Case Study: Reimagining parks and public spaces in collaboration with community members

Case Studies

This case study is part of Innovate Memphis’ 4-part series on successful innovation projects over the years. Other reports cover 901 Ride Choice wellness transportation, MEMFix economic revitalization, and Transit Vision collaboration and planning for better local transportation service.

This example shows how we organized activation events and pop-up programs to enrich public spaces, fostering community engagement and well-being through strategic investments in parks, libraries, and community centers through the Reimagining the Civic Commons program. In 2016, Memphis became one of the first five cities in the United States to serve as a Civic Commons site and got to work immediately by revitalizing Downtown riverfront spaces such as the River Garden and Fourth Bluff. To this day, Innovate Memphis serves as the lead coordinator for Reimagining the Civic Commons by facilitating learning network opportunities between local and national parks organizations, capturing community needs and desires through workshops and surveys of over 4,000 Memphians, and managing project grants needed to make many public space investments come to life.

Read more about how Memphis has dramatically increased investment and civic pride in its public spaces in our case study here.