The Power of the Commons
Public Sector Transformation
Realizing the multifaceted potential of public space
This article is the second in a series highlighting the impacts featured in The Power of the Commons, our report on the inspirational outcomes of the initiative’s first six years.
Public spaces offer immense opportunities for communities. They can bring people together, create economic value, support civic engagement and boost sustainability. But realizing the potential of public space often requires a change of approach. In many cities, public spaces are underfunded, maintenance and programming are overlooked, and public spaces are treated as individual assets rather than a network of related and interconnected places. Many cities’ public participation processes could also use an overhaul to better emphasize trust and long-term civic engagement.
Reimagining the Civic Commons supports cities to transform how they design, manage and program public spaces. Our unique way of working emphasizes system-wide changes like managing public spaces as a portfolio and assessing investments for how well they achieve positive social outcomes.
The cities that have changed their approach to public space are experiencing impacts from a thriving culture of civic engagement to an increased financial commitment by the public sector. Today we highlight two cities, Akron and Philadelphia, where Reimagining the Civic Commons has spurred transformations in the public sector — while improving outcomes for communities.
New ways of working in Akron
Akron Civic Commons has focused on breaking down silos and building trust in three neighborhoods where trust had been broken. The results go beyond transformed public spaces. Among other impacts, this work has created lasting value for the community and a renewed sense of civic purpose and pride.
Since Akron Civic Commons launched in 2016, the ways of working adopted by the local team have filtered beyond the initial three neighborhoods and outside the early team of collaborators.
Inspired by Akron Civic Commons, the City of Akron created the Office of Integrated Development (OID) in 2018. This new city department merged previously siloed divisions — Planning and Urban Development, Economic Development, Downtown Operations and Recreation, as well as elements of the Engineering Bureau — into one seamless agency with equity and public life at its core. OID’s strategic framework commits to co-creation with residents and local businesses, and prioritizes high-quality public spaces as a research-backed community and economic-development strategy.
Akron’s approach to outreach and engagement is undergoing a Civic Commons-inspired makeover as well. In 2020, the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority (AMHA) was one of only 11 nationwide applicants awarded a HUD Choice Neighborhoods planning grant. The local housing authority’s proposal centered on Summit Lake, one of the three Akron Civic Commons neighborhoods, and included a collaborative, resident-led approach and a neighborhood strategy that extends well beyond its housing properties. As they invested the $450,000 grant, the AMHA partnered with residents to develop a shared vision that encompassed not only existing housing but also the public realm of the broader neighborhood and the programs and services needed to support wellness and quality of life. Encouraged by this successful planning process, the team is now preparing to apply for a Choice Neighborhoods implementation grant.
“What Akron Civic Commons has done is allowed us and challenged us to go deeper, to be more intentional, in not only listening to our residents, but bringing their ideas to life.” — Christina Hodgkinson, Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority
A staffing model supports systems change
Another example can be found in the Philadelphia Parks & Recreation department (PPR). The department is replacing an archaic staffing model that led to inequitable distribution of programming with a new, dynamic approach that reduces historic racial disparities in staffing while also better meeting community needs.
Known as “Realigning as We Rebuild,” the new staffing system is a community-service-area model that shifts away from assigning staff to specific recreation centers and instead assigns them to neighborhoods. PPR’s previous staffing model concentrated programming in the city’s largest recreation centers and did not allow for programming at parks or playgrounds without a building on site. As a result, many communities — in particular those that had already experienced disinvestment — became “programming deserts,” with the needs of the neighborhood unaccounted for.
With the new system, staff are supported to program a variety of parks, recreation centers and playgrounds in a certain area in partnership with community members and local organizations. The staffing model uses data to understand where the staffing needs and programming opportunities are greatest and emphasizes diversity in hiring.
This model was developed with inspiration from the Civic Commons approach of managing civic assets as a portfolio and engaging neighbors in decisions about their local public spaces. It results in more relevant and community-informed programming, and better outcomes for communities.
Fostering public sector commitment
The new ways of working supported by Reimagining the Civic Commons have helped spur broader commitments by public agencies. Today, Akron is investing significantly more resources in high-quality, equitable public spaces, while also successfully pursuing funding from a diverse array of external sources. For instance, Summit Metro Parks, the park district for Summit County, of which Akron is a part, committed to transforming a former pump house on the banks of Summit Lake into the Summit Lake Nature Center. Beyond the capital investment, Summit Metro Parks now staffs the nature center to keep it open for regular hours and provide consistent programming.
At the same time, the City of Akron has allocated a number of new resources into public spaces in the city. Of the federal COVID-19 recovery funds the city received, $10 million are being invested into the transformation of Summit Lake Park and downtown’s Lock 3 Park. With these funds, the city more than doubled its capital budget for parks and recreation projects in 2021, from $9.5 million to $25 million.
Philadelphia has committed financial resources to support further transformation. The City approved over $3 million in new funding to pilot PPR’s Realigning as We Rebuild staffing system in West and Southwest Philadelphia. These majority-Black areas include neighborhoods that previously had little to no park or recreational programming. This historic shift emphasizes equity and access.
“Civic Commons continues to be a platform for Philadelphia Parks and Recreation to spur new thinking and partnerships around our public spaces. Starting in RCC neighborhoods, the department is piloting a new data-driven staffing model to reduce historic racial disparities as well as provide more relevant and community-informed programs.” — Kathryn Ott Lovell, commissioner, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation
By prioritizing a robust and connected public realm, the City is accessing new funding for public space projects such as the Park at Penn’s Landing, which will reconnect Center City Philadelphia to the Delaware River. A combination of City, state, federal and philanthropic dollars have been secured to complete the project. While in Chinatown, the Chinatown Stitch project, which will reconnect a community that was split in two by highway construction, recently received a $1.8 million USDOT Reconnecting Communities grant.
These and other inspirational examples reinforce the idea that public spaces represent a powerful opportunity for cities to deliver multifaceted value for residents. Systems change within the public sector like those happening in Philadelphia and Akron make it more likely that the true potential of public space will one day be realized.
Read The Power of the Commons for more inspiring impacts from Reimagining the Civic Commons’ first five demonstration cities.
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.
