Part of the Disruptors Series
April 14, 2021
We've all encountered places that make us feel or behave a certain way. The oft-cited example of Danish urbanist Jan Gehl's findings, that people walk more quickly on sidewalks lined with blank building facades than they do those with first-floor windows, demonstrates that fact well.
Public spaces like parks, plazas, and trails are no different. Beyond safety and basic usability, the look, feel, and function of these spaces can significantly affect whether a person wants — or is even able — to spend time and engage there.
Planners and urban design professionals understand the inherent challenges of creating these kinds of spaces that win the hearts of their communities. And over the past year in particular, COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing requirements have both increased the need for public spaces and reemphasized the importance of inclusive, multigenerational design.
As urban designers continue to assess how public spaces serve communities and how to make them inclusive for everyone, it's important to understand how designs can influence who feels supported and welcome — and who doesn't.
One size does not fit all
Designing inclusive public spaces is far from cut and dried. There's no universal design checklist to follow because each community is vastly different, says Grace Kim, founding principal of Schemata Workshop, an architecture and planning firm in Seattle.
It's best to avoid a "prescriptive" approach and instead take time to understand the needs and desires of each community and each project, says Kim. "Planners can fall into the trap of thinking: This is how I did it last time ... this project was successful, and since both projects are alike, we're going to repeat," she says. This approach can easily backfire, she adds.
Inclusiveness is a foundational value for the Underline, a 10-mile multimodal urban trail, park, and art destination in Miami-Dade, Florida. "We believe the Underline and our team must represent the people and neighborhoods we serve," says Meg Daly, founder of the project, created through a public-private partnership.
The Underline sits three to six stories below the behemoth Miami Metrorail train tracks, runs through more than a dozen neighborhoods, and connects communities all along the 26-mile metrorail system. Those transit connections help locals and travelers alike enjoy the space, regardless of car ownership or ability to drive.
To help understand all of their needs, the project team created extensive and intentional public engagement opportunities, Daly says. They collected information at supermarkets and held dozens of public meetings and input sessions, all scheduled at different times of the week and weekend. This kind of intention is particularly critical for gathering and incorporating the feedback of traditionally underserved populations — and not just the loudest or easiest to reach voices.
While the Underline officially opened on February 26, collecting public input is an ongoing process, says Daly. "We have quarterly community connections sessions and continue [to gather] public input on what residents, businesses, and visitors want for future park amenities in phases two and three," she says.
Social media organizing is influencing popular awareness and eliciting responses from governments and organizations. Public dialogues are often simultaneously manifested in public spaces.
This work has been helped by the diversity of the team members from the design and planning firm hired for the first phase, James Corner Field Operations, which also designed the High Line in New York City. Their bilingual team was a great fit for the Miami-Dade community, where about 66 percent of residents are Spanish speakers, according to Miami Matters.
According to Tina Kempin Reuter, PHD, an associate professor with the University of Alabama at Birmingham and director with the Institute for Human Rights, intentional team diversity is critical. "If you look at successful teams, they include diversity in the design team and in their policy-making process."
And yet, despite their many advantages, diverse teams are rare, Reuter says. Of the many reasons for that, "probably the most important" is that "diversity is not seen as a priority," she says. But in addition to our professional skills, our race, age, gender, disability status, and other factors of identity contribute different perspectives to a project.
Welcoming, flexible spaces
Successful, inclusive spaces begin with creating a "welcome feeling" for all users, says Daly. There's more to it than investing in lighting, security, and Americans with Disabilities Act requirements — though those are all vital.
Creating a welcoming feeling is about giving people a space where they feel comfortable and their needs for engagement and expression are met. Here, good design and programming can really shine.
Miami's Inclusive Underline Project, Phase 1
The Underline's northernmost portion, the Brickell Backyard, is a procession of unique rooms around the park's dedicated bike and pedestrian paths. Each room is designed to respond to specific needs of local community members.
