Market + Georgia Public Space
Chattanooga, Tennessee
As the winner of a 2021 National American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Honor Award in Urban Design, the Market Street + George Avenue Public Space design process featured a collaboration between WMWA and local artist, Genesis the Greykid. Focusing our attention on the public right-of-way around the historic Patten Towers, which is the downtown’s densest residential block, our process prioritized thoughtful public engagement as a means of delivering flexible and testable design solutions to those who regularly inhabit these spaces. WMWA worked with Genesis to organize an engagement framework that was adapted from Genesis’s “Words in Gray” creative workshop, where open and informal conversations between designers, stakeholders, and community members built trust, consensus, and a clear vision for the future. Over the span of eight weeks, these numerous “Micro Sessions” provided an opportunity for members of the community to voice their concerns about past economic inequalities and systemic marginalization, while creating a constructive space for those who wished to envision a more equitable future. Much like the structure of our engagement, the framework of our design process prioritized the input and participation of the community. After working through a series of initial concepts, interactive engagement strategies, like the “Resource Allocation Exercise,” distilled our abstract ideas into a tangible experience and immediately gave voice to the community’s feedback. Ultimately, this approach was instrumental in formalizing a hierarchy of design interventions and created an opening for the community to forge a sense of ownership of the final product. From colors and patterns to site furnishings and material palettes, the resulting design was a direct reflection of the needs and desires of the community. With the help from community members, the design team, and several volunteers, WMWA completed the project in 2020.
