Reflecting on Dream City Informed Projects

By Nashville Youth Design Team Members

Team Members: Addison, Alex, Charlie, Chris, Cydney, Davion, Donia, Eseosa, JoSaya, Kailei, Lois, Mia, Promise, and Uma

10 min read | 28 min watch High school interns on the Nashville Youth Design Team reflect on their data collection and share their design ideas to improve Nashville based on youth feedback

The Nashville Youth Design Team is an internship that we started in July of 2020. We are 14 high school students and we came together from neighborhoods all over Nashville to make Nashville a better place for youth to live. As a team we conduct community research, use the findings to create built environment designs, temporarily install some of our designs, and use those designs to advocate for permanent change.

Starting the past Spring, our team has been working on a project called Dream City. You’re probably wondering what a Dream City is… A dream city is a place made for youth, where the only limit is their imagination. In a Dream City, anything can be possible. Infinite money? Flying cars? Chocolate river? These are all things that can be a reality in a dream city!

the Dream City Workshop

This year, to conduct community research, we did workshops at six different locations including summer camps, summer programs and the Adventure Science Center. Over 500 youth participated in the workshop. The “Dream City Workshop” has kids and teens design a city that only has what young people want. We started each workshop by explaining the 8 different youth focused spaces that our team brainstormed. These include spaces for socializing, learning, healing and more. We asked the young people to create things in their Dream City that reflect these spaces.

*Dream City Workshop diagram to demonstrate how youth might organize their city’s resources*

The layout of the Dream City has a blue circle to represent a park and yellow spaces to represent areas to live. The orange line is a transportation system, and the blue lines represent greenways. We also gave the youth a bunch of different materials to make their dream city, like clay, dry erase markers, wooden sticks, and foam.

Before the youth start designing and building, we asked them to consider two questions:

What are some things you hope to see in a perfect city designed for youth?
Write three words to describe your dream city.

And then we let the participants loose! After they finished the workshop, we gave them a survey to take. The survey asked them what they like and don’t like about living in Nashville, their sense of safety and belonging in Nashville, and what they would like to change about Nashville.

For example, in one question we asked participants to pick their top three favorite things about living in Nashville. For the people taking our survey their favorite things about living in Nashville were New Things to Do, Music, and Shopping Areas. In another question we asked participants to pick their top three least favorite things about living in Nashville. For the people taking our survey their least favorite things about living in Nashville were that it is expensive, the crime, and the traffic.

We then asked participants to rate their sense of safety in Nashville, 1 being very unsafe and 10 being very safe. For the youth we surveyed, their average sense of safety score was a 5.75 out of 10. We also asked participants about their sense of belonging in Nashville, 1 being “I don’t feel like I belong” and 10 being “I feel like I belong.” For the youth we surveyed, their average sense of belonging was a 6.27 out of 10.

Finally, we asked participants to rank the top changes they would like to see in Nashville out of a list we made of 12 possible changes.

The suggested changes in order:

make Nashville safer
provide more places to walk
good schools for all students
create better connections with neighbors
make the city less car-focused

Analyzing the Data to Inform Design Proposals

*Nashville Youth Design Team member, Uma, participating in the Dream City Workshop during the first week of the Summer Intensive*

In July we started our summer intensive. Our focus this year was analyzing the dream city data and then using the findings to inform youth-centered designs. We started by doing the Dream City Workshop ourselves, creating what we think a dream city for youth would look like.

We then dove into the qualitative data from the Dream City Survey, as well as the recorded presentations and photos of the dream city layouts. We used a software called Quirkos to thematically code all the data. Trying to find common themes across the different dream city designs and surveys. After coding all the data we looked at all the codes we created and developed a list of themes. We then looked through the themes and created a list of 5 priorities of youth in Nashville. These include transportation, safety, affordability and more.

We decided, since safety came up in the data across all priorities, that we would create every design with safety in mind. Safety, to us, included feeling safe in communities with people youth know, as well as traffic and pedestrian safety. We split up into 4 groups to create design solutions focused on transportation, affordability, youth-centered spaces, and proximity to important places. Each group started by choosing a location in Nashville we wanted to focus on and the types of activities and improvements we would like to include. We then spent the week working with our design advisors—staff, fellows and interns of the Civic Design Center—to make our ideas come to life.

Youth-Informed Design Proposals

Winning Idea: Youth-Centered Space

Location: Centennial Park

Team Members: Uma, Addison and Charlie

“I feel like parks are really important to me because I love walking, running, riding my bike, and playing games with my friends. I find parks very relaxing and fun.”

— 14 Year Old

A priority for young people living in Nashville is having access to safe, local, entertaining and welcoming spaces. They want more youth-geared spaces that take into account what they value and are accommodating to them specifically. They want spaces that help them build relationships and meet new people. We chose a pavilion located on the outskirts of the Centennial Park near Park Plaza and 27th Avenue. Its current condition is run-down, and it's only used for gatherings like birthday parties. Around 30% of youth workshop participants’ favorite things about Nashville are “having new things to do” and “parks and open spaces.”

*Addison presenting the design idea at the Exhibition on August 3, 2023*

Centennial Park is a popular attraction in Nashville but has become more of a tourist space. It has a lot of open and flexible green space and areas for kids, dogs, tourists, music, art, and more. However, there is not much dedicated to teens specifically and not much they can do besides a picnic with friends. Our design would help reclaim the space for some of Nashville's youth and not just tourists.

