The Nashville Civic Design Center maintains a strong partnership with the University of Tennessee Knoxville College of Architecture and Design (UTK CoAD). Through this partnership, NCDC coordinates various studies throughout the year that allow architecture students to study potential “real world” projects in Nashville.
A continuation of both The Plan of Nashville and Shaping the Healthy Community: The Nashville Plan, the Neighborhood Assessment Toolkit is an assessment and development scoring tool intended for local and community associations when engaging new development. The Toolkit is comprised of neighborhood and parcel assessment resources, along with a development scorecard based on the 10 Principles of the Plan of Nashville.
The Project for Public Spaces, on their organization’s web site, asks “what if we built our communities around places?” They then go on to define Placemaking as “both an overarching idea and a hands-on approach for improving a neighborhood, city, or region, Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community. Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, Placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm in order to maximize shared value. More than just promoting better urban design, Placemaking facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.”
Each team asked the questions “could the spaces proposed improve pedestrian, bicycle, and street connectivity? Could they maintain and/or strengthen street and/or bike and pedestrian connections depending on the site?” The intent was to promote walkable, bike-friendly environments and access to transit, with particular attention to providing connections between the proposed spaces and surrounding neighborhoods.
As Nashville’s economy and population booms, creating new opportunities for transit will help keep our communities healthy and prosperous. Currently, Nashville is a car-centric city leaving most of its people with the automobile as the only option for transportation. As driving costs, obesity rates, and the median age of the population continue to increase, providing transportation options becomes a priority to ensure public health and continued mobility.
