April is Transit Month, Come Celebrate with Us!

Join us by taking a FREE ride on the WeGo Star Train to Donelson Station on Friday, April 26 at 4:10 pm.

Hosted by the Young Professionals in Transportation (YPT), Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee, Transit Now, WeGo, Civic Design Center, Network for Sustainable Solutions, and the Nashville Connector.

Hear about project updates from agencies including the Nashville Department of Transportation, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, Councilpersons (to be announced), and the Mayor’s Office.

This event is free but registration is required.

Ticket to Ride Schedule

Meet at the WeGo Riverfront Station at 4:10 pm or 5:00 pm on Friday, April 26.

• You'll have a chance to take either the 4:20 pm or 5:10 pm train.

• Please arrive at 4:10 for the 4:20 train, and 5:00 for the 5:10 train.

• Address: 108 1st Avenue South in downtown Nashville.

Arrive at Donelson Station and walk to Phat Bites (2730 Lebanon Pike B, Nashville, TN 3721)

• Food and drinks provided at venue.

Getting Back to Riverfront Station

B us Route 6

• Leave Donelson at either 6:38 or 7:38 pm and get off at the Hermitage Ave/Peabody St. WB Station - Walk .2 miles back to Riverfront Station

**Please register by Wednesday April 24th at 11:30 PM**

Keep in Mind: Space is limited and provided on a first come, first serve basis.

• Register early and enter to win amazing giveaways!

• Use the #TicketToRide on social media for an additional chance to win giveaways.

How to Get to WeGo Riverfront Station -

Parking

• The station does not include parking facilities; however, space is incorporated into the facility to accommodate efficient connections between regional rail and WeGo Public Transit bus services.

• You can also pay to park around lower Broadway.

Connecting Lines:

• Route 64 Star Downtown Shuttle travels to and from Riverfront Station and 7th & Harrison.

• Route 93 Star West End Shuttle directly serves Riverfront Station.

• Buses for this route travel up Broadway to 21st Avenue to the Vanderbilt University area, then through the Belmont University area and back to Riverfront Station. If you are heading south, away from downtown, several bus routes are available on 4th Avenue.

Biking/Walking

• Riverfront Station is located at the foot of Broadway, adjacent to the Flag Court and the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge.

• It's also on the Cumberland River Greenway.

• Electric bicycles are allowed on the WeGo Star.

Ticket to Ride is a 501(c)(3) activity and is prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. No candidates for office will be endorsed for their participation in the event.

Questions?

Contact the Young Professionals in Transportation at yptnashville@gmail.com

Nashville Connector by e-mail at NashConnector@Nashville.gov or by phone at (615) – 862 – 7174.

Architecture students often are given the book, Form, Space and Order for a required reading. This short theory textbook that highlights the most basic elements shaping our built environment. However, its takeaways can also be applied artistically to so many different mediums. What is the inspiration for a line? How do artists and designers take elements of their smallest parts to shape unique, creative expressions? Does order come from symmetry or repetition? How does a designer relate built forms to open space? Does something unspoken shape the final product?

In PechaKucha Nashville: Volume 45, our presenters will interpret Form, Space, and Order in under 7 minutes. Attend the event to witness several lightning presentations to spark inspiration and delight in your everyday surroundings.

Presenters

• Dale Brackeen, Dryden Studio

• Taylor Esche, Haustile

• Tracey Ford, EOA Architects

• Hunter Gee, Smith Gee Studio

• David Greaves, Kimley-Horn

• Lindsey Laseter, Lasso Studio

• Danielle Myers, Designer and Illustrator

• Gianna Noel, Moody Nolan

The Civic Design Center has partnered with the Vanderbilt School of Engineering to work on a variety of issues in Nashville over the last 5 years! Come support the Spring Engineering Senior Design Presentations for Affordable Housing.

This semester, students worked on the site design, water supply, and structural design for the next phase at The Village at Glencliff (TVG) which expands on work that the Design Center was involved in years ago. The students have professional engineering mentors for the groups thanks to Thomas & Hutton. TVG has given the students the freedom to design the next phase. Our Design Studio helped students envision what the site could be and introduced planning concepts. We will see their final recommendations at this event!

Space is limited so please RSVP with the intention of attendance. If you can no longer make it, please release your ticket.

A Day of Up-Size Games for Up-Size Kids (Teens)

Why Up-Size Games?

Are you a teenager that feels like public spaces were not created for you? This event is for you! The theme of “up-size games” is meant to highlight the need for more safe and affordable places for teenagers where they can socialize and get energy out.

During the event, the Nashville Youth Design Team will showcase their design for an up-size playground, which is a playground exclusively for teens. But we need your input! We want to know what kind of teen-friendly places you envision for the city of Nashville. So come join us, share your ideas, and let's create places that truly cater to the needs and desires of teenagers!

