What? "People Make Parks is a toolkit for engaging communities in public park design. The toolkit, a joint project of Hester Street Collaborative and Partnerships for Parks outlines eight ways to participating in park design, from advocacy to community visioning activities to stewardship. The toolkit is built around the capital design process in New York City, but tools can be adapted to parks and open spaces anywhere!" - Dylan House, People's Design Library patron.
The tools, which include model making, design darts, and walking tours, described in the People Make Parks resource.
Why? Getting a new park in your neighborhood can be a complex process! People Make Parks does a great job of breaking down the capital design process through which parks are funded, designed, and built, and correlates that process with 8 potential points of citizen action. The when, what, how, and why of each action point are described clearly with help illustrative examples of everything from a sample letter addressed to an elected official, to interpretive construction sign examples. In addition to all of this, People Make Parks also provides 11 how-to-guides for doing community engagement in order to gather support and ideas for a park. This resource is extremely thorough, informative, and fun to read.
More info please! The Hester Street Collaborative (HSC) is a New York City based office founded in 2002 by architecture firm Leroy Street Studio. The HSC engages in Design Education, Community Design, and Advocacy. Their Mall-terations project, a public art installation in Manhattan's Lower East Side, is a fantastic project that activates a public space using reclaimed materials to create seating areas that also inform about the history of immigration in the area. Check out some of their other amazing projects here!