During Charrette Week, the youth had the opportunity to put pen (marker and color pencil) to paper.  Youth worked hand-in-hand with one of Nashville’s best designers, Manuel Zeitlin, and an enthusiastic group of young professionals, who generously volunteered their time and expertise, to design and plan on multiple scales.

Monday & Tuesday – “The Big Picture”

Each morning this week, following the morning “check-in,” Gary led the group through a series of exercises. Monday began with self-examination of each youth’s neighborhood.  The participants were asked to identify three things they liked, and three things they disliked about their neighborhood – later this was discussed with the group at large. The afternoon session began with a discussion of the broad issues that relate in some way to every neighborhood - transportation, food policy, housing types, etc. – and ways to resolve these obstacles and opportunities in Nashville.

Wednesday – “Neighborhood Design”

“What makes an ideal neighborhood?” the youth teams, with a design professional as facilitator, were asked this question.  Each team created a list of attributes, and began the work of designing their own “ideal neighborhood,” utilizing the items identified on their checklist. The teams then presented their ideas to the larger group for discussion.

Thursday – Specific Site Design: Edmonson Park

The day began with a presentation from Kira Appelhans, Landscape Designer, Design Fellow, and Associate Professor for Parsons – the New School of Design, discussing the history of Edmonson Park. The Youth and Design Professionals teams discussed what elements should be included in this park – adjacent to Oasis Center in John Henry Hale Neighborhood – to make it a place other youth would like to hang out. They then designed their own plan for revamping Edmondson Park that included homage to William Edmondson, for whom the park is named. Youth were told that the Design Center has received grant funding to begin the process of implementation of the park’s design.