*This event is for Civic Design Center Members Only*

Sponsors do not receive tickets for their employees, so if you are unsure of your member status, please email veronica at civicdesigncenter.org before proceeding. Become a member by starting a monthly donation of $5+ to attend.

Join us on a Civic Tour of Neuhoff Campus led by past President of the Board of Civic Design Center and Founding Principal of Smith Gee Studio, Hunter Gee. 

Neuhoff is a special place for the Civic Design Center. It is a part of our full 20+ year history, having hosted so many events and meetings there prior to its renovation, when owned by the McRedmond Family, and it has been a design inspiration for countless Nashville creatives. Now that the redevelopment of the former slaughterhouse turned creative industrial haven is nearly complete and ready for tenants, it’s time to walk through the doors and share the story. 

Neuhoff Campus is located in Historic Germantown along the Cumberland River. If you are new to Nashville, you may have only had a small glimpse of this historic area through Monday Night Brewing’s current location, boasting the spectacular outdoor patio in the shell of an old powerhouse building. However, if you have been in Nashville for the last 20 years, you might know Neuhoff as a temporary host to creatives and non-profits. It is a location where our early Urban Design Forums were held with the infamous uncomfortable folding chairs and the cooler full of beer.  In 2016, the University of Tennessee Knoxville Urban Design Studio created design visions for the arts complex that Neuhoff Campus might one day become. In-fact, Ponce City Market in Atlanta served as a precedent for the students, (the same Atlanta-based development group - New City Properties - is responsible for buying and redeveloping Neuhoff).

We can thank the late Stephen McRedmond “who saw life where others only saw a killing floor,” to quote our co-founder, Christine Kreyling. His family came into the property in the late 90s, and it has been a visionary’s dream project ever since. Today, it is a reality.

Reintroducing PUBLIC WORKS, the Nashville Design Week 2023 Community Art Showcase. Each year, the festival features local artists, designers, and makers that represent the spirit of the year's core values. The 2023 Concept was all about *purpose* and the participating 5 artists were asked to vision a sculpture that reflects their design purpose. These came to life as 3x3 foot "spheres" in homage to the Design Week brand identity. 

There are also a collection of small circles painted by 3rd graders that connect together in a unique three dimensional form. Each student shared their own purpose by filling in the blank, “Design for _____,” and writing it on the back of their circle.

The sculptures will be showcased at the Civic Design Center Sandra Schatten Community Room during the March 2nd Downtown Art Crawl. Check out the map here to follow the whole route.

We are partnering with EOA Architects and NOMA Nashville to celebrate the Africatown International Design Idea Competition. The Competition highlights the spectacular discovery of Clotilda, a sunken slave ship found in 2019 in the Mobile River Delta, AL, which paved the way for multi-disciplinary design teams to imagine a revived Africatown.

What is Africatown? When Clotilda brought 110 kidnapped West Africans to America in 1860, 32 of the Africans formed and governed their own community in 1865. Their descendants and the community they founded still exist today.

The Competition brief had 16 land and water-edged venues on 4 sites across 3 cities that interpret and honor its history. The venues were destined to constitute a major new cultural heritage tourism destination system called The Africatown Cultural Mile™.

Why Now? In 2021, we held a virtual Urban Design Forum to learn more about the Competition before it officially opened which featured Renee Kemp-Rotan, Professional Competition Advisor to The Africatown International Design Idea Competition.  Renee is our special guest for the evening, and she is responsible for organizing the largest Afrocentric, multi-site design idea competition that the world has ever seen.  She used her broad and world-known urban design skills to program all 4 sites and 14 venues. Now, the winners have been announced—two of which are local Nashville designers, Taylan “Ty” Tekeli as well as the Moody Nolan / Tuskegee University Robert Taylor School of Architecture collaborative team led by Nashville architect Valarie Franklin, AIA, NOMA (Moody Nolan) and Professor Amma Asamoah (Tuskegee University). This Urban Design Forum will celebrate the amazing work of the competition and provide a platform for the local winners to share their submission concepts.

About The Designers:

Renee Kemp-Rotan is internationally regarded urban designer, Kemp-Rotan's works are now included in The African American National Biography, edited by Dr. Henry Louis Gates/Harvard University (WEB Dubose School of Research) and archived in the African American Archives, Oxford University, England.  RKR was nominated by three American Institute of Architects Presidents to serve on the National Diversity and Inclusion Council (Governance Chair). Renee, as a long-standing member of  AIA and NOMA, (National Organization of Minority Architects) was featured in ARCHITECTURE Magazine, in December 2016 and  NOMA Magazine, in Fall 2017. She recently re-ignited StudioRotan, her civic design firm, established in 1988.  As a DC native, Renee attended DC Public Schools, won the  AIA/Ford Foundation Minority Scholarship Award to Syracuse, and since has traveled the world to 33 countries.

