Public Space Programming Pivots
Sustaining cities in the face of a pandemic, part 3
As the pandemic and local shutdowns moved across America earlier this year, civic asset practitioners realized two things: first, outdoor public spaces had become more important than ever, as some of the only safe places for members of their communities to find respite, exercise and play; second, public spaces were critical for organizing and responding to people’s basic needs.
In part 1, we showed how cities across the country were building community, extending a universal welcome, and supporting (safely distanced) human connection in public space. In part 2, we highlighted the people and public spaces across the country where civic infrastructure is keeping civic life and economic vibrancy alive. Here in part 3, we bring you stories of innovative and safely designed programming that engages people of all ages and backgrounds.
New ways to explore Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park
“We’ve seen over the past few months just how essential parks are for our physical and mental well-being. We wanted to highlight many of the trails, history, and natural areas that Fairmount Park offers and provide new ways of experiencing this treasure.” — Maura McCarthy, Ph.D., executive director of Fairmount Park Conservancy.
Fairmount Park Conservancy exists to champion Philadelphia parks, with a mission to “bring parks to life.” In a typical (non-pandemic) summer, the non-profit hosted large-scale special events like pop-up park The Oval+ and the traveling beer garden Parks on Tap. Since the onset of the pandemic this spring, the Conservancy has been grappling with a core question: How can we welcome people to the parks safely this summer? Since people were flocking without encouragement to popular areas like Kelly Drive along the Schuylkill River Trail, the Conservancy focused its summer activations in lesser-known areas throughout the 2,000 acre Fairmount Park — the largest park in Philadelphia.
First, it created the Fairmount Park Digital Guide, which featured interactive trail maps. Then, it established six “Park Hubs” throughout the park — six spots that serve as accessible jumping-off points to explore nearby trails, natural areas, and historic landmarks. Wayfinding signage was added to the park, regularly cleaned portable restrooms were added as well as hand-sanitizing stations. A regular in-person Scavenger Hunt evolved into a free, six-week-long challenge through the GooseChase smartphone app. The virtual Fairmount Park Summer Scavenger Hunt allows participants to safely explore and discover the unknown in Fairmount Park, with each week’s mission targeted to one of the six park hubs. More than 300 teams (many of them families) participated in the first week alone for the chance to win weekly prizes, including gift certificates to local, minority-owned businesses.
Given the success over the summer, the Conservancy launched OcTOURber last month, another 5-weeks of self-guided park tours with missions.
Parks as educational partners in San José
“I feel so blessed… because this week of camp was really good for my son. He kept busy learning about insects and interacting with other kids. I appreciate what you did because sometimes I don’t know how to keep my son busy and away from TV.”- Parent of a Camp Guadalupe participant.
San José’s Guadalupe River Park Conservancy (GRPC) transitioned a number of its educational offerings to a distance-learning format since the onset of the pandemic. Thanks to the support of Santa Clara County, Knight Foundation, Packard Foundation, Shortino Family Foundation, and Sunday Friends Foundation, GRPC brought a new, virtual River Park and Gardens experience to its community this summer.
Pivoting from in-person day camp, GRPC hosted an online summer camp using a “split-session” model, which included engaging activities that could be completed with simple household items, “guest” live animal visitors, scientific skill refinement, interpersonal learning and free play. The morning online sessions introduced exciting science-based concepts; a mid-day break from the computer let students relax, play, eat, and complete an independent task; and everyone shared their discoveries during the afternoon’s online session. Each lesson and week were carefully designed by GRPC educators who pivoted to provide meaningful online learning experiences for campers.
To create these learning experiences, GRPC staff sent a survey to nearby partner schools and classroom teachers early in the pandemic to better understand the education program delivery formats that would be most useful in everyone’s new distance-learning setting. This input led GRPC to launch a “field trip package” of two hours of instruction, consisting of three 30-minute individual sessions, corresponding educational material, and the option of a live educator leading one of the sessions. This format gave teachers a virtual field trip experience spread over the course of a few days or weeks, alleviating the workload of teachers while continuing to connect students to nearby nature, and keeping families inspired to visit the park safely at a later date.
Detroit meets local needs
In Detroit, the civic commons team responded to the pandemic with programming and engagement squarely focused on the needs of Fitzgerald neighborhood residents in a time of national crisis.
