Medium — "Investing in Parks, Investing in Equity"
‘Convincing people to “live life in public” is one of the greatest services you and I can perform for our cities. Because parks are not just places to unwind or recreate, just like downtowns are not simply places to conduct business. They are deeply necessary platforms for equity. . . . Equity does not sit in opposition to a thriving, appealing city. It is central to it,’ writes Memphis River Parks Partnership President and CEO Carol Coletta, our client on Tom Lee Park and the Memphis Riverfront Concept.
Related
Memphis Magazine — "Revising the Riverfront"
The Studio Gang team in Memphis is led by Gia Biagi, whose title is principal of urbanism and civic impact at the firm, and who, Coletta says, knows as much as anyone about the Memphis riverfront.
Children and Nature Network — "New Tom Lee Park Will Be a Nature Game Changer for Memphis Neighborhood"
“Memphis is the nation’s second poorest large city, and its poorest zip code — 38126 — sits next to Tom Lee Park. Sixty-one percent of the people who live in that mostly-Black zip code are poor, and the median age is 24. In the other surrounding zip codes, 33 percent of the people who live there are poor.
In those neighborhoods, community centers and parks exist, but they tend to be places structured around sports and planned activities and not nature. Like most communities inhabited by people of color, green spaces are rare – and nature parks are rarer.”
