Montgomery Planning is collaborating with the Better Block Foundation to launch a community-led placemaking event in the White Flint 2 Sector Plan area
SILVER SPRING, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), is collaborating with the Better Block Foundation, a Dallas-based non-profit, to host a community-led placemaking meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 30 at the Randolph Hills Shopping Center (4840 Boiling Brook Parkway, Rockville, MD). This kick-off meeting will launch the community-led project scheduled to be completed in fall 2018.
The White Flint Better Block project aims to bring together residents, local business owners, parents, teachers and students of nearby schools, and representatives of civic associations to collectively envision and build temporary public spaces and placemaking activities catering to the surrounding community. RSVPs for the May 30 kick-off event are encouraged but not required.
RSVP for the May 30 White Flint Placemaking Community Kick-off Meeting
The Planning Department and Better Block Foundation want to hear from community members about their ideas for the placemaking project in and around the Randolph Hills Shopping Center. At the May 30 meeting, participants will learn about the principles of placemaking — the collaborative process of reshaping our public realm. They will be introduced to the Better Block process and share thoughts and ideas on how placemaking can be used as a tool to build community. The evening will conclude with the building of a community message board on site.
Leading to the fall 2018 event, the Better Block Foundation will gather public feedback about project ideas through community meetings, beginning with the May 30 kick-off, surveys and online comments. Once the direction is set, participants will work with the Better Block team to build, paint and digitally fabricate their ideas and bring them to life.
The Better Block Foundation will host activities throughout the week when the fall 2018 event is to take place. The event is tentatively scheduled for the weekend of October 12-13, coinciding with the Pike District Fall Fest.
“This project will be a great way to demonstrate the potential for public spaces through a collaborative community placemaking effort,” says Planning Director Gwen Wright. “During the process of developing the White Flint 2 Sector Plan, residents expressed interest in having more such public spaces in the area and this is an opportunity to show how those could be turned into reality. The temporary installation will serve as a source of inspiration for more permanent designs.”
The purpose of the Better Block project in the Randolph Hills Shopping Center is to:
- Highlight the vision and recommendations of the recently approved White Flint 2 Sector Plan.
- Embrace placemaking as a means of capturing shared values and generating ideas for public spaces.
- Engage local businesses, schools and community members in a dialogue about the role of public spaces within their community.
- Stimulate property owners to plan for the long-term transformation of their properties.
- Use temporary placemaking as a tool to gather data and help inform permanent designs for successful public spaces in the White Flint 2 Sector Plan area.
Questions, comments? Contact project manager Atul Sharma at tel. 301-495-4658 or Atul.Sharma@montgomeryplanning.org.