Ty Tekeli made the journey from Istanbul to Nashville over six years ago. His background adds a unique perspective to our work, influenced by the rich experiences gained from diverse cultural landscapes. He is dedicated to pushing creative boundaries through participation in design competitions. At Fabl Design, we find joy in embracing challenges as opportunities for growth. We are committed to continuous learning, recognizing that design competitions keep us on the path of improvement within the industry.

Amma Asamoah, a distinguished alumna of Tuskegee University's Robert R. Taylor School of Architecture and Construction Science and Philadelphia University's M.S. Sustainable Design Program, is a prominent figure in architecture and sustainable design. In her role as a tenure-track assistant professor at Tuskegee University, she shapes the future of architects while pursuing a Doctorate of Design at Carnegie Mellon University as a National GEM Consortium fellow.

Valarie Franklin is Associate Principal at Moody Nolan and an alumna of Tuskegee University and brings over 20 years of architectural experience including healthcare, educational, corporate, religious, cultural projects, and institutional architectural design and documentation. The Nashville, Tennessee, native proudly founded the Nashville Chapter of NOMA and serves on the AIA Tennessee Architects Political Action Committee (TAPAC) as the 2020 President of both organizations. Valarie also contributes to her native city of Nashville by serving on the MDHA Design Review Board.

Getting to the event

The Athenaeum at HASTINGS Architecture
225 Polk Ave, Nashville, TN 37203

Transit

Get to the Elizabeth Duff Transit Center at WeGo Central (400 Dr. M.L.K. Jr Blvd, Nashville, TN 37219). Head southwest on Charlotte Ave/Dr. M.L.K. Jr Blvd toward 5th Ave N/Rep. John Lewis Way N, Turn left toward Union St, Turn right onto Union St, Turn left onto Polk Ave, HASTINGS Architecture will be on the right

BCycle

The Closest BCycle station is at TPAC (6th Ave N & Union St)

Parking

Mayor Freddie O’Connell is known for being an accessible public figure. He is a mayor of the people—sharing his daily agenda, riding public transit, attending small neighborhood gatherings and more. However, it is rare to have a dedicated hour for Q&A with any elected official, but we make a point to arrange this special breakfast for our community’s biggest supporters.

All Presidents’ Council Members are invited to attend this private roundtable session to hear our biggest questions for the Mayor and take the opportunity to ask their own. A formal email and calendar invite will be sent if your membership is up-to-date.

If you would like to meet our Presidents’ Council members are or learn more about our highest individual donor level, check out the Presidents’ Council page.

2023 was a year for hope. As a mayoral election year in Nashville, it gave us all space to hear campaign ideas, ask for what we want, and vote for who we hoped would carry out our visions.

2024 is the year for action. Together, we are setting resolutions on behalf of our city that we hope to see initiated—or even come to fruition—by the end of the year. During this social event, the Civic Design Center will unveil the top 24 Resolutions for Nashville that were collected from the community and endorsed by our team. We plan to deliver these resolutions to Mayor O'Connell and steward them to their fruition, either through direct action or intentional advocacy. By rsvp'ing to the event, you still have a chance to submit your idea for Nashville.

Instead of typical resolutions like "go to the gym more" or "eat healthier," have you made a resolution for how you can personally make a difference in your community this year? If not, we think networking with like-minded advocates and industry peers at this event will help you discover your personal resolution to improve your community. There will also be activities, like community success stories, postcard-writing, and goal-developing stations to not only inspire your resolution discovery, but also set you up for next steps.

Start your year feeling ready for action.

Your ticket includes refreshments and light bites with a jaw-dropping view from the Peabody Plaza building.

Come see the Plan for Downtown Mobility

Connect Downtown is a joint project of the Nashville Department of Transportation (NDOT), WeGo Public Transit, the Nashville Downtown Partnership, and the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to improve mobility and address traffic congestion in the downtown core.

This effort identifies projects, programs, and policies to help us better manage Downtown’s increasing congestion and make it easier for people to get around by all modes of transportation. It looks at traffic and curbside management strategies; transit improvements; walking, rolling, and biking projects; and Vision Zero safety strategies. The goal is to support both current and future Nashvillians, planning for growth and ensuring that Nashville remains a great destination.

Join us to learn about the plan, ask questions, and give feedback to inform the final designs.

Open Streets Nashville is a program that gives streets back to the people to reconnect to their communities, get active, and play in the street. This year we are partnering with Walk Bike to pick up on work the Civic Design Center started back in 2017 by carving out public space at the point of Elizebeth Park and activating it with a ground mural in the space created by the bikeway.

