Embedding

Equity in Public
Space

An Overview of the
Community First Toolkit
© 2022 High Line Network

All rights reserved. Neither this

book nor any parts within it may
be sold or reproduced in any form
without permission.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2022

Images credits can be found on

pages 94 – 95

Lead support for the High Line

Network is provided by The JPB
Foundation. Other major support
provided by the John S. and
James L. Knight Foundation.

Embedding
Equity in Public
Space
Friends of the High Line
The Diller – von Furstenberg Building
820 Washington Street
New York, NY 10014

network.thehighline.org

An Overview of the
Community First Toolkit
High Line Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. 
Atlanta, GA
Golden Gate National
Parks Conservancy 
Richmond BridgePark
Foundation
Network San Francisco, CA Richmond, VA
Bergen Arches
Preservation Coalition Great River Passage River LA
Jersey City, NJ Conservancy  Los Angeles, CA
St. Paul, MN
The Network is a group of
Bronx River Alliance San Francisco
infrastructure reuse projects—
Bronx, NY Great Rivers Greenway Parks Alliance
and the people who help bring
St. Louis, MO San Francisco, CA
them to life. With 36 members,
Buffalo Bayou Partnership
our mission is to support the
Houston, TX Harbor District, Inc. The 606
creation of vibrant and equitable
Milwaukee, WI Chicago, IL
public spaces.
Building Bridges Across
the River Hemisfair The Bentway
Washington, DC San Antonio, TX Toronto, CAN

CicLAvia High Line  The Meadoway

Los Angeles, CA New York, NY Toronto, CAN

Destination Crenshaw High Line Canal Conservancy Town Branch Park 

Los Angeles, CA Denver, CO Lexington, KY

Detroit Riverfront Houston Parks Board  Trinity Park Conservancy 

Conservancy Houston, TX Dallas, TX
Detroit, MI
Indianapolis Cultural Trail Inc. Waterloo Greenway
Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc. Indianapolis, IN Conservancy 
Grand Rapids, MI Austin, TX
Klyde Warren Park
Friends of the Rail Park  Dallas, TX Western New York
Philadelphia, PA Land Conservancy
La Mexicana Park Buffalo, NY
Friends of The Underline  Mexico City, MEX
Miami, FL
Lafitte Greenway
Friends of Waterfront Seattle New Orleans, LA
Seattle, WA
Memphis River Parks 15 Network members (white icons)
Gathering Place Partnership helped to develop the Community
Tulsa, OK Memphis, TN First Toolkit.

2 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 3

Foreword I watched as pilot participants examined their historic context,
and honestly assessed whether they were truly sharing power
with community members. They grappled with articulating
a common vision and mission for their work that would lead
to equitable outcomes. They pored over equity goals, and
developed work plans to get there, with metrics to measure
success over time. I have been gratified to hear success stories
about how they have used the tools to move from theory
When the High Line opened in 2009, community leaders into action. Because at the end of the day, our Network wants
across the world saw a new way of looking at abandoned and to build more equitable, more inclusive open spaces, not just
underutilized infrastructure—as assets, rather than burdens. wish for them.
A historic elevated rail in New York City had been saved from
demolition and repurposed as a park in the sky. Since then, Our online toolkit is designed for infrastructure reuse
over 62 million visitors have enjoyed the High Line for its unique practitioners (toolkit.highlinenetwork.org), but this book is an
public space and cultural programming. introduction to our work that has value for everyone. We hope
it will encourage not only park organizations, but also community
With this success, the High Line recognized that the park members, city officials, and all nonprofit leaders to get involved
and organization had the potential to do more for our under- in embedding equity in our public spaces. I encourage you
resourced neighbors. The High Line created the High Line to read on and find out why we believe this work isn’t something
Network as a way for infrastructure reuse organizations to we should do, but must do. With the right tools and a firm
come together and commit to better serving our communities. commitment, I know it’s something we can do.
Network members were hungry for tools that would help
them ensure that their projects would generate wealth for
the longtime residents and businesses they serve and avoid
displacing them. That toolkit didn’t exist—so we built one.
Our online toolkit and this book focus on embedding equity Asima Jansveld
into infrastructure reuse projects. Managing Director of the High Line Network
High Line
Over two years, Urban Institute and Harvard Graduate
School of Design, alongside 15 Network members, piloted this
intentional, equity-focused approach. Through this process,
I saw firsthand that when committed leaders have the right
guidance and tools, so much is possible.

