2018: New Spaces, New Tools and New Insights for Great Public Places
A year of change and growth in the civic commons
In 2016, Reimagining the Civic Commons launched nationally with demonstrations in five cities with a lofty goal: to become the first comprehensive demonstration of the power of the civic commons to achieve socially beneficial — and measurable — goals. Since then, teams in Akron, Chicago, Detroit, Memphis and Philadelphia have built trust with local residents, reactivated neglected places and built new ones and created a new model for collaborative cross-sector work.
Along the way, we’ve worked to create and implement a new way of measuring investments in public spaces that track progress on civic engagement, socioeconomic mixing, value creation and sustainability, and most importantly, demonstrated the effectiveness of new tools available for other cities interested in measuring the impacts of investments in their own commons.
REIMAGINED PLACES: Revitalizing and connecting assets to drive value for the public
There were a number of important public space openings in 2018, which point to even more reimagined assets in 2019.
Detroit Creates a Park From Vacancy
In 2018, Detroit transformed vacant land into a community asset when it opened Ella Fitzgerald Park, a new 2.5-acre neighborhood green space with basketball courts, a playscape and a picnic area. It quickly became the heart of the neighborhood, with residents gathering to play, exercise or just relax. The park also served as a significant visual cue of changes to come with this marking just the start of openings in the neighborhood. HomeBase, a storefront community center and collaboration hub, a community greenway and commercial corridor streetscape improvements are all on the calendar for 2019.
Memphis Embraces Ambitious Design
At the same time, Memphis moved from prototype to permanent. As it hosted its second round of RiverPlay, a temporary park with colorful basketball courts and Sunset Skate Nights that welcomed more than 500 weekly visitors from 107 zip codes, the team worked on permanent changes to Mississippi River Park and riverfront trails. River Garden and River Line trail opened to wide acclaim in the fall. The 5-mile River Line trail allows the riverfront to be physically connected by a contiguous walking and biking path, for the first time. While River Garden, with its treehouse, firepits and human-sized nests, is quickly becoming a fixture for Memphians and visitors alike. High quality design paired with staffing to welcome is reconnecting people with the river and one another. What’s in store for 2019? Reopening of Cossitt Library, with a café, a cultural gathering space, co-working areas and other features designed to allow library visitors to interact and engage, and the redesign of Tom Lee Park by an internationally renowned design team.
A Public Space Trifecta in Philadelphia
Meanwhile, Philadelphia strengthened its civic commons with the opening of three reimagined civic assets in three different neighborhoods in 2018. The much-anticipated Rail Park, which transformed a portion of unused rail like into a public space with swings and spectacular city views, opened its first phase in June and has been winning accolades ever since. That same month, the underutilized lawns of Philadelphia’s West Fairmount Park became Parkside Edge, a series of porches with seating, swings and lush plantings that connects the Parkside neighborhood with the 1,400-acre park while increasing community resilience by diverting thousands of gallons of stormwater during heavy rains. And in the fall, The Discovery Center, a nature center that is the result of a partnership between the National Audubon Society and the Philadelphia Outward Bound School, reopened a 37-acre reservoir to the community after it had been fenced off for nearly 50 years.
A NEW WAY OF WORKING: changing the way people and organizations work with each other
Reimagining the Civic Commons is both about changing civic assets and about changing how we work.
Engaging Residents for Sustained Change
Akron has demonstrated that listening and co-creating with residents who have suffered from disinvestment builds trust — and deeper success — over time. In the words of Summit Lake community resident Starleen Collins Saulsberry “The past three years have made me a believer in civic engagement and my own power to affect change.” In August, she penned an op-ed published by the Akron Beacon Journal on her experience with the civic commons process in Akron and the potential of investing in existing civic assets in new ways. Star’s experience and the work of the Akron Civic Commons team show the power of moving residents from being users of public space to being advocates for that space — and for an entire neighborhood.
Organizations Make New Plans
For the first time in its history, Akron’s countywide parks agency, Summit Metro Parks, is taking a lead role in transforming an urban park. After hosting a seasonal pop-up nature center at Summit Lake for a year, the agency is now making a permanent investment as it embarks on transforming an existing Pump House into a hub for nature-based programming that fosters connections across diversity. A permanent home for Summit Metro Parks at Summit Lake means more year-round programs, staffing and resources for the park and neighborhood.
