The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore (DPOB) has launched a new website in conjunction with the Project for Public Spaces, an internationally recognized non-profit focused on placemaking, as part of the planning process in its Downtown Open Space Master Plan, which it hopes will revitalize the open spaces in Downtown Baltimore.
"Hand in hand with our strategic plan for downtown, we're looking at the fact that downtown isn't just buildings and streets. It's open spaces. It's restaurants with outdoor dining. It's streetscapes. It's that whole combination that determines what a place feels like," says Nan Rohrer, vice president of Economic Development and Planning.
Baltimore-based landscape architecture, planning, and urban design firm, Mahan Rykiel Associates, Inc. has been tapped to lead the development of the Master Plan. The goal is to create a plan that will inspire residents, office workers and visitors to leave the close confines of the buildings and take to the streets.
The site, the first from Project for Public Spaces, will allow anyone with an opinion about the Master Plan the opportunity to contribute their two cents about the project.
"If you live here, work here or are just bopping through it's about focusing on what makes your experience complete. This is an easy way to get people involved. It gets them in the loop. It only takes about 5 or 10 minutes, and they don't have to sit through a meeting. Regardless of what their role is downtown, these are just as much their spaces and they are the users of those spaces. This is how we get them involved in telling us what they want," Rohrer adds.
Working in collaboration with the Baltimore Department of Planning and the Baltimore Development Corporation, Downtown Partnership has commissioned the Downtown Open Space Master Plan to preserve and enhance existing parks and green spaces, recommend new open space opportunities, and identify ways to unify these spaces into a more comprehensive and interconnected open space network.
Source: Nan Rohrer, Downtown Partnership of Baltimore
Writer: Walaika Haskins