4 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 5

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Chapter 4

A Call for Equitable The Community

Public Spaces First Toolkit
Why the High Line Network is working An overview of the 18 tools you
to advance equity 08 – 13 will find online 32 – 39

Chapter 2 Chapter 5

Infrastructural Stories of
Racism’s Impact Embedding Equity
How design, planning, and policy have Useful examples of High Line Network
led to inequity 14 – 21 members’ work 40 – 93

Chapter 3

A Foundation for
Equity-Based Work
How to set goals that benefit communities
and measure progress 22 – 31

6 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 7

 Chapter 1

A Call for
Equitable Public
Spaces
Practical Advice for
Embedding Equity

Our public spaces—and everyone who shapes them—can play

a role in advancing a more equitable society. Moreover, we believe
that the people involved in infrastructure reuse projects have an
imperative to address inequities caused by historic and persistent
infrastructural racism by putting community first in design,
budgeting, and all phases of park planning. This High Line Network
book, and our online toolkit, offer steps you can take to begin,
continue, and measure progress toward repairing economic and
social harms that disproportionately impact communities of color.

Unique opportunities come with turning abandoned railways,

bayous, highway underpasses, and more into public spaces.
To successfully embed equity, infrastructure reuse must reckon
with disinvestment and discriminatory development investments
of the past. Looking for ways to embed equity into such projects,
the Network partnered with two well-established research
institutions: Harvard Graduate School of Design and Urban
Institute. Together, 15 park organizations in the Network explored
the potential of public space to bring social, environmental,
and economic benefits to our cities and towns. Over two years,
we tested approaches to organizing the intentional work that is
required to make a positive difference well beyond the borders
of any public space.

How We Define Equity

Grounded in diversity and inclusion, equity is the
just and fair allocation of power, resources, and
opportunities. In our online glossary, we define Elevated rail before its transformation
diversity, inclusion, and more. into public space in Philadelphia, PA.

10 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 11

Art and performance days activate the Atlanta
BeltLine‘s Westside Trail in Atlanta, GA.

Together, 15 park organizations in the Network

explored the potential of public space to bring
social, environmental, and economic benefits
to our cities and towns.

Whether you sit on the board of an infrastructure reuse

project, you are park staff, or you live in a neighborhood
where new public space is proposed, this book offers practical
advice for putting community first in your efforts. We hope
that nonprofit park organizations, their partners, policymakers,
and community members will connect through these pages
and be better prepared to share hopes and expectations for
their public spaces.

Inside, you’ll find 19 stories of how our members are working

to embed equity into their projects. They represent a variety of
designs at different phases. Whatever the capacity or budget, there
are examples to point the way. (You may also want to read our Best
Practices Toolkit for ideas on getting infrastructure reuse started.)

To ensure that this is the book of action that we intend it to be,

there is an overview (see p. 35) of the online Community First
Toolkit. We decided to publish the 18 tools online so that we can
expand on the process with more guidance in the future and to
have a platform where everyone can share examples of this work
in action. (In the online toolkit, practitioners will find detailed,
step-by-step instructions for using the tools.)

Each Network member is working on equity in their own way.

The process requires a long-term and ongoing commitment.
You will no doubt adapt what you read here according to your
own timeline, goals, resources, and site. We hope you will share
The Underline in Miami, FL, has environmental and your challenges and successes with us online. Only together
civic benefits for the surrounding communities. can we create truly equitable public spaces.

12 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 13

 Chapter 2

Infrastructural
Racism’s Impact
How Planning and Policy Manhattan, NY
1938
Denver, CO
1938

Have Led to Inequity

To shape equity-focused public spaces, we need to recognize how

design and planning have historically been complicit in structural
and infrastructural racism across the United States.

Infrastructure development has been a key means through which

inequity has been inscribed across the landscape. All 15 of the High
Line Network park organizations that participated in developing the
Community First Toolkit are in cities with a history of infrastructural
displacement. In other words, they are places where people were
pushed out of their homes, businesses, and neighborhoods to
make way for the construction of bridges, roads, airports, and more.
Eleven of the Network projects are in or adjacent to redlined areas—
the mostly predominantly Black neighborhoods that were marked
red on government maps beginning in the 1930s, to indicate they
should be excluded from home lending programs.

Dallas, TX
The 1956 Federal-Aid Highway Act (FAHA) is a clear example 1938
of how infrastructure development has led to inequity. FAHA
authorized the planning and construction of more than 40,000
miles of interstate highways. In many cases, these roads tore
apart commercial districts, places of social connection, and sites
with deep cultural roots. They disproportionately affected Black
communities. Further, Deborah N. Archer writes in an October
2020 Vanderbilt Law Review article, “Although Black neighborhoods
were the primary targets of the highways, they were not the only
targets. [Latino], Native American, and Asian communities were
also harmed by highway development and transportation policy.”
FAHA investment displaced these residents through eminent
domain, isolated them with concrete walls, and exposed families
to high levels of noxious emissions and toxic runoff.

See examples of redlining maps in

three US cities on the opposite page.

