In August, the Southwestern Medical District Urban Streetscape and Park Project at Texas Trees Foundation was honored to receive the top award in the Public Outreach category for the American Planning Association – TexasChapter’s annual awards. This award honors an individual, project, or program that uses information and education about the value of planning to create greater awareness among citizens or specific segments of the public. The award celebrates how planning improves a community’s quality of life.
We are grateful for our community engagement partners at MIG, Inc. and J. Williams Group, who without, this honor would not be possible. Their expertise in community planning strengthened our community engagement activities, helped us foster meaningful relationships in the SWMD community, and supported us in identifying and articulating a clear community vision that will continue to influence the design and implementation stages of the streetscape and park.
Through the project, the team has applied a mixed-methods approach uniting community engagement and evidence-based design processes, aiming to increase understanding and create transparency across the SWMD community about the purpose of and plans for the project. The community’s lived experiences — characterized by uncomfortable pedestrian experiences and a desire for increased green space — are affirmed by data demonstrating a lack of consistent tree canopy cover and extreme heat, and vice versa.
Thank you so much to the SWMD community for their participation, time, and insight during our engagement endeavors, and thank you to the Texas Chapter of the American Planning Association for this honor and recognition. We trust that the design interventions planned for the SWMD will make a meaningful difference for both the environment and the people who use the space, and we cannot wait to see the community's vision come to life!
Check out our recently published Phase II Equitable Engagement report summarizing our community engagement approach and findings by visiting this link. For another way to engage, visit the interactive, Virtual 360° platform to learn more about where we have been with the project and where we are headed.
"Research shows that healthy environments improve health outcomes. We believe Dallas deserves a better place to work, visit and live – a place meant for healing and health beyond the footprint of the buildings."
Janette Monear, president and chief executive officer of TTF.
