Parks
Reimagine Cap Hill Parks
Client
Denver Parks and Recreation
Phase
Design
Location
Denver, CO
Role
Landscape Architect
Supporting Team
Two Forks Collective - Community Engagement Support
Loewen Engineering - Civil Engineer
AloTerra Restoration - Ecological Consultant
Overview
Reimagine Cap Hill Parks was a comprehensive year-long vision planning initiative focused on the only two parks serving the south Capitol Hill neighborhood, which had experienced years of record-low visitation.
This strategic planning effort sought to address diminished perceptions of safety and limited programmatic offerings while boosting urban ecological function. The project’s most lofty ambition was to help combat the “epidemic of loneliness” in this part of the city known informally as a “landing pad” for many recent Denver transplants, predominately occupied by young adults in their late twenties and early thirties.
A creative approach to engagement activated the parks over the course of the year — fostering civic discussion between a diverse base of neighbors, stakeholders and park users, building a sense of ownership, stewardship, belonging, and pride in public urban open space, and culminating in a truly community-led vision.
The Reimagine Cap Hill Parks project considers how Governors’ Park and Quality Hill Park can work together and individually to bring unique park experiences to south Capitol Hill, Denver’s most densely populated neighborhood.
The Vision Plan for Governors’ Park and Quality Hill Park is the result of an extensive and creative 8-month-long community engagement process.
STARTING THE CONVERSATION
To kick off the engagement process for the Reimagine Cap Hill Parks project, an awareness-raising campaign began online via DPR’s social media outlets and in the parks via a “Wishing Wall” banner installation. The banners, hung in both parks, asked the question: “What do you wish to see in your neighborhood park?” and provided a QR code that linked to the project website. Both avenues utilized artwork created for the project by local artist Yamz.
VISIONING
The dual desires to reach a diverse range of community members to gauge public preferences while also creating opportunities to re-activate the parks after years of markedly low usage led to the creation of an engagement process that began with a series of four pop-up events in the Cap Hill parks.
The pop-up events were designed to gather feedback in a way that was fun and engaging for the community and to create new connections between locals and the parks.
The first activation event of the Reimagine Cap Hill Parks project offered a free portrait booth and an open-mic storytelling portion where park neighbors shared their stories of life in Capitol Hill. The portraits were shared on a Flickr album and help capture the diversity of the neighborhood.
CONCEPT ALTERNATES
Building on public feedback gathered during the first phase of engagement, the Concept Alternatives phase sought to test highly contrasting ideas for both parks and understand the community’s preferences and thoughts on different park improvement options.
A movie night was hosted in Governors’ Park to kick off Phase 2 of the community engagement process. The movie was preceded by a “preview” that briefly described the conceptual design alternatives for Quality Hill Park and Governors’ Park. This public event reactivated the park in a community-centric way that called back to previous movie-in-the-park nights.
The second survey asked residents to rank their preferences of design elements within each concept and weigh in on an overall look and feel of the parks. The feedback gathered about the concept alternatives was used to inform the preferred design concepts for both parks.
PREFFERED CONCEPT
In the fall, an open house event at the Grant-Humphreys Mansion was held to unveil the preferred concepts for Governors’ Park and Quality Hill Park. Neighbors were invited to review the preferred concept designs, discuss them with the design team and project consultants, and share their feedback on the vision for the future of these neighborhood parks.
VISION PLAN
Feedback gathered during the final survey confirmed the vision and helped to identify the community’s top priorities, which will inform the order of implementation of the proposed improvements.
The final Vision Plan report captured all of the inputs and considerations that formed the Vision Plans for both Governors’ and Quality Hill Park. It is a reflection of the project process for the community’s review and understanding, a record of the conversations that informed the park concepts, and offers a baseline for further feedback from park neighbors. It serves as a framework, a roadmap, and a reference document for the vision of both parks, what aspects informed them, and what the most important parts of the plans are to the community.
A communal backyard for its neighborhood.
The vision for Quality Hill Park lays out a more welcoming, comfortable, and accessible space for everyday and special-occasion usage.
The first activation event of the Reimagine Cap Hill Parks project offered a free portrait booth and an open-mic storytelling portion where park neighbors shared their stories of life in Capitol Hill. The portraits were shared on a Flickr album and help capture the diversity of the neighborhood.