16 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 17

 By 1976, new highway construction had displaced over one million
people. The destructive process of routing commuter highways
through communities of color even garnered a label: “White
Roads Through Black Bedrooms.” By adding smooth commuting
routes between the suburbs and cities, FAHA also catalyzed an
exodus from urban centers. White citizens purchased homes in
the suburbs with privileged access to federally backed, affordable
mortgages. Smaller populations and less tax revenue, coupled
with the federal government’s disinterest in investing in urban
areas, forced cities to cut spending on basic services—creating
a downward spiral of disinvestment. With their once thriving
economies systematically destroyed, more residents fled, leaving
behind others who lacked resources to relocate. Federally backed
“urban renewal” compounded this infrastructural racism as cities
decided that signs of decline were “blight” that needed to
be removed. According to the University of Richmond’s Renewing
Inequality project, mid-20th-century urban renewal displaced
nearly 23,000 families in Chicago, and 64% were families of
color. In Richmond, 97% were families of color. In Austin, of the
estimated 116 families displaced, 100% were families of color.

As disinvestment continued, the communities that remained often

reclaimed underutilized or abandoned spaces to compensate for
a lack of quality public spaces. Cities with large Black populations,
such as Washington, DC, saw communities band together to form
nonprofit organizations and housing and economic cooperatives
to preserve their neighborhoods. In Columbia Heights and Adams
Morgan, neighbors organized to ensure they could remain in
their communities in the face of expanded development. Today,
however, with city real estate prices skyrocketing, these sites of
historic public- and private-sector exploitation become hot spots
for “redevelopment”—yet another displacement threat.

Find real-world examples of how

Buffalo Bayou is transforming the built environment park organizations are examining
by bridging neighborhoods in Houston, TX. history on pp. 48 – 53.

18 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 19

Designing Parks That 11th Street Bridge Park, in Washington, DC,
is mitigating displacement with an equitable

Don’t Displace People development plan.

The practice of displacing people—mostly communities of

color—to make way for new roads continues. A 2021 Los Angeles
Times investigation found that US road expansion over the last
three decades has “inflicted a second round of dislocation and
disruption on largely Black and now Latino communities.” In more
recent years, public space policy and design have led to inequities
and resident displacement too. Uneven investment means that
every neighborhood and every community doesn’t enjoy equal
access to high-quality green space. Park organizations’ failure to
fully consider community impact has also produced unintended
consequences. For example, a popular new park becomes an
“amenity” that helps to drive up real estate prices—and drive out
longtime residents who can no longer afford the rent.

But we have a chance to address these wrongs.

Waterloo Greenway Conservancy’s equity
When done well, transforming underutilized infrastructure into principles underpin all stages of program
equity-focused public spaces can unleash positive economic implementation, including public space
activation events in Austin, TX.
and social impacts for communities. The opportunities are many—
we estimate there are more than 100 ongoing infrastructure
reuse projects in the US alone.

Of 37 High Line Network member projects, about 31 are

under construction, as of late 2020. Their budgets vary widely,
with the smallest around $1.2 million, and the largest $4.8 billion.
In partnership with their communities, they are also taking on
the challenge of democratizing public space and addressing
existing inequities in our built environments.

Awareness of history opens the door to a sustainable commitment

to embedding equity into infrastructure reuse projects. Armed
with knowledge of the past, we are more prepared to direct
resources toward baking equity into the process, honor the needs
of communities, shape spaces that are true civic connectors, and
spur opportunities through programs for all to enjoy.

20 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 21

 Chapter 3

A Foundation
for Equity-Based
Work
Setting Goals to Benefit The High Line is using new engagement
frameworks to become a civic connector

Communities in New York City, NY.

When everyone involved in an infrastructure reuse project

connects, and communities share their needs and priorities and
the historic impacts of the space, you are laying the foundation
for equity-based work. Park organizations will soon want to set
specific goals and metrics for tracking progress.

Goals and metrics established with equitable impacts in mind

have deeper, specific intentionality. They integrate employment
and economic opportunity, affordable housing, neighborhood
connectivity, health and well-being, cultural preservation, and
diverse demographics. For example, rather than just looking at
the total number of visitors to a public space, you could focus
on increasing visitorship among certain local communities.

We believe the private and nonprofit organizations that are

managing public spaces have a special obligation to be aware
Designing the High Line Canal‘s future is
of how assets are directed—from procurement practices to a collective effort of diverse communities
employment opportunities. These everyday decisions affect how across Denver, CO.
they achieve equitable impact. For example, an organization
could track who benefits from a project’s purchase of goods and
services and be more intentional about directing those benefits
to indigenous small businesses.

As we tested tools for embedding equity into public spaces,

we identified four types of goals. They have helped to provide
a focus for many High Line Network members.

Before park organizations begin

setting goals, we recommend using
the Center Equity tools online.

24 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 25

Four Areas of We recommend organizing the work of building more equitable
public spaces—setting goals and strategies, prioritizing actions,
Equitable Impact establishing and tracking metrics—into these four categories.
The process of aligning goals, strategies, and metrics should be
revisited throughout the life of a project. This chart is aimed
at practitioners who will use these categories for the Community
First Toolkit, but the structure also offers a way for park
organizations, partners, and community members to talk about
metrics in a digestible way.

