Project for Public Spaces

Center City Park

Greensboro, NC (2003)

Client: City of Greensboro

In March of 2003, Project for Public Spaces facilitated a Placemaking workshop for Greensboro’s new Center City Park. The workshop yielded a vision that included not only the proposed park, but also its connection to the broader cultural district. Participants developed a range of both short-term opportunities and a long-term vision plan, and the new park was envisioned as an opportunity to revitalize Downtown Greensboro, and to create a community gathering place that will be a destination for residents.

City Center Park, Spring 2007.

The workshop focused on several significant issues and goals for the new park. Participants felt that the new park should be a “people place” – more than just green space. By providing a range of activities to attract different types of people, it should showcase the diversity of the Greensboro community. A second issue was that the park should be thought of in conjunction with the spaces around it, including the Cultural Center, the YWCA, the Library and adjacent properties in order to make a greater impact, and for the park to function as a catalyst for improvements to the broader area.

The site prior to the opening of the park.

PPS created a program for the new park, which Action Greensboro used to get additional input from the community on their priorities. They also conducted a visual preference survey to get the community’s opinions on the park’s amenities, like the fountain and different types of seating. Action Greensboro created a temporary park on the site before any constructed began, and experimented with programming the space with several large community-wide events that were hugely successful, proving that the new park would serve as a community gathering place.

Halvorson Design Partnership was selected by the city to create the final design for the park. They created a design to support the programming that was already in place in the temporary park. The City of Greensboro held a ribbon cutting ceremony on December 1, 2006, to celebrate the opening of the new Center City Park, and the park has already been widely accepted by the community, and host to several large events and festivals.