended to attract more patrons to the site and our renderings include concepts for shipping containers to be used for dry goods retail offerings.

Dreemweaver Concepts also provided project management services which involved assisting in the day to day operations of the site, managing and growing the Cart Blocks social media accounts, engaging in fund development work, and recruiting additional food carts to the pod.

The Placemaking Potential of Food Cart Pods: During the peak economic years in Downtown Portland food carts were an essential ingredient for success. The significant number of food cart establishments in the Downtown core encouraged office workers to venture out of their buildings and take in more of the City on their lunch breaks, while also allowing for an interesting outdoor dining experience for tourists on the weekends. The outdoor relationship dynamic that exists between food cart establishments and their patrons helped to create a dense, vibrant, and active street-level environment in pre-COVID Downtown Portland. Food Carts also offer a unique middle ground for food entrepreneurs who are working their way up to occupying a brick and mortar establishment but are not quite ready to take that step. While it is understandable that some brick and mortar food establishments are not in favor of food carts operating near their locations the Alder Street food cart pod was credited for the growth and success of the robust brick and mortar culinary scene in Downtown Portland’s West End. The Alder Steet food cart pod helped to create a strong culinary identity for this particular area of Downtown which went on to create a positive effect for the brick and mortar dining establishments in this area.

The success of the Portland food cart scene can be transferred over to a number of different locations and we would be happy to bring our experiences to your City to help activate and create a sense of place in locations where this is needed.