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Parks as Mirrors of Community

Design Discourse and Community Hopes for Parks in East St. Louis

While imprinted by past social values and design ideals, parks evolve according to changing expectations and socioeconomic and racial change in the surrounding community. Design discourse and community processes both call on park design to reflect community history, expand recreational and social resources, and serve as a catalyst for community revitalization. However, community concerns to develop implementable designs in light of alternative funding strategies, volunteerism, and phased development remains largely unaddressed by the design community. Focusing primarily on urban African-American contexts in East St. Louis, Illinois, this paper outlines three non-exclusive perspectives that shape discourse on race in park planning and design: recreational use and preferences according to ethnicity and race; community development, through both grass-roots activism and professional participation; and form-seeking design approaches inspired by community history and everyday practices of marginalized groups. These three perspectives of contemporary discourse are then counterbalanced with an applied perspective based on current park revitalization efforts that are being undertaken by community groups in East St. Louis, Illinois.

KEYWORDS Parks, African American, community development, participatory planning and design