Thriving Affordability Health, Equitable

Civic and 1 and Equitable 2 Wellness, and 3 Organizational 4
Cultural Life Economic Resilience Growth
Development

Public spaces are hubs for Infrastructure reuse projects have As spaces for play and Every organization that
community engagement. had unintended consequences. physical activity, infrastructure manages public space has a
Tracking the different kinds of A popular new public space reuse projects can help to chance to model equitable labor
social interaction will help you might lead to a rise in nearby improve health and wellness policies. In addition to external
understand who visits and rents, threatening to displace in communities. In places with impacts, consider your internal
who might feel left out and why. neighbors. But equitable inequities such as poor access culture too.
It may also increase your economic opportunities and to healthcare, high pollution
awareness of possible physical a commitment to community levels, and climate change-driven
and symbolic barriers. development can be baked into heat waves, public spaces must
projects from the start. be part of the solution.

Common goals: Common goals: Common goals: Common goals:

Determine who visits and why. Prevent small business and Offer programming focused on Share decision-making power
Activate the space. residential displacement. health, well-being, and climate with community members.
Support retention of the Employ local or legacy residents. resilience. Create equitable hiring and
neighborhood’s history Enact policies to ensure that Improve air, water, or soil pay practices within your
and culture. the value created by public quality with more trees and organization.
Improve accessibility and space investment/improvement vegetation. Diversify staff and board
connectivity to the rest of financially benefits the demographics.
the city. community.

26 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 27

How to Measure Trinity Park Conservancy invests in a
comprehensive community engagement

Your Progress process to inform their programs in Dallas, TX.

Metrics are essential for tracking your progress and holding

yourself accountable for achieving results. Good metrics are
often tied to data, but measures and milestones based on your
observations and experiences are valuable too. Recurrence
in measurement is key, but will depend on your resources and
the scope of your activities. Metrics can be collected monthly,
annually, recurringly (two to five years), or at milestone moments
(every five or 10 years).

There are effective ways to measure your success with all

types of equity-based goals, from reducing business
displacement and employing local residents, to supporting
retention of the neighborhood’s history and culture. Park-in
(Note for practitioners: The online Community First Toolkit Trinity Park Conservancy
has a complete list of metrics to consider.)
Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. champions equitable
In addition to organizing by the four equity categories above, we entrepreneurship redevelopment projects,
recommend labeling goals and metrics “park-in” or “park-out.” such as Pittsburgh Yards, that build community
wealth along its trails.

“Park-in” describes internal work of an organization and direct

actions and impacts of that organization. Examples: developing
more equitable staff recruiting policies, improving board
representation to include community members, or implementing
local procurement priorities.

“Park-out” efforts go beyond geographical boundaries and

direct activities, impacting the broader community. Examples:
partnering with others to preserve or create more affordable
housing, promoting more equitable policies in city government,
or advocating for redistribution of public resources to address
long-standing structural inequities.

Park-out
Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.

28 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 29

 Network member Trinity Park Conservancy developed the park-in/
park-out approach to organizing equity work. One of their park-out
activities is the West Dallas Community Vision Plan. Along with
a community development corporation, the Conservancy lends
capacity to the community-led grassroots effort, but a paid
team of resident leaders runs the process day to day. Through
the vision plan, the community is informing policy and investment
decisions in their neighborhood, including a possible community
benefits agreement tied to Harold Simmons Park, a project the
Conservancy is managing.

Some goals and metrics may be park-in and park-out. For example,
Network member Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. (ABI) decided to prioritize
local procurement. However, through community engagement,
they discovered that minority-owned and women-owned small
businesses weren’t bidding on ABI jobs because they couldn’t meet
all the requirements. ABI modified internal finance procedures and
protocols (park-in)—to streamline procurement and get a more
diverse pool of contractors from their community (park-out).

Community Engagement Is Always Key

Community engagement must be ongoing throughout
any public space development. (However, if you’re a park
organization that hasn’t been able to engage your community
effectively upfront, be assured that it’s never too late to
start.) When setting equity-based goals and metrics, there are
a few questions board members and staff should be asking
themselves and each other.

Are we regularly talking to community members?

Do we have a process for incorporating community
feedback into our decision-making?
Do community members have power to influence park policy
and programming (especially before implementation)?

Read more about how Network

11th Street Bridge Park, which holds the annual Taste
of the Harvest in Washington, DC, uses a park-in/park-out members are engaging with their
approach in their equitable development work. communities on p. 40.

30 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 31

 Chapter 4

The Community
First Toolkit
18 Tools for Park Toolkit Section, Tools 1 – 4 Toolkit Section, Tools 5 – 7 Toolkit Section, Tools 8 – 11 Toolkit Section, Tools 12 – 15 Toolkit
ToolkitSection,
SectionTools 16 – 18

Organizations
Examine Center Prepare Build Ensure
The online Community First Toolkit is designed to help park
History Equity Internally Partnerships Progress
Progress
organizations address inequities caused by infrastructural
racism, and shape public spaces that bring social, environmental,
and economic benefits to our communities. There are 18 tools
for practitioners, with step-by-step instructions, worksheets, and
helpful examples. The foldout opposite this page is a preview.
Know Your 1 Map Community 2 Craft a Theory 5 Craft a Theory 6 Check Who’s 8 Examine Your 9 Align with 12 Review Your 13 Create a 16 Track Your 17

There isn’t any one starting point, but online we offer a quick Demographics Assets of Change of Action Included Budget Partners Partner Network Work Plan Work
“Start Guide” to help you find which tools your organization should
use to begin. We also recommend a must-do tool in each section:

Create a Timeline
to determine where your project fits into history and the present.

