Location : Portland, Oregon

Client: Metro Parks and Nature

Year : 2023

Status: Complete

Collaborators: Knot Studio

NATURE IN NEIGHBORHOODS Community Choice Grants democratize the design decision-making and funding allocations for future parks and nature spaces. Community members enjoyed interactive, hands-on, accessible design events that utilized play and art as entry points to learning about nurturing culture and access, sharing experiences and priorities, and designing together. To address the history of disinvestment, historically marginalized communities in Metro District Four were prioritized to determine community areas for outreach, event locations, and proposed project locations. 

Community organizers from historically under-represented Black, Indigenous, Disability, and Latine communities joined our team. Community Organizers worked with the team to reach priority communities, creating culturally specific gatherings that strengthened community bonds while advocating for community needs. This paid Community Design Organizer (CDO) group supported invaluable connections to and perspectives from local communities. C

Collaboration with Urban Indigenous communities was especially critical. District 4 has a large density of Urban Indigenous community members who are underserved with cultural resources and limited access to culturally affirming spaces in their neighborhoods. Our Indigenous CDO’s hosted focus-group workshops for Indigenous community members, participated in project advocacy, development, and creating partnerships.

Accessibility + Joy was the lens for making planning decisions. 

1. Each event was a guided, not prescribed, process for the community to design through hands-on interaction. Design started with digging into lived experience through storytelling stations. Inspiration followed with precedent boards and a Learning Lens Station led by CDOs. This station embodied experiential learning about facilitating access and culture while also raising awareness of how people could have their needs met in existing nature spaces. Participants could then ideate through handwritten descriptions, 3D collaging, drawing, or dialogue.

2. Moments for Celebration were provided throughout the process, such as listening to the recorded nature stories and building an Idea Sculpture with the Idea Development Collage Boards during the Final Project Expo.  

3. Through the guidance of our Disabilities CDO, we gained an in-depth understanding of what it takes to make a process accessible. We produced a website that hosted all workshop activity and image descriptions + language translations. QR codes on workshop boards linked to the website for screen reader access. Tactile objects, 3d interactive elements, and braille labels made workshop activities not just accessible but inclusive.