Our idea is to create a youth center in place of the pavilion. Spaces inside the building will include a lounging area, a library, a snack bar, and an indoor rock climbing wall. Outside there will be a courtyard with seating areas, a fire pit, yard games, and a mural wall. A splash pad area outside will replace a parking lot in the cul de sac area. Next to our building, in the open lawn space, we will have materials for sports and games: soccer, football, frisbee, volleyball, and more.

There will also be a graffiti roof with controlled access so teens can contribute. With the graffiti roof and our mural, this would provide opportunities for teen artists to do something in the public. In addition to this our youth center can provide jobs for the youth to help monitor the activities, run the snack bar, the library, etc… We also added a longer sidewalk leading up to the center as well as a new crosswalk to keep people safer when crossing if they park on the street.

The park is currently undergoing a 4 phase renovation plan for the park, but none of these additions will add anything for teens. Young people in Nashville want spaces that are fun, safe, and accessible that are geared towards them specifically and allow them to meet new people. Our project idea supports that.

Transportation

Location: Clarksville Pike

Team Members: Cydney, Mia, and JoSaya

67%

Youth Participants Dislike Traffic

Many youth in Nashville feel as if there isn't enough accessibility to get to certain resources. We chose to do Clarksville Pike because it connects 3 neighborhoods. Some of the interns here live in that area and felt as if it was an area that needed attention. We also got more input on how youth feel when commuting locally. 67% of youth participants rated traffic as something they dislike about Nashville.

Our plan is to make Clarksville Pike more colorful and bright. We want the road to be fun and practical for all ages but especially for fellow youth. We want kids our age to come out and use the road as a resource to get places they need to go.

“I use the bus on a daily basis and it is a struggle sometimes. I feel like, in comparison to other countries, the public transportation could be better. Bus stops are only available near public places and for some, it is a long distance from the bus stop to their homes. The buses are not always punctual and I have to wait a long time before they arrive. ”

— 17 Year Old

*Existing conditions of the area, highlighting the three neighborhoods that would be connected when adding this Complete Street (Bordeaux, Metro Center and North Nashville)*

Accessibility and Affordability

Location: East Nashville

Team Members: Alex, Chris, Davion, and Promise

“I hate when everything is so expensive and the traffic is so bad, hate how you just have to sit in the the traffic.”

— 9 Year Old

We have been working hard to figure out ways to create places both accessible and affordable for youth and the next generation. Most kids in Nashville don’t have cars or safe transportation to get around in Nashville. There are also not many things that are easily accessible to get to that youth may need such as schools, jobs, bus stops, or even places for them to get food. This is definitely something that needs to change in Nashville for the safety of youth.

*Davion and Alex work with their design ideas with research Fellow, Kayla Anderson, and Landscape Planning Associate, Remi Lynch*

During our Dream City Workshops, we interviewed kids about the top three things they dislike the most about living in Nashville. 40% of youth said that one of three things they disliked most about living in Nashville is that it is too expensive.

Accessibility and affordability don't always go hand and hand in Nashville, and our goal is to design a future where those two words are one and the same. The main thing that we gathered from our surveys is that a big issue for young people is the fact that transportation is either too expensive or not accessible at all. We are looking to target community parks, schools, and jobs which will help the access of natural resources, food, and recreational activities. We aim to bring more bike lanes and signs that have the bus schedule posted around Nashville.

*Site map that identifies bus routes and typical youth routes*

We added a bike lane on the Gallatin in front of East High to help students without a car or who are unable to ride the bus. We did the same with South 7th street in front of Warner Arts Elementary. This is a critical location because it is in the middle of every focal point—a median between schools, public parks, and bus stops.

*Alex and Chris present their design ideas at the Exhibition*

Proximity to Spaces

Location: Cedar Hill Park

Team Members: Eseosa, Donia, Kailei, and Lois

This summer, through the data our team collected during our Dream City workshops and surveys, we found out that youth value their proximity to spaces where they can socialize, have fun, and get energy out. Youth value places to have fun that are close to them they want somewhere not far from their neighborhood that’s safe and has a community there. We also found that youth felt safer when they were around their own community, so our design addresses this along with that sense of belonging and safety.

We want to revamp Cedar Hill Park because during our Dream City Workshop analysis and surveys, out of 12 choices, 28% of youth picked wanting more places to walk. 23% wanted more locally oriented events and neighborhood activities, and 20% wanted more fun things to do. We chose Cedar Hill Park in Madison because there is a lot of empty space that could be used for community events. It is also close to multiple neighborhoods, three churches, and four schools.

“It is annoying because there is not a lot of playgrounds in Nashville.”

— 11 Year Old

Our design will add a second play area to the park along with editing part of Old Hickory Blvd to include colorful crosswalks. We intend to add public gardens, a large jungle gym, tables to sit at, with a path that runs through everything. This design will be inclusive for every age. To get into the park, youth also need accessible ways to get there. To improve the main road, there need to be more bike lanes, bigger side walks, and buffers between everything. This improvement will encourage youth to visit the park more frequently. We decided to alter Old Hickory Blvd because it’s nearly impossible to cross safely, this cuts off youth who cannot drive and car-less people from the park. Along with being close to once again 3 churches and 4 schools, which means it's already close to places where children and youth socialize.

Youth value places to have fun that are close to them. They want somewhere not far from their neighborhood that's safe and has community there. We know that our project holds these values true.

*At the Exhibition, attendees voted on the winning design, which will be the focus of the Team’s work throughout the school year.*

Watch the Whole Exhibition

Reflecting on Dream City Informed Projects

the Dream City Workshop

Youth-Informed Design Proposals

67%

Green Pedals: Urban Gardens Civic Tour

La Realización de un parque para restaurar Mill Creek