During this event, we will be asking folks to help paint the street and about the Looby Library and Community Center and what types of improvements they would like to see to the surrounding campus and neighborhoods.

Free to the public, the event turns the streets into a park space that connects diverse portions of the city and offers communities the opportunity to experience their city streets in a whole new way.

Open Streets provide stimulus to local businesses, offer a setting for greater civic participation and integration, and build support for the provision of broader transportation choices.​ Bogota, Colombia is the birthplace of Ciclovia, but since its inception, many cities across the country and the world have adopted and adapted the tradition as their own. Many peer cities like Atlanta, Louisville, Charlotte, and more have adopted Open Streets-style programs into the fabric of their civic life.

Open Streets Nashville is hosted through a partnership between Walk Bike Nashville, the Nashville Department of Transportation, and community partners.

The Cumberland River contributes to so much of our city’s history, development, and future. Join the Civic Design Center and River Queen Voyages for an urban paddling tour of downtown Nashville. This 3-mile paddle will begin at the Shelby Park boat ramp and will highlight key elements and future developments along the way. The tour will conclude at Riverfront Park and a free shuttle will be provided back to Shelby Park.

Itinerary

• 3:00 pm: Arrive at Shelby Bottoms Boat ramp

• 3:15 pm: Depart on kayaks provided with ticket by River Queen Voyages

• 4:15 pm: Arrive at East Bank Landing

• 4:30 pm: Shuttle back to Shelby Park provided with ticket by River Queen Voyages

• 5:00 pm: Debrief at Friends Of Shelby Park: Fridays By The River

When returning to Shelby Park, you can stay and hang out with the group at the Fridays by the River event. This is a separate event that supports the Friends of Shelby Bottoms and Park organization, and is a family-friendly beer garden with food trucks, yard games, and more!

We want to thank River Queen Voyages, the outfitter supplying the kayaks for the Urban Paddling Tour. If you miss this event, make sure to check out their special tours as well!

Sign up to book your kayak ASAP as space is limited! Questions? Contact Joe Mayes at joe@civicdesigncenter.org or 615-248-4280.

After over a decade of temporary parklets to advocate for reclaiming public space, we were so proud to help shepherd in the brand new Parklet Application Process thanks to Council Member Sean Parker and the whole team at NDOT for believing in the power of streets for the people.

This PARK(ing) Day, we decided to host a Parklet Design Competition, which you can learn more about here. Designers submitted ideas and a committee of 10 people chose the winner. On Sunday, September 17th, during global PARK(ing) Day weekend, we will be unveiling the fully built, winning parklet constructed by our partner, Hoar Construction.

Join us to celebrate the success of our advocacy and toast to Wilburn Street Tavern’s new outdoor patio in the street. In addition to a formal ribbon-cutting, you will get to see the submissions for the top 10 designs, purchase food and drinks, build-your-own tabletop parklets, play street mini-golf, dance to tunes spun by a DJ and more.

Partners and Vendors

• Wilburn Street Tavern will have food and drinks for purchase

• Bad Luck Burger Co. will be slinging burgers

• Turnip Green Creative Reuse is supporting our Tabletop Parklet activity

rsvp

Join us for an urban garden ride where we will visit several community farms, enjoying the bounty of a Summer harvest. We will explore the biking infrastructure through Downtown, North Nashville, and the Northeast side of the Cumberland. Mass rides are safer and more comfortable, so you can explore without stress. This will be a public, no-drop ride, meaning no rider left behind!

We are excited to partner with B-Cycle who will be providing free e-bike passes from the 2nd and Commerce Station for anyone who doesn’t have their own bike.

The ride will be a total of about 12.7 miles.

• Meet at the Civic Design Center

• Stop 1: Brooklyn Heights Community Garden

• Stop 2: McGruder Family Resource Center

• Stop 3: Hope Gardens

• Stop 4: Farm in the City

• Return to the Civic Design Center

We will provide water and snacks along the way! Please contact Nia Smith, Community Design Coordinator with any questions.

Hosted with the Frist Art Museum

Inspired by the current exhibitions at the Frist Art Museum from Beatrix Potter to Ron Jude, this PechaKucha will focus on presentations centered around conservation of our natural environment. With inspiration in mind, we will also explore human’s innate biophilia and how that drives design to incorporate and celebrate elements from nature. 

Free admission to the exhibitions will be included in your ticket, however, you will be encouraged to come early in order to spend time in the galleries before the event. 

Beer, wine and snacks will be included in your ticket.

