)
City Park Conservancy (CPC) today unveiled an updated engagement strategy for the public to give input and ideas into the long-term planning process for the Park.
The framework for public engagement and planning over the next year will be iterative and built on community feedback, research, and planning work previously completed. The collaborative work to date has revealed two layers of planning that structure the City Park Plan design process: Foundational Planning and Place-Making Planning.
The following months of engagement and planning will be grounded in a process-based metaphor that all New Orleans residents know and love – Making Gumbo:
CPC will hold its next citywide community engagement meeting on Wednesday, December 11, from 5:30-8pm, at City Park.
“Over the past several months, we have deepened our engagement efforts, meeting with neighbors, Park user groups, community leaders and others to help inform our strategy for enhanced public input on the City Park Plan going forward,” said Rebecca Dietz, CPC President and CEO. “It is important for us to take the time to be collaborative and ensure that the entire community – especially our youth – feels included.”
To augment these efforts, CPC and landscape-architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., partnered with Concordia – an award-winning architecture, planning, and community engagement firm based in New Orleans – known for its work in encouraging people of all ages and backgrounds to take an active role in planning and design processes, and helping to shape their outcome.
“We know from our work that the people of New Orleans want to be engaged,” said Bobbie Hill, Principal of Concordia. “What we hope to bring to the City Park Plan team is building on the foundation of the work that’s already been done, fill in any missing pieces and see a completed vision for the Park that resonates with all of the diverse communities of New Orleans.”
Concordia, which was selected through a public request for proposals, is leading the recruitment and facilitation for the Park’s Ideas Youth Committee, as well as guiding the expanded community engagement process.
This deepened community engagement approach will include multiple opportunities for community members to participate, including:
“We started the planning process by developing a detailed understanding of existing conditions and how the Park currently functions, including recreational, cultural, ecological, hydrological, and financial aspects,” said Gullivar Shepard, Partner at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Inc. “We are extremely excited about everything we have learned from the community thus far. Now, the next phase of engagement is where this all comes together in conversations about the places that people love in the Park. This process will both imagine how to preserve these spaces and how to identify new opportunities that will expand City Park’s value to all of New Orleans.”
The City Park Plan will foster an innovative and thoughtful long-term proposal for City Park, grounded in serving the greater good, addressing community needs, preserving historical and cultural context, enhancing environmental resiliency, and ensuring a welcoming sense of place.
This plan is made possible through a lead gift from the Greg Keller Foundation. For more information on the City Park Plan Engagement Pathway, click here.