Community Led Urban Design

Community Led Urban Design in San Francisco

San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood is the latest and best example of a neighborhood participating in deigning its open spaces. The idea being that parks are best designed by the community that surround them is not new but is seldom done with success and continuity. To do this the community needed to be engaged with thoroughly.

In this case it is Boeddeker Park, redesigned in 1985, it never lived up to its potential as the neighborhood's largest public park. The Tenderloin neighborhood is the densest in San Francisco and with its accompanying poverty named the park 'Prison park'. Because of its reputation and the need for better public space for residents The Trust for Public Land, in partnership with the City of San Francisco's Recreation and Parks Department, teamed with WRNS Studio to redesign and completely rebuild the site.

Much in the way skyscrapers were built under the 'Build it and they will come' philosophy, the Urban Design equivalent seems to be 'hold a symposium and they will turn up'


A new clubhouse was proposed to meet the needs of the community. The idea of a clubhouse builds on the San Fran tradition of having local clubhouses and is designed to be a living room for the local community, an edgy offset piece of architecture to compliment and contrast with the new park. These ideas came directly from the community outreach meetings. The forums and meetings were held at local youth clubs, civic halls and other community buildings nearby with key decisions made at these forums.

Source Ref-  https://www.dexigner.com/news/30400
All pictures from dexigner taken by Matt Millman.