While summer is usually an active time in the reimagined public spaces across Fitzgerald, summer activities in 2020 were organized around providing resources in common gathering spaces like Ella Fitzgerald Park or provided in partnership with local nonprofit Brilliant Detroit. Civic commons partner organization Live6 and Brilliant Detroit held outdoor giveaways in the park that directed food, sanitation supplies and other resources to residents in need.
This year, the Fitzgerald neighborhood’s annual “Back to School Rally” in Ella Fitzgerald Park morphed into a one-time school supply giveaway, where families could drop by and pick up what they needed. Prior to the school supply event, a physically-distanced park clean up prepared the space through a new partnership with youth group Detroit City Lions. And some beloved traditions in the park have continued safely with the addition of a little more distance, like hula hooping.
The Fitzgerald neighborhood’s MoFlo Community Garden leader Michael and his new team member Olivia planted a healing garden, which was supported by volunteers who came to regularly plant, water and weed while maintaining a safe physical distance. To educate residents about the new plants being grown this year, a virtual workshop was held over Zoom, giving residents information about how to harvest plants from the garden on their own and create their own teas.
Streets for kids in Philadelphia
When the pandemic hit the city in full force this past spring, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Commissioner Kathryn Ott-Lovell knew she needed to find a creative way to occupy the city’s kids. With summer camps canceled, public pools closed and uncertainty about the opening of playgrounds, Ott-Lovell and her team sprang into action to expand the city’s popular Play Streets program.
Originally designed in the 1950s as a way to get free meals to kids experiencing hunger, the program in the past had closed some streets for several hours so kids could safely play. In 2020, the program — with donations from philanthropy, the city’s professional sports teams, local businesses, art institutions and non-profits — PlayStreets closed 300 streets across the city and distributed activity kits focused on arts and crafts, sports and cooling off. Every street had planned activities throughout the summer and sometimes surprise visits from famous locals (including Gritty); 50 “Super Streets” received all the activity kits, daily arts & recreation programming, and pop-up dance parties. Ten “Streets of Wonder” were focused on playful learning and literacy activities.
The cooling kits and activities were particularly helpful to Philadelphians with nearby public pools closed since the hot summer months can create dangerous “urban heat islands” in low-income neighborhoods. One-third of the Play Streets received tents and umbrellas, misting fans, super soakers and cooling neck rags for residents. The blocks receiving the cooling kits and activities were chosen using the city’s map of neighborhoods particularly vulnerable to heat.
A popular program transformed for physical distancing in Los Angeles
“We need to be flexible, creative and proactive in order to continue serving our communities effectively,” — Clement Lau, Departmental Facilities Planner, Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation.
The Los Angeles County Department of Parks & Recreation’s popular “Parks After Dark” program (PAD) started in 3 county parks in 2010. By 2019, had expanded to 33 parks across the LA region. The original program ran every summer for 8 weeks, opening up parks in the evening to provide nearby residents with family entertainment (movies, concerts, arts and crafts), sports and recreational activities (swimming, dance classes), cultural and educational programming and employment and volunteer opportunities.
When COVID-19 imposed physical distancing requirements and temporarily closed parks, the Department of Parks & Recreation switched gears and redesigned Parks After Dark for the streets. By closing streets nearby to parks, the Department was able to still entice residents out into the street for walking, biking, and rolling in safety and connecting in community. This redesigned version of Parks After Dark provided community members at 10 parks around the region (especially families with children) with opportunities to walk and ride their bikes, scooters and skateboards along a designated route around and within their local park for most of the summer. For everyone’s safety, participants are asked to wear protective equipment and a face mask or covering.
What’s more, the program still met many of PAD’s original goals: encouraging healthy activity, promoting social cohesion with neighbors and family bonding, and creating safer neighborhoods. Parks were chosen by how high they ranked at “park need” based on the 2016 Countywide Parks and Recreation Needs Assessment.
Our current time of crisis has forced all of us to rethink how we serve residents with public spaces that are welcoming, engaging and contribute positively to the community at a very difficult time. It was not easy, but with innovation, creativity and a diligent focus on the real needs of residents, public space practitioners pivoted during our “pandemic summer” to deliver a universal welcome, human connection, and even fun at a time when we needed these public goods more than ever before.
SEND US YOUR STORY:
As we move into colder-weather months with COVID-19 cases continuing to build, outdoor public spaces remain critical to city life. How is your city leveraging public space to support community and social connections this winter? Email press@civiccommons.us with examples and we may feature your work in a future Medium article.
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.