Craft a Theory of Change Who does/should our project serve? What community assets exist What is your vision for What actions will you take Do you make project Do you allocate funds equitably? Are current and potential partners Who do you work with and How will you achieve equitable How will you measure your efforts?
that outlines your vision for advancing equity. around your project? advancing equity? to advance equity? decisions equitably? a good match? who is missing? outcomes?
Knowing details such as income Track what you are spending and Organize your equitable development
Share Power levels and housing costs nearby will With community members and Shape a concise statement about Outline, at a high level, the actions Gain understanding of your who benefits—from programming Determine whether a collaborator’s Identify partnership gaps and Establish a blueprint for embedding goals, and the metrics you will
with community members. help in identifying the communities partners, identify the people and the equitable impact you want to you’ll take to achieve what you set organization‘s internal governance and contracting, to procurement agenda fits with yours, using a determine what new partners are equity to help everyone in your use to check your progress, in one
with the most need, and who places—such as community-based achieve with your project that aligns out to accomplish in your theory structure and decision-making and salaries. detailed checklist. needed or should be prioritized. organization stay on the same path, document.
Review Your Community Network would benefit from equity-focused organizations, public transit, libraries, with your mission. of change. process to reveal who is over working toward the same outcomes.
to connect with new communities. projects. and schools—that are important. represented and who is missing.

Create a Work Plan

to ensure you achieve equitable outcomes.
Create a 3 Connect 4 Review Your 7 Share 10 Publicly 11 Review Your 14 Maximize 15 Tell Your 18
Note to community members and other public space partners: Timeline the Dots Initiatives Power Commit Community Network Your Impact Story
While the toolkit is designed primarily for park organizations,
you are essential to creating truly equity-focused projects.
Please check out the online toolkit to learn more.

Where does your project fit How has your city been impacted Are there equity gaps in your How can you share power with How do you publicly communicate How will you connect with Where can you make How do you convey the impact
into history and the present? by infrastructure and urban policy current work? community members? your values and goals? new communities? the most impact? of your work?
Open the foldout for a Community First Toolkit of the past?
Build historical timelines with Chart current initiatives to figure out Make a plan for centering Make a public statement committing Evaluate how you are engaging Determine what you might champion Share your impact with the public
overview; find details on how to use the tools at neighbors, acknowledging Combine takeaways from the which new programs and efforts are community power, sharing funding (or recommitting) to racial equity with neighbors, and the depth of in-house and what you may want to and potential funders through
toolkit.highlinenetwork.org local milestones and how they demographic review, historical needed or should be prioritized. and governance, and ensuring and identify new opportunities for your engagement with specific pursue by offering support to other effective messaging.
impacted stakeholders—positively timelines, and community assets community partners are involved leadership and collaboration. communities. organizations.
or negatively. map to tell an equity-centered story. through all phases of a project.

34 High Line Network This page is a foldout 35 36 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 37 38 High Line Network 39
 Chapter 5

Stories of
Embedding
Equity
Inspiration from
Network Members

With over 100 infrastructure reuse projects underway across

the country, it’s imperative that we view our public spaces as
opportunities to address the legacy of infrastructural racism
and its resulting inequities.

In the following pages, we share 19 examples of High Line

Network members’ efforts to ensure their projects benefit the
residents and businesses they serve and avoid displacing them.

Their stories inspire and offer details about how the online
Community First Toolkit can be implemented. They acknowledge
the challenges, and highlight why the pursuit is worthwhile.

From Detroit to Miami, from Lexington to Seattle, they’ve

engaged communities over a large geographical footprint;
centered Black place-making; championed affordable housing;
incorporated community input on everything from design to
budgeting; implemented more inclusive hiring and procurement
policies; and more.

Note for practitioners: The stories here are

organized by the online toolkit’s five sections
(Examine History; Center Equity; Prepare
Infrastructure reuse projects can further progress
Internally; Build Partnerships; Ensure Progress). toward thriving civic life, neighborhood affordability,
Throughout, you’ll find tips on using the tools. climate resilience, and more.