Leaders Prioritize Civic Assets
Akron’s Mayor Dan Horrigan is advancing the principles of Reimagining the Civic Commons citywide, as he views public spaces and their programs as powerful catalysts for neighborhood development. In this Stanford Social Innovation Review article, Mayor Horrigan shares how the civic commons process revealed the critical role that public spaces play as a platform for equity: “It’s allowed us to reevaluate how we view city parks and view our citizens as cocreators of public land.” In 2018 he began to reposition parks as anchors for neighborhoods through Akron Parks Collaborative, one of the first initiatives taken up by Akron’s newly created Office of Integrated Development, launching Akron Parks Challenge and a strategic plan for “radically improving” community centers and programming.
NEW TOOLS TO SUPPORT YOUR WORK: measuring impact and capturing value
In 2018, Reimagining the Civic Commons created a number of tools to help all cities inspired to reimagine their parks, libraries, trails and community centers.
Measuring What Matters With A New Metrics System
As we invest in connected sets of public places around the country, we are demonstrating — with data — the outcomes of a reimagined civic commons. This data-driven approach offers a new method for determining the multifaceted value of reinvesting in civic assets. With our measurement framework — Measuring the Civic Commons, baseline metrics report examples and recently released DIY Measurement Tools, you can begin to measure what matters in your own public space projects.
Tools for Capturing the Value of the Commons
As cities work to create parks and public places for everyone, the value of nearby real estate may increase. But as the real estate value increases, few cities have systems in place to capture that value. This led us to create the Value Capture in the Commons toolkit, which is designed to serve as a starting point for elected leaders, public space managers, non-profits, philanthropic organizations and others looking to put public space investments to work for everyone. With a mix of well-established tools and ideas that leading national experts have just begun exploring, Value Capture in the Commons is a resource for those grappling with how to sustain operations, reinvest in communities, and ensure equitable access for all through investment in the civic commons.
FRESH INSIGHTS: Perspectives from civic commons leaders driving change
Over the past year, we talked to a number of thoughtful and visionary people.
On a portfolio approach to civic assets.
“When you work across departments and understand it’s the public’s public realm and not the agency’s public realm, magic can happen at a very low cost.” -Mitchell Silver, New York City Parks Commissioner on silo-busting to create more public value from the public realm.
“A city’s public life is the responsibility of the entire city government, not a single department.” - Insight from the Civic Commons Learning Journey: Copenhagen with Better Block.
“I think this work will change the trajectory of the city for decades to come.” - Ryan Friedrichs of City of Detroit on the city’s new model of community revitalization that incorporates the civic commons and is now being carried forward to neighborhoods throughout Detroit.
On socioeconomic mixing.
“Though we live economically segregated — and while we can’t force people with high incomes and people with low incomes to live near each other or send their kids to the same schools — we can encourage this socioeconomic mixing with good planning and policy. We can encourage it with reimagined civic assets that are intentionally sited, designed and programmed to be used by a diverse mix of people. And we can encourage it by creating inviting public life that welcomes everyone.” - Carol Coletta of The Kresge Foundation on the promise of a robust civic commons.
“Simple amenities can bring people together and high-quality civic assets can make socioeconomic mixing the norm.” - Insight from the Civic Commons Learning Journey: Toronto with 8–80 Cities.
On the potential of a reimagined civic commons for our communities.
“In public places, discourse can flow freely, whether we’re simply taking in the world around us or playing a game of checkers with a stranger. In these trying times, public places might just be what replenish our democracy.” - Dana Bourland of The JPB Foundation on the critical importance of the civic commons in protecting fundamental human rights in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
“We see the ripple effects of the work we’re doing month in, month out in the way we talk to each other, in the way we work and in the way we manage our organizations. It has become a way of doing business in Akron.” - Kyle Kutuchief of Knight Foundation on the spillover effects of the civic commons work in a local community.
“Our civic assets are the places that bring us together and they are what turns a city into a community.” — Lynn Ross of Spirit for Change Consulting on why civic leaders should prioritize investments in our shared civic assets.
Here’s to a new year full of newly reimagined places, new ways of working, new tools and new insights.
Reimagining the Civic Commons is a collaboration between The JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and local partners.
