In Groton City, Connectitud, the City Planning and Economic Development Department is launching a series of community design workshops in order to engage community members to share ideas and needs for the main commercial areas of the city. The Day released an article about the program used in that city: placemaking, street designs and the reactivation of different neighbourhoods.
“Placemaking is a ‘multi-faceted approach to plan and design public spaces’ and ‘capitalizes on local community assets, inspiration and potential, creating public spaces that promote health, happiness and comfort in our neighborhoods’”.
What is the goal? Create a shared vision between the staff and community and achieve an adequate redevelopment in three different neighborhoods. These workshops will definitely be the perfect occasion to discuss topics, bring out the needs of the community and share ideas on how the city can be more walkable, bikeable and how to make underutilized spaces useful and productive.
"We want people to be involved, and we want them to feel ownership in the process, and to do that we need to find the best way for the community to engage with staff in the process”.
Community feedback will be incorporated into the plans and design for infrastructure improvements in the city. “To engage community stakeholders to re-vision, plan and program underutilized space within the area. There is an opportunity to re-energize Thames Center through focused efforts that thoughtfully preserve cultural, economic and historic assets while enhancing the area's potential through a series of interventions”.
At MKThink we are also working on projects that involve urban design and planning through a process of community integration. We run community-based workshops where we prototype designs and/or play games that elicit creative ideas from people young and old. We believe that cities should uplift and connect us all, and we love working on projects that bring that dream a bit closer to reality.
To read more about the article: https://www.theday.com/article/20210714/NWS01/210719734