On March 23, we spent the day with over 500 of our closest friends at our 25th annual Parks & Greenspace Conference! This is an important event for the Atlanta area’s parks and greenspace community as we get the opportunity to learn from each other, share best practices, and make connections to strengthen our parks and the neighborhoods they serve.
At Park Pride, we learned so much and were so inspired by our three keynotes and our 16 breakout sessions that we wanted to keep the momentum going. Continue reading to learn about the Resilient Parks, Resilient Communities ideas and themes that we can’t stop thinking about!
Eli Dickerson, Director of Education: Everything must start with community. Community may not be in agreement, but they all have voices, and if you start by ignoring or discounting those voices, your project is destined to fail or be met with opposition.
Teri Nye, Director of Park Visioning: Gena Wirth’s work and her keynote revealed how exciting and rich our cities can be when designed to acknowledge and embrace natural systems. Rather than seeking ways to suppress or exploit the environment, nature-aligned designs result in solutions that enable us to flex and thrive along with natural systems. It’s inspiring to see long-depleted urban industrial landscapes brought back to life, yet perplexing to see industries of today (e.g., data centers and large-scale manufacturing and distribution) making little effort to steward and enhance natural resources, despite our advanced understanding of sustainable alternatives and the repercussions of business as usual. I’m also inspired to ask the hard questions of my own work…is this a sustainable solution? Are there new materials that could do this job better without future harm to the environment or people? Can these materials be recycled or reused? Even small questions like “How much shade will these trees provide?” are all important ways we can design for resilience and healthy places to live our lives.
- Click here to read Gena and Teri’s conversation about designing for resiliency and the crucial role parks play.
Stephen Causby, Associate Director of Grantmaking & Implementation: From Anika Goss, we see that healthy parks are a critical building block of healthy communities. This is seen in Detroit through increased social cohesion, youth engagement and training, and community self-determination through reclaiming and repurposing land.
- Hear from Anika in her conversation with Park Pride’s Vanessa Miot about leading greenspace initiatives that are equitable and contribute to inclusive growth.
Emily Cruse, Grantmaking Program Specialist: Speakers at the Nurturing Nature in Neighborhoods session on outdoor classrooms and identity emphasized the importance of designing spaces that reflect the cultures, histories, and lived experiences of the communities they serve. When children can see themselves represented in these spaces, parks become powerful places not just for education, but for connection, confidence, and stewardship. These environments invite curiosity and contribute to community resilience, allowing learning to unfold through multi-sensory exploration and not only via traditional seated instruction.
Hannah Jones, Marketing & Communications Manager: Melvin Carter’s keynote speech, as a former 2x Mayor, was centered around a simple yet important idea: The community should be the ones to inform and mold our public spaces. This was a great reminder of what Park Pride knows to be true — the community is the expert on what they need, and our role as park professionals is to harness our knowledge, resources and connections to bring their ideas to life.
- Click here to read more about Melvin’s talk in a recent article on SaportaReport.
Want more? Save the date for “Conference to Action: Turning Ideas into Impact,” a virtual session on Thursday, April 23 from 6-7:30 pm. This session will translate key takeaways from the Conference into ideas and actionable steps that Friends of the Park groups can bring back to their communities. So much was shared, now let’s take time to debrief together and talk about turning ideas into real impact in your park! Keep an eye on our events page for registration details.