September 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 64

SOCIAL EQUITY

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHERIE JZAR

In less than a month, this once vacant lot,
now called Five Points Plaza, on West Trade
Street in the Historic West End neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, was
transformed into a social gathering place.

sive process can build social capital, improve public participation
and promote civic trust, which can
offer shared ownership and advocacy power for a project. Leaders
should consider the process of
building more shared spaces as an
opportunity to celebrate the social
resilience and cultural legacy of a
community. As practitioners, it's

Public spaces can support more
equitable health outcomes so
long as they are designed and
sustained with both health and
inclusion in mind.
crucial we stop acting like we've
discovered a space that people have
lived in and near for generations.
We must transform the way communities are designed by making
the process for shared spaces an
opportunity to thrive.
Let's also focus on the people
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Parks & Recreation

who currently live in these spaces, not just on those who may be
coming, as we reinvest in places.
The community stability and preparedness for change is an essential
factor to consider. Leaders have a
social responsibility to consider
the impact of how an investment
in a space can lead to displacement. Let's shift to people-centered
planning that creates the space to
learn what's important to the user
and incorporate it into the design
and program. Leave the renderings
as the final stage in the process to
understand the context, develop
an inclusive process and determine
what is required to improve the
current condition of the community. This will require leadership
from various sectors for partnering
and advancing the common vision.
Since people and the spaces
they experience are dynamic and
interconnect, like the communities they represent, inclusion and

| S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 | W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G

health equity can be a moving
target. The structural impact of
racism remains embedded in so
many aspects of public life that
even the best-intentioned projects
can be deemed exclusive. We must
meet people where they are and
commit to addressing the past in
forward-looking ways. The framework is linear, but people are not,
so being open to evolution is important. Practitioners must be
adaptive and responsive to the
changing needs of a community
during the life cycle of a project,
from conception and planning,
through design and implementation, to achieve better outcomes.
Public spaces can support more
equitable health outcomes so long
as they are designed and sustained
with both health and inclusion in
mind. The design needs to start
with people at the center. Collectively, we can develop inclusive
shared spaces in our community
that honor its cultural legacy and
are welcoming to all, regardless of
who you are, how much you make
or where you reside.
Detailed references for this article
are available at www.parksandrec
reation.org/2018/September/build
ing-more-inclusive-healthy-places.
Stephanie Gidigbi is the Director of Policy
& Partnerships for the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC) Healthy People
Thriving Communities Program and a
member of the NRPA Equity Advisory
Group (sgidigbi@nrdc.org).
September 2018 - Parks & Recreation

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