The Future of 68,000
Building Community through Building Healthy Places
In late 2016, Matt Kubus represented CRP at the Urban Land Institute interactive workshop on Building Healthy Places. Funded through the Colorado Health Foundation, a panel of 30 local community members gathered to discuss the future development of a local neighborhood area that represents 1/10th of the Springs population.
Southeast Colorado Springs spans a 12 square mile area and is home to over 68,000 people. This number embodies 12% of the population making it one of the largest neighborhood zones in the city limits. However, this zone is faced with some severe challenges in need of attention: high vacancy rates, unemployment, serious crime and and an need for sense of place are just a few of the hurdles the Southeast corridor faces every day. The primary focus of this BHP Workshop was to envision the future for these 68,000 of Southeast Colorado Springs and the steps we need to take as a city to benefit this community area and the quality of living for its inhabitants. Concepts that were aimed to be addressed in the workshop were access to healthy food options, active transit, development of the economy, public safety and overall cohesion.
The workshop's end result was a culmination of innovative opportunities for positive engagement, such as:
Developing mixed use space and implementing the job training associated with it
Integrate 600 acres of new housing options
Explore the value of 'Pop-Up' events
Implement a Summer Festival
Create a 'Neighborhood Clean-Up' organization for volunteers
Install community-accessible wifi
Start a Youth Entrepreneurship program
Build a community-run greenhouse
Teach culinary seminars throughout the area to instill healthy eating & home cooking skills
Upon the workshop's completion, a final deliverable was assembled with all the research, discussions and opportunity ideas collaborated on by the panel. By clicking the document cover below, you can see the report study in its entirety:
