A Year in Review
A Transformed Memphis
Inspiration from the civic commons in 2023
Be inspired in the new year with reflections from cities across the country using their civic assets to build trust, connect people of all backgrounds and deliver more resilient communities. Today, the eighth in our series of photo essays reflecting on the past year of progress features the civic commons work in Memphis.
Transformation of the riverfront in downtown Memphis
2023 was a milestone year for Memphis, bringing newly reimagined civic assets to life — including the catalytic transformation on the riverfront, and investments in parks and streetscapes across the city.
Over Labor Day, Memphis River Parks Partnership officially opened the 30-acre Tom Lee Park, inspired by the local civic commons work and the result of a successful $61M capital campaign. Tom Lee Park completed its metamorphosis to emerge as the new stunning, world-class riverfront park, designed to connect Memphians with the river and with each other, to provide new public amenities and support the dynamic ecosystems of the Mississippi. Changes include the planting of more than 1,000 trees, native plantings, new topography and landscaping, ADA access, public pavilions, playgrounds, art installations and other features create exciting destinations for recreation, outdoor education, dining, performances and other activities.
Like many waterfronts, the Mississippi Riverfront is adjacent to downtown. In its first few weeks, people flocked to the new park, accessing it from many points, parking throughout downtown, and walking to the park. That means they are passing downtown shops and restaurants along the way, which is important new foot traffic for those businesses.
Continued investments in public spaces citywide
A few blocks north of Tom Lee Park, in the Fourth Bluff district, the newly renovated Cossitt library reopened this spring with a wide-range of new amenities, including a podcasting studio, photo and video labs, a performance space, and a café.
The City of Memphis Accelerate Memphis investments in parks and streetscapes across the city. Some of the key Memphis Parks assets reimagined in 2023 include Gaston Community Center in South Memphis, Gaisman Community Center in The Heights, Audubon Park and Leftwich Tennis Center in East Memphis, Morris Park in the Medical District and over $50M in Memphis 3.0 anchors and streetscape enhancements.
Cultivating places with people
These world-class spaces are remarkable — the built environment is designed to welcome a variety of uses and facilitate interaction. Another essential element to crafting these high-quality public spaces is the culture — the people and programming in the space.
At the Cossitt Library, a mix of staff, programming partners and innovators in residence bring high-quality programs to its spaces. They function as an in-house creative programming team, supporting a variety of educational workshops, discussion series and camps for creative arts including photography, videography, acting, scriptwriting, podcasting and sound mixing. Local “podcast queen” Ena Esco hosts live podcasts and workshops with other experts in the field, and professional photographer Ariel Cobbert manages the photo lab and hosts regular programming, and special classes with local guest speakers, while Chef Eli Townsend offers cooking demos and jazz brunches. Through this innovative approach to staffing and activating reimagined spaces, Cossitt is becoming a hub of creative energy and a place for connections and opportunity.
Community Engagement
The Heights CDC takes a holistic community-centered approach to community development. In addition to providing support for housing and small business, they support social cohesion as a daily resource for the community. In 2023, they hosted numerous special community events, like a community mural painting, block party, and regular volunteer clean-ups. Bloom, a citywide parks advocacy organization, also continues to build new relationships and support the creation of Friends groups and parks stewards. It supports Friends groups in engaging neighbors and hosting programs and in 2023, welcomed two new Friends groups to the mix.
Ranger things & environmental connections
Overton Park Conservancy evolved their park ranger program to layer on an interpretive role for staff to help educate and connect people to the park’s ecology. The ranger has begun leading regular, free children’s programming on weekends, focusing on activities like leaf rubbing, nature-based story time, and walks in the Old Forest. This complements the expanded programming suite including nature walks and journaling, science café talks and tree giveaways.
“Civic Commons has skyrocketed us to explore and test programming.”
— Kaci Murley, Overton Park Conservancy
Shared learning
Locally, a collaborative team of partners is working across the city, modeling a new way of working and operating in public space. There is shared learning and connections with fellow public space managers, designers, and civic leaders. This past year, Memphis hosted the Civic Commons Learning Network and several regional conferences including the American Institute of Architects, American Planning Association, and TN Parks & Recreation, elevating the work to participants from across the state and the nation.
“Civic Commons has enabled us to be more ambitious, to create the spaces, programs, and networks to expand to the next level and explore the evolution of the library for today and the future.”
— Christine Weinreich, Memphis Library Foundation
Reimagining the Civic Commons is a collaboration of The JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and local partners.
