Are you ready for Parks Week this year?
The main topic for this edition is equity and inclusion. We want the parks and recreation sector to begin to get involved in these concepts to adapt them in the construction, development of activities and daily life of present and future public spaces.
Additionally to the content that we will provide, we want to recommend the following resources:
In the design process, every choice counts when it comes to inclusion in a public space, but that doesn’t mean that we can expect every choice to be perfect right away.
Above and beyond simply avoiding exclusion, actively inclusive design in public space lays a foundation for the kind of civic life that builds a sense of attachment and belonging for everyone.
In this article you will find the five strategies for designing and re-designing public spaces for all.
What do public spaces mean to us? What role do they play in our lives? Aditya was recently pondering over these questions, and soon realized that public spaces could mean different things to different people at different times.
Public spaces can mean the following to people:
– For children these spaces are places to play.
– For young people they could mean places to hang out.
– For older people, it could mean opportunities to swap stories and be a part of the hustle and bustle.
– For those who live in confined environments, public spaces can be a breath of fresh air.
– For street vendors and artists, they could mean opportunities to earn a living.
Public spaces can also mean places of celebration or protest. The way we think about public space is influenced by many different factors.
The Community First Toolkit, collaboratively developed by the High Line Network with their research partners, is a resource that park organizations can use to embed equity into public spaces.
Community engagement is the foundation of all the tools, and together, they offer a flexible process for ensuring that public spaces and open space projects benefit the residents and businesses they serve and avoid displacing them.
This new series of playbooks is a key normative component of UN-Habitat’s people-centered smart cities flagship programme that aims to empower local governments to take a multi-stakeholder approach to digital transformation that realizes sustainability, inclusivity, prosperity and human rights for the benefit of all.
To that end, local, regional and national governments will find pragmatic guidance for how to develop smart city strategies that are more inclusive, sustainable, and aligned to the actual needs of residents.
We look forward to working with a wide variety of partners to implement the recommendations from the playbooks in a collaborative manner.
This Inclusive Community Engagement Executive Guide demonstrates the critical importance of inclusive climate action in cities.
Sections 1 and 2 discuss why inclusive climate action is needed and how inclusive processes lead to more equitable policies and ultimately, a fairer distribution of the benefits of climate actions.
Section 3 sets out key principles and policy recommendations for city leaders and urban decisionmakers to ensure that their climate action practices are rooted in genuine engagement.
Sections 4 through 6 present an overview of the complimentary resource.
This executive guide summarizes the critical steps for delivering community engagement, highlights supporting tools and case studies and discusses who can use the Playbook and in what context.
Community is the key to most urban planning projects. But how to engage with citizens to make sure their voices are heard and all involved parties – planners, clients, residents – are happy?
This article is sponsored by Maptionnaire — a community engagement solution for comprehensive collection, analysis, and reporting of citizens’ feedback and ideas for developing urban environments. In this piece, Maarit and Anna explain why community engagement is essential and how Maptionnaire can help you navigate the key tools of efficient community engagement.
Get all the information about Parks Week 2023 and join this celebration here