42 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 43

19 Stories of P. 48 P. 50 P. 52 P. 56

Embedding Equity

These 19 stories offer guidance as

you use the Community First Toolkit. Capturing a Neighborhood’s Asking Intentional Questions Listening Leads to Trust Sharing an Understanding of
Past and Future Town Branch Park Western New York Land Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Friends of the Rail Park Conservancy Great Rivers Greenway

P. 58 P. 60 P. 62 P. 66 P. 68

Preserving Black and Identifying All the Teaming Up for Data Collection Embracing Community Committing to Equity,
Brown Space and Place Paths to Equity Indianapolis Cultural Trail Inc. Advisers Inside and Out
Richmond BridgePark Houston Parks Board Detroit Riverfront Conservancy Friends of Waterfront Seattle
Foundation

P. 70 P. 72 P. 74 P. 78 P. 80

Putting Budget Power Fostering Board and Investing in Community Championing Affordable Building Strategic
in Community Hands Community Committee Connections Housing Partnerships
High Line Connection Great River Passage Building Bridges Across Friends of The Underline
Buffalo Bayou Partnership Conservancy the River

P. 82 P. 84 P. 88 P. 90 P. 92

Joining Forces for Collaborating for Equitable Rethinking Procurement Engaging Young People Combining Metrics to
Environmental Resilience Economic Development for Equity through an Equity Lens Measure Progress
High Line Canal Conservancy Waterloo Greenway Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. Golden Gate National Parks Trinity Park Conservancy
Conservancy Conservancy

44 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 45

Toolkit Section A park built along an old railway that carried freight through

Examine
a disinvested neighborhood. A trail emerging from what was
once the site of a city’s Black middle class. Infrastructure reuse
must reckon with the histories of inequity in and around project

History
sites. Many High Line Network members are doing the work to
understand how their site is connected to legacies, both good
and bad, through tools such as community assets mapping
and building historic timelines.

Tool 1 Know Your

Demographics

Tool 2 Map
Community
Assets

Tool 3 Create a
Timeline

Tool 4 Connect
the Dots

46 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 47

Capturing a Neighborhood’s Friends of the Rail Park—whose project is revitalizing three miles
of unused Philadelphia rail lines—took a temporal approach to
Past and Future creating a community assets map. The Rail Park Time Capsule will
serve as a public archive of shared histories, stories, and hopes of
the people who live in the 10-plus neighborhoods close to the park.
Organization: Friends of the Rail Park
Park: The Rail Park During art installations, musical performances, and tours, the
organization invited neighbors to recount memories of people
and places, and asked what they hoped the park would be in the
future. Participants have shared fantastic memories and their park
visions through written narratives, photos, songs, and illustrations.
Location Philadelphia Section Examine
PA History One remembered gazing at the city skyline through a train window
when the rail line was operational. Another recalled sneaking into
the site as a child.
Tool 2 Map The Map Community Assets tool goes
Community beyond demographics, to identify the people A digital archiving company will create an interactive, geotagged
Assets and places that are important to community digital map with all the information the organization gathers.
members and partners.
Friends of the Rail Park will also look to the time capsule to inform
programming, communications, and capital planning.

The Rail Park‘s programming incorporates Visitors draw their vision for an undeveloped
history and cultural sites. section of the Rail Park for the Time Capsule.

48 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 49

Asking Intentional In Lexington, Kentucky, a park is slated to emerge from what
was once a nine-acre parking lot. A diverse group of local leaders,
Questions the Town Branch Park Partners, was formed to make sure the
project lives up to its mission to be the “community’s living
room.” They set guiding principles in a 2019 inclusive park plan
Organization: Town Branch Park that specifies “recognizing the African American history and
Park: Town Branch Park other under-told stories connected to the site” and “collectively
imagining a park that contributes to the vitality of all people and
fosters a sense of belonging.”

They didn’t pluck these principles out of thin air. Instead, they
Location Lexington Section Examine
KY History relied on input from a community survey. In addition to connecting
with the networks of staff, Board members, and park partners,
they reached out to historically underrepresented communities.
They provided interpreter services in the top seven languages
Tool 2 Map The Map Community Assets tool will help
Community you to identify underlying tensions regarding spoken in Lexington. They arranged in-person outreach for senior
Assets public spaces. citizens and those experiencing homelessness. They placed
paper copies of the survey at public library branches. They hosted
events where participants could talk over a meal. They got 2,077
responses—double their target.

The survey aimed to gather input on what people enjoy about

Lexington’s parks—and what barriers make them feel unwelcome.
The community was asked to select from a list of barriers including
personal, emotional, and/or cultural safety concerns; lack of
transportation; lack of diversity/representation; and lack of physical
accessibility. The data the Park Partners gathered is informing
Town Branch Park’s design, operations, and programming. And
the inclusive park plan helps Town Branch Park to hold themselves
accountable to the community input they directly incorporated
into their plan.

“Continuing community engagement in the evolving park design

has been a multipronged effort focused on providing fun and
meaningful ways to encourage a diversity of voices to provide
input,” says Executive Director Allison Lankford.

Town Branch Park did extensive community

outreach to shape an inclusive plan.

