Community-Driven Planning and Design Process

Define a geographic area for all outreach efforts, and identify the key populations, languages, and formal and informal cultural institutions within that boundary. An outreach strategy should also identify intermediate milestones and a goal for the total number of people to be engaged throughout the process. RAP should use existing user data and listserv to also guide outreach efforts wherever possible. Once established, conduct a multi-channel outreach campaign, including: door-knocking, digital and social media, and if resources are available local mailers and text messages. As part of the outreach campaign, one tactic to increase turnout includes forming a ‘Street Team’, a paid group of local youth or other interested residents to conduct outreach for the project. In addition, keep park bulletin boards updated with upcoming workshops and other events.

When a park site or facility is due to receive a new capital project or amenity improvement, provide multiple opportunities for the community to provide feedback. These should also be used as opportunities for celebration, highlighting the need the new site, amenity, or facility will fill.
New parks and park improvements can also raise concerns about gentrification and displacement. Open forums provide space to discuss anti-displacement strategies and address concerns directly with community members. Early dialogue can help identify the potential impacts of a project and develop approaches that support the existing neighborhood in place.

Engagement should allow all community members, regardless of background, age, or ability, to share their expertise and shape the project. While the specific engagement strategy will be informed by the level of engagement required for the project, some core methods include:
Community Workshops: A series of community meetings that includes presentations, activities, and facilitated discussions. Workshops serve as the key venue to provide in-depth information and equip residents with the necessary background to make informed decisions, co-design, and meaningfully shape the implementation process.
Mobile Engagements: A pop-up “mini-workshop” at an existing event or community hub. Mobile engagements prioritize quick prompts and ideation that can then be developed further in workshops. These engagements are also intended to catch people’s attention, spread the word about future engagements, and build the database of contacts for future outreach. Mobile engagements are best deployed at locations or events where people are already gathering, such as youth sporting events, community celebrations, or popular locations within the community to ‘meet people where they already are’.
Focus Groups: Convene a group of people around a common topic. Focus groups provide an opportunity to ground truth desk research, foster buy-in, and solicit feedback from specific groups at critical points in the project. These can either be centered around specific user groups such as recreation program participants, or around specific demographic groups such as younger park users or street vendors.

Engagement strategies should consider the role a park plays and the way communities gather beyond park boundaries to increase participation and help ensure park design and programming better suit local needs.

Consider the following strategies to create an inclusive and accessible outreach and engagement process for all residents:
Go beyond ADA standards: Consider how engagements can go beyond meeting the baseline ADA requirements to be accessible, welcoming, and inclusive of the entire community. Materials should be accessible to those with disabilities, while still being graphically compelling for all potential participants.
Location: When conducting in-person engagement, select a location that can be easily accessed by the target participants. Ensure multiple modes of inclusive transportation access including public transportation when considering sites. People of all abilities should feel welcomed and be able to attend the event with ease including access to bathrooms and water fountains.
Language justice: When conducting engagements in communities where a significant portion of the population speaks a language other than English, offer multilingual facilitation and materials, including experienced simultaneous interpretation services.
Plain language: Use plain language that everyone can understand to explain capital improvements projects and bureaucratic mechanisms.
Provide childcare services: Evening meetings and weekends are especially difficult for caregivers and working parents—providing access to childcare or childwatch can improve turnout.
Youth activities: To appeal to parents, provide kids activities and food to encourage attendance. Offer engagements at a broad range of meeting times and locations for people to participate. Where possible, conduct specific youth workshops or have youth activities to allow children or younger adults the opportunity to shape future designs at their parks.
Food: When offering meetings during lunch and dinner hours, providing food improves turnout and recognizes residents’ time and commitment to the process.
Incentives: Offer cash incentives or gifts for residents and park users to participate in meetings and provide feedback.

When appropriate, incorporate co-design and shared decision making tools to bring residents into the decision making processes for their local parks. At the outset of any project, RAP should internally discuss and agree upon where community-input can have the most impact, and focus engagement around those decisions. During acquisition, community mapping exercises can help RAP understand where best to site a new park or facility. The Vision Planning phase is an opportunity for community members to help RAP shape the broad vision for their new amenity. During the design phase, shared decision making tools, like participatory budgeting, offer ways for residents to meaningfully engage with the capital improvement process by democratically selecting priority elements and amenities they’d like to see in the park or facility. Information about what can or cannot be shaped through the engagement process should be clearly defined for community members to help set expectations and build a stronger and more transparent relationship with residents. Communities should have clear information about how park decisions are made and where funding is allocated.

Each park and each community has their own history and story to tell. When possible, use engagement processes to uncover and highlight hidden histories and stories of marginalized communities in parks, and integrate those stories into the amenities and design of the park space. This process could be undertaken through RAP or through partnerships with CBOs, engagement consultants, or local artists. Techniques include reviewing existing archival materials, collecting oral histories, mobile engagements, community archiving workshops, and temporary exhibitions.