Build Your Park Exercise

How do we build a park in community?

First we study the environmentally critical areas on the site, including what might could happen with creek and floodplain restoration.

Map showing environmentally critically areas on the project site, including potential extent of creek alignment and potential restored floodplain area.

Then we think about how easy or challenging it might be to place park amenities on different parts of the project site.

Map showing feasibility for placement of park ideas areas on the project site, determined by things such as critical areas, creek and floodplain needs, highest elevation areas, and historic disturbance.

We remind ourselves of neighborhood needs and hopes and dreams for the new park.

And then we get to building!

Together we discuss the park amenity ideas and how they might fit in the space given the environmental constraints and the needs of Thornton Creek and its floodplain. We place tiles on a map to show how we would like the park to be. And then we take a step back, analyze our work, talk some more, and make any last changes to produce our final design.

Visual description of Build Your Park Exercise steps: 1) Discuss ideas; 2) Place tiles and comments; and 3) Discuss design and refine ideas.

It is amazing to see the similarities and differences between the parks that our friends and neighbors build.

Images of parks designed by community members at the Lake City Farmers Market on Thursday, June 16, 2022.

Now our park designer will use these beautiful community designs as the jumping off point for park design options to brought back to the community later this year. Stay tuned!