About PechaKucha

Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", PechaKucha rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

Presenters

MC: Nia Smith, Civic Design Center, Community Design Coordinator

• Caroline Allison, Nature Photographer

• Lorraine Ensley, EOA Architects, Senior Interior Designer

• Gary Gaston, Civic Design Center, CEO

• Jim Gregory, Nashville Tree Conservation Corps, Chair

• Tonya Lewis, NuSachi, Co-Founder

• Megan Lightell, Nature Painter

• Bob Parrish, Friends of Warner Parks, Historian

• Catherine Price, Cumberland River Compact, Senior Program Manager

• Ivan Vanchev, Anecdote Architectural Experiences, Architect

• Erica Weeks, HASTINGS, Director of Sustainability

Since 2020, the Nashville Youth Design Team has been designing and advocating for youth wellbeing in Nashville’s neighborhoods.

This summer, the NYDT has been facilitating a “Dream City” workshop where they engaged young people in designing their ideal city and completing a survey about their experiences in Nashville. The NYDT has analyzed the results and created visionary designs and actions to advocate for young people’s needs.

Watch their presentation from 9:30-10:30 am, then engage with the team afterwards!

RSVP

Background

PARK(ing) Day is a public, global event that anyone can participate in. However, for the Civic Design Center, PARK(ing) Day 2023 is going to look a lot smaller this year. With over a decade of pop-up parks, we have seen great success in Downtown Nashville, so we decided to take it to the neighborhood. We found an amazing partner who is ready to go through the brand new NDOT Parklet Permit process with us, and we are going to bring the design community together to help them actualize the first longterm parklet in Nashville.

That means we need YOUR help. We are launching a Parklet Design Competition to envision a new parklet for Wilburn Street Tavern, which has been owned by Teresa Mason in Cleveland Park for 5 years.

About the Party

At the Kick-Off Party, you can:

• Hear from NDOT about the new Parklet and Tactical Urbanism Permits that Nashvillians can now apply for.

• Purchase food and drinks to support Wilburn Street Tavern’s parklet pursuit.

• Experience the energy of the business, which will be an important aspect of your submission.

• Stick around after 9 pm for Jazz Night!

Design Competition Info

Submissions will be open from July 11-August 11.

Following the review, our parklet design winner will be notified, and our construction team will get to work realizing the vision. The final parklet will be revealed on September 17th at a celebratory block party. View more information on the competition page.

The Civic Design Center is hosting a session to look at options created by the Design Center's team based on several rounds of community feedback. Please join us and let us know your thoughts. Councilmember VanReece is also pleased to inform us that the update to Vision 612 (hospital site) will also be on display for the first time at this meeting.

If you haven’t yet, please take this survey about the future park site.

Agenda

• 9:30 AM - 9:35 AM: Arrive / Mix + Mingle / Snacks + Coffee

• 9:35 AM - 9:45 AM: Introduction / Timeline

• 9:45 AM - 9:55 AM: Councilmember VanReece update on Vision 612

• 9:55 AM - 10:15 AM: Design Options

• 10:15 AM - 10:25 AM: Thoughts / Q + A

• 10:25 AM - 10:30 PM: Next steps

This work was made possible with a grant from:

en español

The Civic Design Center, Neighbor 2 Neighbor, Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee, Urban Housing Solutions, and Walk Bike Nashville believe that a more livable city cannot be built in a silo.

These five local organizations are coming together to host a Mayoral Forum that will cover a breadth of important civic issues: community-based planning, transportation, housing, and safe streets and how the candidate’s view the role of public participation in shaping the future of our city. Without an incumbent on the ticket, the community will be thinking deeply about the values that could influence Nashville’s development over the next 4 years.

Hosted at Trevecca Nazarene University, we will have the capacity to host up to 1000 community members to get civically engaged. Ahead of the Forum, each organization collected surveys from our member communities to help guide the questions for the candidates.

Tickets are free and all are welcome. There will be live Spanish + ASL Translation.

The following candidates have accepted our invitation: Natisha Brooks, Heidi Campbell, Jim Gingrich, Sharon Hurt, Stephanie Johnson, Freddie O’Connell, Alice Rolli, Vivian Wilhoite, Matt Wiltshire, and Jeff Yarbro.

Las Organizaciones Civic Design Center [Centro de Diseño Cívico], Neighbor 2 Neighbor [Vecino a Vecino], Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee [Alianza de Transito de Middle Tennessee]  , Urban Housing Solutions [Soluciones para la Vivienda Urbana] y Walk Bike Nashville [Nashville Caminando y en Bicicleta] creen que una ciudad más habitable no se puede construir como un silo (aislada y sin compartir información).

Estas cinco organizaciones locales se unen para organizar un Foro de candidatos a la Alcaldía de Nashville que cubrirá en amplitud los temas cívicos importantes: planificación comunitaria, transporte, vivienda y calles seguras y cómo los candidatos ven el papel de la participación pública en la configuración del futuro de nuestra ciudad. Sin el titular en la boleta electoral, la comunidad pensará profundamente en los valores que podrían influir en el desarrollo de Nashville durante los próximos 4 años.