50 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 51

Listening Leads Early in developing a vision and design for The Riverline, a Buffalo,
New York nature trail, the Western New York Land Conservancy
to Trust committed to centering the current residents of the surrounding
communities. And they started with an approach that any
organization, whatever the budget, can do: They listened.
Organization: Western New York Land Conservancy
Park: The Riverline The Riverline is located along the Buffalo River, on ancestral
and unceded land of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, in an area
that was once Buffalo Creek Reservation. For centuries it was a
place of refuge; a place where resources were rich for indigenous
communities; and where the ground was fertile and water was
Location Buffalo Section Examine
NY History abundant and pure. For the Land Conservancy’s first listening
session, which was virtual, they invited attendance through
outreach to Native American service providers, academics, tribal
nation representatives, and people prominent in environmental
Tool 4 Connect After you’ve worked on the first three
the Dots Examine History tools, use the Connect the movements. Land Conservancy leadership and the involved
Dots tool to merge your findings into one design firms were there to hear the community’s response to
equity-centered story.
questions such as “What are your aspirations for this project?”
and “What other resources should we explore and people would
you recommend we develop relationships with?”

The engagement has prompted the Land Conservancy to

center the design of The Riverline around the concept of creating
a refuge and to explore ways to protect land important to the
Haudenosaunee.

“As a next step in this process, the Land Conservancy focused

its annual Board and staff retreat around discussions with two
local indigenous leaders who are Seneca Indians,” says Executive
Director Nancy Smith. “It was important to respect the timeline
and customs of the Nations represented, and to be flexible and
adaptable where those were not immediately aligned with the
assumed process and trajectory of the project.”

Nancy Smith, Executive Director of the Western New York Land Conservancy,
with Dennis Bowen, former President of the Seneca Nation, and Dean Seneca,
CEO and Founder of Seneca Scientific Solutions.

52 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 53

Toolkit Section Given the depth of US infrastructure’s historic harm of

Center
Black and Brown communities, organizations can easily fall
into the trap of wanting to “fix” everything. This can lead to
confusion about your mission. And if you get too far ahead

Equity
of your capacity, you could end up making promises you can’t
deliver. Several High Line Network members have found it
easier to ground their work in equity once they were able to
articulate plainly the specific change they wanted to see. You
can get that clarity by using our tools that guide organizations
to develop a Theory of Change and Theory of Action. You’ll
also want to make sure that everyone engaged in building
equity has a shared understanding of definitions, historical
context, and initial goals.

Tool 5 Craft a Theory

of Change

Tool 6 Craft a Theory

of Action

Tool 7 Review Your

Initiatives

54 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 55

Sharing an Understanding of “Inclusion—a proactive process of bringing different
individuals and communities together in a way that makes
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion each person feel welcome and invited.” These words from the
Great Rivers Greenway’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
plan are much more than a definition. The St. Louis public
Organization: Great Rivers Greenway agency, which manages a three-county network of greenways
Park: Brickline Greenway including Brickline Greenway, has continually found ways to
involve numerous stakeholders in meaningful, strategic work by
centering this definition in its approach. To begin, Board and staff
participated in training and education over two years to gain a
working knowledge of the health and economic inequities in their
Location St. Louis Section Center
MO Equity region—and the role greenways can play in resolving some of
those disparities. A DEI Steering Committee including staff, Board,
and community partners then created the agency’s DEI plan,
which continues to advance and evolve, informing the Brickline
Tool 7 Review Your As you start working with the Review Your
Initiatives Initiatives tool, it will be helpful to have a Greenway’s Framework Plan and community engagement strategy.
shared understanding of definitions and
goals in your organization.

In creating a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion plan, Great

Rivers Greenway learned about the history of their region, A Great Rivers Greenway Diversity,
redlining, restrictive covenants, and implicit bias. Equity, and Inclusion workshop.

56 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 57

Preserving Black and “Because of the history of exclusion of Black and Brown
communities from much of the region’s growth initiatives,
Brown Space and Place we’re about Black and Brown community place-making and
place-keeping to ensure that the benefits and the power—
culturally, economically, and civically—that are derived from
Organization: Richmond BridgePark Foundation BridgePark flow equitably to Black and Brown neighborhoods.”
Park: BridgePark
That short, purposeful statement carries a lot of weight with
BridgePark—it is their Theory of Change, a look to the outcomes
they want to achieve as they transform Manchester Bridge in
Richmond, Virginia into a linear park.
Location Richmond Section Center
VA Equity
A good Theory of Change (ToC) is concise, sets a vision
for future equitable outcomes, and aligns with your mission.
BridgePark had a “big picture” of what they wanted to do well
Tool 5 Craft a Theory The Craft a Theory of Change tool will help you
of Change develop a statement that serves as a guiding before their steering committee started working on their ToC.
star for your efforts to close disparities between They knew they wanted to address historic economic inequities
particular populations—such as people of
in the city through economic development and education.
color, people with low incomes, or people with
disabilities—and the general public. Black and Brown communities’ cultural assets and community
landmarks have often been overlooked in Richmond, and affected
by disinvestment and damaging urban policies.