Source: James Corner Field Operations
The Underline's community priorities, for example, include nature elements, like a pollinator park; gathering places, including a 50-foot dining table and smaller tables with dominoes; and playground and recreational areas. It also offers free amenities for entertainment and a variety of venues for artistic and cultural expressions. Free, intentional programming, such as Miami Ballet performances and yoga classes, offer options regardless of income or ability, says Daly. A gym, track, and flex sports court serve those needs too.
And because visitors can get to the park without driving, accounting for and actively engaging with the community's youth and senior populations have been a priority. The Underline has taken this into account in various ways, including plans for a mix of affordable housing for seniors directly across from tall condos. "We had to make sure we were taking care of the octogenarians, not just the babies," says Daly.
For youth programming, Daly says high school students will soon test their tour guide skills and plant knowledge as part of a youth engagement program funded by a grant from the Nahmad Family Foundation. "It's an experiment to train juniors and seniors to be ambassadors," while also teaching them about "the power of smart plants that help with drainage," Daly says.
Another key part of the Underline — flexibility — Is a valuable tactic for creating a welcoming atmosphere. Flexibility can also help "future proof" design, and one of the things planners and urban designers have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that things can shift dramatically, and often, quickly. Designing inclusivity from the start can help public spaces — and communities — adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Strategies for Designing (and Redesigning) Spaces for All
By Katherine Peinhardt and Nate Storring
The water play area in Leitchcroft Park in Markham, Ontario, has universal appeal. Photo by Michi McCloskey, OpenCity Projects.
A key purpose of a public space is to create room for people to take part in civic, physical, and social activity. Designs should include as many members of the community as possible. Here are a few strategies to start:
1. Design for Differing Abilities
Great places are designed for the enjoyment of everyone, including those with differing cognitive, sensory, physical, or developmental abilities. Nearly every feature of a public space can be optimized for maximum accessibility — tactile strips at crosswalks; accessible restrooms and parking spaces; color contrast applications to poles, bollards, and steps — and can go beyond simply meeting requirements set forth in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
2. Consider Gender Dynamics
Public space professionals must tune into how people of different genders, and gender identities and expressions navigate and use a public space. While features like clear entrance and exit paths, visible wayfinding, and unobstructed lines of sight can make everyone feel more at ease, safety is not the whole picture. To make a place for people of all gender expressions and sexual identities, the key is making a space feel not only open, but also exciting. To this end, Burnside Park in Providence, Rhode Island, implemented new design elements like a stage, a storage shed, and an outdoor reading room, which facilitated a greater variety of programming and in turn attracted a higher proportion of women and children.
3. Provide Amenities for Cultural Activities
It is all too common for public space professionals to aim either to replicate other "iconic" parks or to create low-maintenance, low-imagination facilities that result in "aggressive blandness." To avoid these copy-paste design choices, we have to put in the legwork to continue the outreach process, tapping into the values and uses of different groups over time. For example, Toronto noticed that South Asian community members were dissatisfied with Leitchcroft Park, so the city listened to their needs, which included replacing benches with "social," movable seating and more shaded areas and water features.
4. Recognize Public Spaces as Storytellers
Use branding, wayfinding, memorials, and signage — and be thoughtful about their content — to tell the community's stories. Find ways to be proactively inclusive, not merely inoffensive. For example, progressive public history organization Paper Monuments specializes in participatory, temporary public space displays that detail the (often difficult) histories of a city or a park — a powerful but "lighter, quicker, cheaper" effort to dive deeper into the story of a community through the lens of public space.
5. Make a Little Room for Retail
Public spaces that provide opportunities for underrepresented vendors can attract a broader audience and play a part in redistributing economic opportunities to people who may not otherwise have access to a physical location to sell their products or services. Places like Union Market in Mankato, Minnesota, provide small-scale spaces (some as small as 100 square feet), that give owners of small or fledgling businesses a chance to build up their customer base with less risk and financial burden than opening a full storefront elsewhere.
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