Organizado por Trevecca Nazarene University [La Universidad Nazarena de Trevecca] , tendremos la capacidad de recibir hasta 1000 miembros de la comunidad para participar cívicamente. Antes del Foro, cada organización recopiló encuestas de los miembros de nuestras comunidades para ayudar a guiar las preguntas de los candidatos.

Las entradas son gratuitas y todos son bienvenidos. Habrá traducción en vivo de español + ASL [Lenguaje de Señas Americano]

Los siguientes candidatos han aceptado nuestra invitación: Natisha Brooks, Heidi Campbell, Jim Gingrich, Sharon Hurt, Stephanie Johnson, Freddie O'Connell, Alice Rolli, Vivian Wilhoite, Matt Wiltshire y Jeff Yarbro.

A gallery honoring Phil Ponder and the Evolution of 2nd Ave

The Civic Design Center is excited to invite you to attend our Second Avenue Gallery featuring photos and images of Second Avenue, the community engagement process, the future vision for 2nd Avenue, and works by Phil Ponder. This gallery will honor Phil Ponder and his piece that will be on display to all travelers on 2nd Avenue, as it is on display on the façade of the AT&T building.

Why are we hosting the event?

Since the 2020 Christmas Day Bombing on Second Avenue, neighbors, business owners, property owners, city departments, and many other stakeholders have come together to create a vision for the future of 2nd Avenue’s streetscape and public realm. A key element of community feedback was honoring the architecture and respecting the history of Second Avenue, and enhancing the pedestrian experience. This event will honor the artist, Phil Ponder, whose art is replicated on the wall of the AT&T building (which was impacted by the blast) to enhance the street and enhance the historic tone of 2nd Avenue.

Join the Civic Design Center in partnership with J.U.M.P. for an Urban Design Forum with Majora Carter to learn about her work in community development projects across the US that have been successful in combating gentrification and displacement issues.

How can we solve the problem of persistent poverty in low-status communities? Majora Carter will discuss how neighborhoods need a talent-retention strategy, just like the ones companies have. Retaining homegrown talent is a critical part of creating a strong local economy that can resist gentrification. But too many people born in low-status communities measure their success by how far away from them they can get.

Carter, who could have been one of them, returned to the South Bronx and devised a development strategy rooted in the conviction that these communities have the resources within themselves to succeed. She advocates measures such as

• Building mixed-income instead of exclusively low-income housing to create a diverse and robust economic ecosystem

• Showing homeowners how to maximize the long-term value of their property so they won't succumb to quick-cash offers from speculators

• Keeping people and dollars in the community by developing vibrant "third spaces"--restaurants, bookstores, and places like Carter's own Boogie Down Grind Cafe

Getting To This Event

WeGo Public Transit

• 12 Min trip from Elizabeth Duff Transit center Via Route #19 (Albion St & 21st Ave N)

• 18 Min trip from Elizabeth Duff Transit center Via Route #29 (Jefferson St & 21st Ave N)

Parking

• Please park at the current Event Parking area at the rooftop level of Lot K, Garage, located at the corner of 21st Avenue and Meharry Boulevard.  At the rooftop level of the Lot K Garage, is an elevator and stairwell that exists to the ground level.  Upon exiting the Garage, to the left, is a short walk heading to the Kresge Learning Resource Center (LRC Building).  At the corner of 21st Avenue and Albion Street, at the crosswalk, up the hill, leads to the entry of the LRC building - See map below.  To avoid vehicle towing at owner’s expense, All parking lots are decal reserved for employees and students, Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 5:00 pm 

ADA Accommodations

• Please contact eric@civicdesigncenter.org if you need any assistance accessing this event.

This event was made possible with grant support from:

This fun event will showcase youth art around town and help encourage the use of public transit!

Participants will have the opportunity to ride to one bus stop to admire youth artwork and learn about WeGo routes and amenities. Riders will answer trivia questions for a chance to win prizes, like box seats to a Nashville SC game and cool swag. Lunch will be provided.

What to know:

• Youth under 14 must be accompanied by an adult

• MNPS students can use their school ID to ride buses. Tickets will be provided for everyone else.

The Civic Design Center is partnering with Barge Design Solutions and Vanderbilt University School of Engineering to explore the possibility of transforming space below Nashville’s highways. VU students will present their year-long project, where they will have technical documents and conceptual ideas of how the space below I-40 could look. The site is located under the I-40 bridge between 2nd Ave - 4th Ave, and has potential to be transformed to a more accessible and pleasant space for the surrounding community, as well as visitors of Nashville.

