The French Broad River runs through West Asheville, North Carolina, weaving together community, nature, and industry as it connects north to south, and old to new. Geologically speaking, it’s one of the oldest rivers on the planet. Culturally, its banks have inspired a vibrant arts community and offered space for recreation and renewal with nature. Historically, the riverfront served industry and commerce that supported Asheville’s growth.

Over time, its banks have evolved into vital public spaces that have long been part of daily life for Asheville residents and visitors. Parks, greenways, and gathering spaces brought people close to the water. The River Arts District developed as a creative hub for local artists and businesses, operating largely out of repurposed warehouses. In the summer, inner tubes, boats, and stand-up paddle boards span the river as a key recreational asset.

A strong, diverse sense of community permeates every aspect of life in Asheville, and has defined the river’s usage for decades. But that community’s resilience was tested in 2024 when Tropical Storm Helene brought unprecedented devastation to Asheville and the Western North Carolina region. In the storm’s aftermath, the French Broad River became the focal point for a collective effort to recover and rebuild.

The City of Asheville’s Parks Recovery Project will establish a vision and plan for the entire parks system, spanning approximately 180 acres and multiple parks, trails, and greenways. It goes beyond rebuilding, to re-examining ways to enhance and uplift what was there from social, economic, environmental, and user experience perspectives.

“We’re focused on making smart, sustainable decisions—regenerative decisions—to stabilize the riverbanks and program spaces to withstand flooding in the future,” says David Cosslett, principal at RVi. “Our goal is to not just rebuild what was there, but to reimagine the parks in the eyes of the people who use them.”

With Sasaki leading the broader planning and design efforts, Cosslett and RVi are assisting community engagement strategies that place local voices at the center of the process, shaping a resilient riverfront experience tied directly to the community it serves. In Asheville, recovery begins by engaging the community.

Strength from disaster

During Tropical Storm Helene, the riverfront that once symbolized renewal became the epicenter of loss. At its peak, the river reportedly crested at more than 24 feet, breaking previous records set in 1916. Unprecedented flooding, landslides, and outages wreaked devastation across the region and left homes, businesses, and parks in the wreckage.

RVi’s Asheville staff were among those displaced. “We didn’t have water or power for weeks,” Cosslett recalls. When the storm subsided, the cleanup and relief efforts brought the community together in ways that disaster often does.

“So many people lost everything,” says Cosslett. “Yet neighbors from all backgrounds came together, asking, ‘How can I help? What can I do?’ It showed the strength of this region to come together in times of pain.”

During the immediate recovery period, RVi team members provided direct support as volunteers cleaning out people’s homes and properties impacted by the storm. RVi participated in several additional efforts focused on understanding flood impacts in the River Arts District, one of the areas most affected by the storm. This included supporting an Urban Land Institute (ULI) advisory panel to assess recovery needs, as well as academic engagement through Clemson University’s third-year design studio, where Cosslett volunteered as a mentor for students examining post-flood conditions and creative solutions to rebuild what was lost.

As members of the community, remaining engaged during the early stages of recovery was a duty, and an important way to stay connected to ongoing conversations and local needs.

Community engagement as the foundation for the future

When RVi began the public engagement process in December 2025, that energy carried through. More than 200 residents showed up to the first public open house to share their ideas for the future. That initial session, coordinated alongside other concurrent City-led parks efforts, brought together residents, City staff, and multiple design teams around a common goal. We were there to listen.

“It was one of the better attended open houses we’ve had in the city,” says Cosslett. “We heard a lot of excitement and a lot of positive input. People were happy to be there and share their thoughts.”

Engagement efforts that followed were designed to meet people where they are, capturing a broad range of perspectives. Through targeted focus groups, pop-ups in community spaces, and accessible online tools, residents shared how they use the riverfront today, what they value most, and what they hope to see. The in-person engagement ranged in scale from the public open houses to coordinating more than 25 one-on-one meetings with interested residents to gain more personal and focused input.

Conversations consistently highlighted the importance of safety and ecological resilience, river access, environmental restoration, and balancing active recreation with passive amenities. The focus groups brought together users to dig deep into topics such as recreation, local business, and public art.

The design team structured engagement strategies to translate lived experience into actionable design direction. What emerged from the public engagement process was a shared sense of care for the riverfront, its parks, and their shared future. Those insights will now serve as the foundation for a set of design guidelines that embed community values into actionable direction, ensuring the next phase of planning reflects lived experience, shared priorities, and authenticity. According to Cosslett, it’s been an “emotional, but strengthening process” for everyone involved.

“There are so many different contingents and people within the community,” says Cosslett. “It’s important for us to understand those voices and meet them where they are. You can’t skip this process, or you take away the ownership.”

From recovery to renewal

The French Broad River Parks Recovery Project marks a shift from emergency response to intentional planning. With much of the FEMA assessment and cleanup completed over the past year, RVi and Sasaki are now translating the insights gained through public engagement into a framework for future design, investment, and phased implementation throughout the riverfront parks and greenways. These frameworks were recently presented at another public open house for feedback and will continue to be refined in reflection of the community.

As we continue to refine the shared priorities established by the community, the work will focus on improved resilience to future flooding as well as river access, ecological restoration, and public spaces that reflect Asheville’s cultural identity as a destination for creativity and recreation.

A year after the storm, billboards along the highway in Buncombe County read WNC Strong. The French Broad River has tested Asheville’s resilience, but it continues to unite the Western North Carolina region. For Asheville, that strength is taking shape through a recovery effort grounded in community, resilience, and sustainable stewardship of the river—connecting past and future, industry and art, loss and renewal. Asheville is shaping a recovery that looks forward—not just to what was, but to what’s possible.