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Acknowledgements
| Theme Development |
Engaging
the Community |
Bernie Jones is the Associate Director
of the Colorado Center for Community Development at the University of
Colorado at Denver, where he also teaches urban and regional planning.
A few years back Jones wrote a comprehensive book for the American
Planning Association entitled "Neighborhood Planning: A Guide
for Citizens and Planners." He wrote about the necessity of community
input when designing and executing a neighborhood or city project. Jones
calls the integration of residents and officials "Democratic Planning"
and there are three reasons why it is important:
1. The greater the participation, the greater is the sense of ownership
that people have about the plan, which can translate into a greater determination
on their part to see that the plan gets implimented.
2. The greater the participation of residents in the making of the plan,
the more likely it is that the plan will accurately reflect their needs
and concerns.
3. The greater the participation, the harder it is for others, such as
public officials, to ignore the plan.
Jones also takes a creative approach to underscoring this
theory with the "4 D's of Democratic Neighborhood Planning":
1.DEPROFESSIONALIZATION: It is not just professionals
shaping the future of the neighborhood.
2.DECENTRALIZATION: The decisionmaking is not concentrated
downtown.
3.DEMYSTIFICATION: The magic is taken out of planning
- it becomes user friendly.
4.DEMOCRATIZATION: More people are involved directly
in decisionmaking, especially those with a stake in the neighborhood's
future.
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Part
I & II | A Public Forum and Survey
I. Knowing that it was the community
that needed to make the major decisions, I decided to host a public forum
to gain insite on what it was the community wanted in a greenspace. I
canvassed 200 homes around my site, the Campus Center where the community
does come through for various events, and faculty mailboxes with a flyer
inviting them to the event. Not only that, I had an article put in the
Meadville Tribune advertising
the public forum.
|
[Greenspace Forum | Room set-up]
II.
I read in the Meadville Tribune of a town hall meeting on downtown revitalization,
specifically the Main Street Program, that was to be hosted on Thursday,
February 8, 2007. I asked Andy Walker, Executive Director of the Redevelopment
Authority of the City of Meadville, and panelist for the town hall meeting
if I could set up a table at the meeting location to survey and present
my project to those attending. He pleasantly agreed and contacted the
meeting host, the Meadville
- Western Crawford County Chamber of Commerce, and asked for a table
to be set up for me.
[Academy Theatre tabling | Table
set-up and surveying]
Results
|
Unfortunately
there was a poor turnout to the public forum event. However I learned
a lesson about public participation and although it was disheartening
to see empty chairs while my presentation
was yearning to be executed, I kept looking ahead.
In terms of the survey at the Academy Theatre, I received a good number of responses that indicated preference for greenspace. Results are below.
| If you could design a space, would you choose: (check all that apply) | Garden
17 |
Zen
Space 12 |
Picnic
Area 9 |
Play
Area 10 |
| Do you personally use greenspace? | Yes
24 |
No
5 |
| Do you feel greenspace in your neighborhood is important? | Yes
28 |
No
0 |
| Were you aware of a greenspace forum this past Saturday? | Yes
5 |
No
19 |
| If you answered yes to the question above, why did you not attend? | Out
of town |
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Part
III | I made a survey for the Liberty House
I was still not entirely satisfied with
the results from the town hall meeting. I am assuming that not all demographic
types were represented at that meeting, especially those near to and at
the Liberty House. I designed a graphic rich poster survey for the Liberty
House. I called the House office and asked to hang a poster with pictures
depicting various greenspace environments and different space hardware
(picnic tables, benches, etc.) with the intent for residents check their
favorites.
[Liberty House Poster Survey]
Results
|
I received alot of great responses from the poster survey. Most of the
residents at the Liberty House took a liking to the zen/garden space with
open areas, natural vegetation, and stone walkways. In terms of equipment
for the space, results centered around 100% recycled material.
Although I received excellent responses from the Academy Theatre survey, I will be using the results primarily from the Liberty House poster survey. Because the majority of those surveyed at the Academy Theatre do not live in the vacinity of my site and those at the Liberty House do, I must follow the suggestions of those most directly related to the site.
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