This concept continues the Design Center’s initiative of Reclaiming Public Space, which focuses on how to improve our current public spaces and infrastructure with innovative and inclusive designs. There are many great precedents around the world that have shown us how to create more functional and beautiful cities. Bringing these visions together and how they can be incorporated into Nashville help push the conversation of how we, as a city, should be treating our public land and spaces.

This event is available for the public to see virtually, RSVP required. There will also be a small group of key stakeholders in the room asking questions about the project design and technical aspects.

Join us as we take a deeper look into the Donelson neighborhood, its recent growth and how that has impacted the community. As new developments, residents, businesses, and traffic patterns come to the neighborhood, it is important to appreciate what changes have been made that enhance the neighborhood experience, specifically considering how we might advocate for opportunities that can continue to support the Donelson identity.

Together, we will be analyzing the neighborhood using a beta test version of the “Neighborhood Assessment Toolkit,” a neighborhood analysis survey created to think about the assets and opportunities of neighborhoods using good design principles.

At the event, we will hear from Council Member Syracuse about current projects, including the library, new residential developments and more. As Donelson becomes more connected and grows alongside Nashville, we hope to help future developers put community priorities first in their projects.

Note: a portion of this event will be a neighborhood “walk audit,” however, we will also facilitate a virtual audit for anyone that would prefer to stay behind and evaluate the 1/2 mile radius from inside.

RSVP Below!

The Civic Design Center and the AIA Middle Tennessee Government Relations and RUDAC Committees present Nashville’s 43rd Volume of PechaKucha Night where speakers will talk about Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in Nashville. From successful design precedents to advocating for consensus within communities, we will hear from architects and engineers, community and civic leaders, and more! With this lightning talk presentation style, you will get a crash course on all of the challenges and opportunities related to TOD.

AIA Members will receive 1 Learning Unit with attendance.

About PechaKucha

Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", PechaKucha rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It grew into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. The Civic Design Center is the Nashville host.

Meet the Presenters

• Amy Crownover, Greenways for Nashville

• Jessica Dauphin, Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee

• Elle McKenna, Moody Nolan

• Kristen Gruhn and Omar Bakeer, Smith Gee Studio

• Samantha Bowie, KCI

• Jubal Parris, Gresham Smith

• Jeff Strand, TN Disability Coalition

• Mary Vavra, Barge Design Solutions

About Zeitgeist’s Current Exhibition

Artist: Vesna Pavlović

Dates: March 4 - April 8, 2023

Vesna Pavlovic’s 4th solo show at Zeitgeist, Perfect Memory, showcases a body of photographs which represent a return to still image and documentary themes which gained her attention as a young artist. While Pavlović’s work after her time as a student at Columbia University and her arrival to Nashville in 2009 emphasized image reproduction, projection, and installation, Perfect Memory echoes her visual exploration of aesthetic, social and historical phenomena found in her legacy series, such as the iconic “Hotels.”

Perfect Memory integrates three bodies of photographs shot recently in former Yugoslavia, Cuba, and the US. These works—“Sites of Memory,” “Jardines de Hershey,” and “Searching for the Perfect Sunset”, are connected by questions of memory and the politics of place, with a focus on photographic representation of political and cultural histories of Cold War era.

Tickets

The Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee (TAMT) has partnered with Network for Sustainable Solutions (NSS) and the Civic Design Center to conduct a facilitated event engaging our Nashville Community and representatives from local organizations with members who depend on transit. We are calling this event Transit Together: A Discussion on Transit Solutions, and we would love for you to be part of the conversation!

The information that is gleaned from the facilitated discussion will be organized and reported to participant groups. Transit Alliance will use this information to better support communities they serve in seeking transit and mobility infrastructure improvements.

We consider transit holistically: social, environmental, and economic impacts and needs of transit for the Middle Tennessee population. We want to have as many community members be part of it as possible. We would love to see you there!

información en español

Martes 28 de Febrero, 5:00pm a 6:30pm

Transit Together: Una charla sobre Soluciones de Tránsito.

RSVP Here

The Civic Design Center and Council Member Nancy VanReece worked with Amazon to provide a grant to advance a concept for the park on Chadwell Drive. The idea for this initial proposal was to create a vision that could be used to advocate for the creation of a future park that would connect the former Nashville Memorial Hospital, to the existing neighborhood which would also create a strong multimodal connection between the Kemper Heights & South Madison Neighborhoods.

The map above shows where the Park on Chadwell Drive is located.

This event is open to the public. Please join us and other neighborhood leaders to provide your thoughts on a future park on Chadwell Dr. We will be engaging with small groups of neighbors to think creatively by drawing on maps of what we want to see in the future park space.

This event will have snacks and related park engagement activities for 3 - 12-year-olds who are interested in participating.

This project was made possible with a grant from:

This event is SOLD OUT.

