New tools for engagement bring more voices to the table
By Terry Minarik, Jane Reasoner, and PJ Novick
No two parks are alike—and that’s a good thing. The features that become beloved in one neighborhood might sit unused in another. The way people interact with spaces varies dramatically based on demographics, geography, and cultural factors. That’s why the process of soliciting broad community input during park planning and design is so important.
On most projects, there’s a finite window of time to obtain the input needed to inform a relevant design and keep a project on track. Last year presented an even greater challenge by limiting many of the traditional, in-person methods for seeking community input. However, across Confluence’s nine offices nationally, what difficulties landscape architects, planners, and designers encountered while working to shift engagement practices were not obstacles, but opportunities.
By thinking about community participation in new ways, the team was able to identify methods to increase engagement beyond even pre-pandemic levels, bringing new voices to the table and gathering more meaningful data for the design process.