Planning By Doing Workshops for the Glass Street Gateway

How can art alter behavior and perceptions, and improve connections in the Glass Street Gateway area? 

Glass House Collective, in conjunction with our project collaborators,  Chattanooga Design Studio, AIA Chattanooga, and Street Plans, will be hosting Planning-By-Doing workshops to explore ways to improve connectivity, comfort, and access in the Glass Street Gateway area. The “Gateway” is defined as a 5-minute walking radius of the new grocery store coming to Dodson Avenue and Crutchfield Street. 

Five different teams are convening and each is comprised of area residents, artists, design professionals, and local stakeholders. Teams will be assigned a community priority and location within the Gateway to imagine what a safe and inviting Glass Street Gateway might look like. 

The implementation/”doing” phase will come a few weeks after the weekend workshop and will include low-cost ideas that can be implemented quickly this fall. Specific temporary ideas generated in the workshop are called tactical interventions or demonstration projects. Once ideas are finalized and selected, each team will be given a $3,000 budget to implement at least one of their intervention ideas that will help connect neighborhood assets like Hardy Elementary, the East Chatt YFD Center, and the new Save A Lot. These short-term, low-budget projects are a good test for ideas and a way to gather community input for long-term change, making community life more vibrant and healthy. 

Cities around the world are using flexible, artistic, and short-term projects to advance long-term goals related to street safety, enhanced public spaces, and resident participation.

Glass House Collective has been following this process with our neighbors and partners since the organization’s inception. What began several years ago as a creative community engagement process led by Glass House Collective, resulted in more than 300 residents identifying landscaping, safety, and beautification as community priorities in the Glass Street Gateway area. 

CDOT has begun construction on the streetscape design, installing new sidewalks and street trees along Glass Street and Dodson Avenue, which should be complete by May 2021. This weekend you may see team members on a walkabout in different areas of the Gateway as they gather realtime experience and engage in exercises to inspire creative solutions to meet community priorities. 

We can’t wait to see what community-driven plans the teams come up with!