Community Resilience Through the Civic Commons, Part 2
Approaches to public space for more engaged, connected and sustainable cities
Reimagining the Civic Commons believes that strategic investment in and innovative management of public space can connect people to nature and to one another, so that our shared civic commons can be a platform for collaboration and civic action so vital today for tackling complex challenges like climate change. By holding public spaces to the paired ambitions of environmental sustainability and civic engagement, they can foster true community resilience.
In the first part of this series, we shared how Akron, Chicago, Lexington and Philadelphia were advancing the paired ambitions of civic engagement and environmental sustainability. Today, we share practices from another three civic commons cities across the country building resilience, improving sustainability and connecting people through public space.
Memphis: Pathways that beckon and connect
As in so many other cities, parks, public spaces and trails in Memphis saw a surge of activity over the past year. The increase began at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but during 2021, visitorship and use has remained high. Closed for a year during COVID-19 shutdown, Riverside Drive — the street that divides downtown Memphis from its riverfront, where people often drive faster than the posted speed limit and that winds by the River Garden and Tom Lee Park — is being reimagined with the help of the Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP) as a slower, more people-friendly street. Interventions to reduce speed through design include improved pedestrian crossings on speed tables, speed humps designed to reduce speeds to 20 mph or lower, additional signage and reduced lane widths, in order to support the world-class redesign of Tom Lee Park. The goal, according to Memphis River Parks Partnership Director of External Affairs George Abbott, is to create a Riverside Drive that feels “much less like an expressway and much more like a road through a park.”
The Memphis Civic Commons partner network expanded recently to include The Heights CDC, a neighborhood-based community development corporation. Their ambitious catalytic project, The Heights Line, is a 1.75 mile long linear park and multi-use path in North Memphis that will connect a disinvested neighborhood to parks, urban centers, transit routes and will also connect two larger bikeway trails (The Hampline and Wolf River Greenway). The Heights Line will create a critical north-south active transportation route in the city and will give people walking and cycling access to dozens of miles of uninterrupted trails.
Community visioning and prototyping for The Heights Line began in 2017, and The Heights CDC recently completed an economic study that enabled them to receive funds for long-term design and capital improvements — moving many steps closer from concept into reality. Accelerate Memphis — the city’s plan to invest in catalytic community projects to improve quality of life — is investing $4 million to provide immediate funding for this community-driven project, while The Heights CDC has also been awarded a variety of other funds to bring this project to fruition. The Heights Line is more than just improved bike and pedestrian access; it includes improvements to stormwater infrastructure and natural plantings. The result is a place that provides multiple benefits to Memphis residents: an improved green space and a trail for people traveling from place to place without a car.
Minneapolis: The Mississippi River Overlook opens a “window” to the river
Newly- opened this spring by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the Minneapolis Parks Foundation, the Overlook at 26th Ave N is the first Mississippi Riverfront park on Minneapolis’s “north bank” in nearly a generation. It’s also a model for how RiverFirst — a generational collaboration to restore 11 miles of industrialized Mississippi Riverfront with new parks and trails — makes space in the park development process for the majority-BIPOC North Minneapolis community to have ownership in how their relationship to the river is reclaimed.
Compared to the city as a whole, North Minneapolis is more racially diverse, has more young people, and — at an estimated $40,000 — has a lower average household income. It’s a proud community, with many assets made up of people, places and a culture that have been impacted by present and historic inequities, including redlining. “In North Minneapolis, we’ve talked — and we’ll need to continue to talk — at length about how we connect Northsiders to the river,” said Minneapolis City Councilor Jeremiah Ellison at the Overlook’s opening. “A big part of it is not only changing the landscape, but that it’s youth and folks on the Northside who contribute to what that landscape looks like. I’m excited to see how this will be a catalyst for access to the river.”
The Overlook elevates Black design within and for a largely Black community. James Garrett of 4RM+ULA Architecture was the lead architect of the Overlook, which features an 840 square foot oval loop trail and deck perched on the river’s edge. The deck is circumscribed by a steel railing which includes a 48- foot interpretive panel, designed by Samuel Ero-Phillips with contributions from Black youth designers at Juxtaposition Arts (JXTA). The panel depicts a timeline of the Mississippi Riverfront, from pre-settlement to its imagined future.
Minneapolis-based TENxTEN Landscape Architecture and Urbanism led the Overlook’s multidisciplinary design team. In a nod to the deep roots that nourished this project, James Garrett co-founded the Environmental Design Studio at JXTA (with Satoko Muratake of TENxTEN) and years ago, Councilmember Ellison was one of JXTA’s first youth apprentices.
The Overlook is a window to the natural world beckoning down a concrete corridor. While incongruous to the surrounding land uses, the Overlook is the first step in reconnecting a neighborhood that has been for too long physically and culturally separated from the Mississippi River. Drawing people into the new park is a beacon that tops a 35- foot- tall mast at the Overlook’s center, welcoming visitors and marking North Minneapolis from the river.
“It’s more than a light,” said Sarah Duniway, Vice Chair of the Minneapolis Parks Foundation’s Board of Directors, at the park’s opening. “It’s also a metaphor, uplifting and guiding residents to nature, to the Mississippi River, to a future where every person in North Minneapolis can feel a connection to this profoundly beautiful and powerful place.”
Detroit: Transforming vacancy for a more resilient future
Transforming publicly-owned vacant properties in the Fitzgerald neighborhood from perceived liabilities into assets has been a core focus of the Detroit Civic Commons team since the project’s inception. The vacant lots provide an opportunity to advance two key outcomes: improving environmental sustainability by converting some lots into flowering meadows full of native plants that increase habitat, stormwater performance, and access to nature while reducing long-term maintenance needs. This project also improves value creation, using the construction and maintenance work needed and using it as a workforce development opportunity to promote economic security for un- and underemployed neighborhood residents.
After a successful pilot with the Greening of Detroit doing initial lot clearing and maintenance on properties that have been transformed into Ella Fitzgerald Park and Greenway, the team hoped to scale the work to reach a larger number of residents. Instead of hyper-local hiring to staff the full-time, paid, seasonal crews, the city and workforce partner Detroit Employment Solutions Corp (DESC) restructured the work into a transitional jobs program, where participants use the work and construction experience to build their skills and address barriers that may be keeping them from finding full-time roles, whether in the landscaping field or any industry across the city. The program involves crew members spending four days in the field working on the maintenance of vacant properties and installation of the meadow pilot, and a day a week receiving training, other supportive services, counseling, or job coaching to place them into a full-time role after their stint on the crew. DESC has taken a particular focus recruiting within the zip codes in the Fitzgerald neighborhood on returning citizens and those with justice-involved backgrounds who continue to face many barriers to full-time employment, despite the availability of open positions in Detroit, particularly during this phase of the pandemic.
Partner Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) has been managing this program since the fall of 2020 when their team took on the maintenance of 95 vacant grass lots and seven flowering meadow pilot lots to improve the sense of stewardship in the neighborhood through regular mowing, trash clean up, and demonstrating the “cues to care” to discourage illegal dumping. In August, the meadow pilot has reached full bloom, attracting butterflies and other pollinators, as well as curious neighbors taking in the view of over a half-acre of flowers.
The ability to participate in the program has not only helped to transform the neighborhood but also has also resonated with crew members through their ability to contribute to positive neighborhood change. Says crewmember Channor Lewis: “I have never built anything before. I feel good about helping to build the meadows for the neighborhood to enjoy. Helping make the neighborhood beautiful is important work.”
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.