To be added to the waitlist, please email veronica at civicdesigncenter dot org!

Civic Design Center is partnering with the Frist Art Museum, NOMA Nashville, and AIA Middle Tennessee to present an architecture tour you aren’t going to want to miss. Attendees will meet at the Frist Art Museum to embark on a trip to see the historic and remarkable architecture of McKissack & McKissack. Stops begin in Downtown Nashville taking us through North Nashville’s Fisk and TSU campuses then down to Edgehill to view the home of Moses McKissack III.

Details

• Tour will be led by architect and NOMA Nashville member, Lynn Jolley.

• AIA Members will receive CEU credits with attendance.

• All tickets include gallery admission to the Frist Art Museum and validated parking.

• All profits from ticket sales will go towards NOMA Nashville coloring books for McKissack Middle.

About McKissack & McKissack

McKissack & McKissack, established in Nashville in 1922, is the first Black-owned architectural firm in the United States. The firm has been prolific in designing and building structures in Nashville and across the United States, including the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.

Tickets

To advance Chadwell Drive Park design concepts, the Civic Design Center and Council Member Nancy VanReece worked with Amazon to provide a grant for this project. The idea for this initial proposal was to create a vision that could be used to advocate for the creation of a future park that would connect this development, formerly the Nashville Memorial Hospital, to the existing neighborhood which would also create a strong multimodal connection between the Kemper Heights & South Madison Neighborhoods.

This event is open to the public to provide your thoughts and join the Civic Design Center and other neighborhood leaders in an effort to advance schemes that can lead to the construction of this new park. 

This work was made possible in part by:

Event Schedule

7:30 am: Doors Open for Coffee + Connections

8:30 am: Program Begins

9:15 am: Panel Begins

10:00 am: Closing Remarks + Networking Reopens

Event Details

Meet Our Keynote

Ernest Brown (he/him)

Ernest is a current Board Chair of YIMBY Action, and has been active in the YIMBY movement since 2017. Ernest also serves on the boards of Tech Equity Collaborative and the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund. He is the Chief of Staff at Kaiser Permanente, where he supports the nonprofit’s strategy and partnerships. Ernest is a native of Atlanta, GA. He graduated from Emory University with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics, and is back at Emory pursuing his MBA.

Meet the Panelists

Gina Emmanuel, Centric Architecture Principal + Barnes Fund Chair

Gina Emmanuel has been a principal at Centric Architecture, a design focused architecture, planning, and interiors firm located in historic North Nashville, for the past 10 years. Originally from South Africa, relocating to Nashville in 1985, she has become more of a native than most with the influx of growth the city has seen.

For the last decade, Centric has focused on community-based projects in the heart of Middle Tennessee’s neighborhoods creating unique intentional spaces that instill a compelling sense of place. She serves as Commission Chair for the Housing Trust Fund Commission which administers affordable housing grants to local non-profit developers, a board member of the NAIOP Nashville Chapter, the President of Catholic Charities of Nashville, and a member of the inaugural steering committee for ULI’s Urban Plan program.

Colby Sledge, District 17 Council Member

Colby Sledge is a two-term Metro Nashville Councilmember whose service has included six years on the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund Commission, where he helped put nearly 2,500 affordable units into development and recently secured another $15 million for the fund. He passed the single-largest investment in affordable housing in Nashville's history, and recently passed legislation to convert parking minimums into maximums in Nashville's urban core.

Learn about the Theme

The housing debate in Nashville has people calling for affordable housing, but saying no to affordable housing in their own communities. This is a phenomenon called “Not in My Backyard,” commonly referred to as “NIMBY.” We are opening the discussion that supports the movement of “YIMBY,” or “YES, in My Backyard,” where community members are encouraged to show up to public meetings and support development that increases density in their neighborhoods. 

People often say “no” to new development that threatens neighborhood character and other infrastructure challenges, however, the Civic Design Center offers a pathway for how our communities can be supportive of well-designed development. Building relationships with developers who are investing in the community is critical. Let’s work on reframing the conversation to say “yes” more, but make sure the community is represented.

Ticket Information

Jump below to purchase!

Early Bird Ticket Rates (CLOSED):

Members—$100

Non-Members—$125

Full Table—$1200

Standard Ticket Rates:

Members—$120

Non-Members—$150

Full-Table—$1500

Standard ticket rates do not include fees.

Tickets included in Sponsorship Levels as Follows:

Presenting—10 Tickets (full table)

Program—10 Tickets (full table)

Keystone—10 Tickets (full table)

Cornerstone—10 Tickets (full table)

Voussoir—5 Tickets (half table)

Sponsors may purchase additional tickets at either the early bird or standard non-member ticket rate. For an idea of what it would take to complete your table, each table seats 10 individuals. View our sponsors here!