The ToC process helped the organization drill down to the

core importance of “Black place-making and place-keeping.”
They gained a clearer understanding of how to prioritize equitable
development—and then were ready to develop a work plan.

BridgePark is creating programming

to honor Black culture in the city.

58 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 59

Identifying All the With the vision for a continuous park system along 150 miles
of Houston waterways, Houston Parks Board is managing
Paths to Equity a project that impacts a majority of Houstonians. Sixty percent
of them will live within 1.5 miles of the Bayou Greenway when
complete. The Board is also playing a leading role in Mayor
Organization: Houston Parks Board Sylvester Turner’s 50/50 Park Partners initiative. The innovative
Park: Bayou Greenways 2020 public-private partnership, which includes 50 businesses, aims
to improve neighborhood parks across the city.

To make sure there was a common understanding of what a long-

term commitment to equity looks like, the organization created
Location Houston Section Center
TX Equity a staff-led task force and convened sessions across all departments
and levels. Through these conversations, they established shared
definitions, goals, and strategies—and built collective buy-in.
The process lasted eight months. During a retreat to close out the
Tool 7 Review Your The Review Your Initiatives tool will help your
Initiatives organization analyze current work and identify effort, task force subgroups presented the equitable outcomes
potential equity gaps. they identified, alongside strategies and resources needed to reach
them. Tangible results include: a park equity investment matrix,
a staff manual, and an internal equity plan.

“Bringing cross-departmental members of our organization

into the discussion provided an opportunity to expand how
our organization defines equity. We committed to and carefully
reviewed our policies and procedures and doubled down on
our commitment to equity as we design, build, and maintain
parkland throughout Houston,” says Communications Director
Nicole Romano. “The formation of our inaugural task force was
a tremendously important step, but just the first one. I am proud
to be a part of the ongoing and future work we are doing to
address long-term issues that require significant analysis and
further work to replace systems, policies, and practices that
perpetuate racism.”

Houston Parks Board‘s playground improvements have been

informed by its Neighborhood Partnership Program.

60 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 61

Teaming Up for The Indianapolis Cultural Trail Inc. (ICTI) is making data collection
a team effort. With aspirations to catalyze a positive change for the
Data Collection people of Indianapolis through an eight-mile linear park, ICTI has
set out to develop a Theory of Change. A bit different from a more
general mission statement, a Theory of Change (ToC) centered
Organization: Indianapolis Cultural Trail Inc. on equitable development guides an organization’s efforts to close
Park: Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy disparities between particular populations—such as people of
of Gene and Marilyn Glick color, people with low incomes, or people with disabilities—and
the general public. Developing a ToC requires conversations with
a diverse set of stakeholders—staff, community members, board
members, and nonprofit partners.
Location Indianapolis Section Center
IN Equity
ICTI plans to take a data-driven approach to developing its ToC.
They are gathering information at community events (ICTI-led
and those hosted by other local organizations), and in spots in and
Tool 5 Craft a Theory The Craft a Theory of Change tool will help you
of Change get to the how of advancing equity through an around the Cultural Trail. The prompts: 1.) What place or attraction
infrastructure reuse project. The ToC statement on the Cultural Trail most resonates with your experience as
summarizes the actions your organization intends
a resident of Indianapolis? 2.) Tell us about your Cultural Trail by
to take and the results you hope to generate.
identifying a place of attraction that isn’t on the current map, but
resonates with your cultural experience as a resident of Indianapolis.

Fundraising event on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. Food tour organized by Indianapolis Cultural Trail.

62 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 63

Toolkit Section Readying an organization to invest funds, staff time, and

Prepare
relationships into equity work can be daunting. You can take
several steps to better understand your current relationship
to equity and how to deepen it. But this work must begin with

Internally
mapping an organization’s power structures. Getting a handle
on existing decision-making processes—including any internal
hierarchy—is eye-opening for most. Unacknowledged power
dynamics can reinforce inequitable relationships within an
organization or with partners and community members. With
this in mind, High Line Network members have examined how
they make decisions, where their ideas come from, and who
approves them. Some have also evaluated power in terms
of how and where the organization spends funds, particularly
related to community projects and programs.

Tool 8 Check Who’s

Included

Tool 9 Examine
Your Budget

Tool 10 Share
Power

Tool 11 Publicly
Commit

64 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 65

Embracing Community Some design ideas for Detroit’s 22-acre riverfront park
were dreamed up 36,000 feet in the air, on flights to and from
Advisers Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago.

As one part of an intensive community engagement process,

Organization: Detroit Riverfront Conservancy the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy (DRFC) created a Community
Park: Dequindre Cut Advisory Team (CAT)—and then took its 21 members on the road.
Divided into three teams, they covered three cities, to explore
firsthand what makes a successful public space. The DRFC footed
the travel bill and arranged group meetings with practitioners and
site representatives in each city. “By visiting other parks, they were
Location Detroit Section Prepare
MI Internally able to learn what other cities had done with their waterfronts
to expand and adapt those ideas back here in Detroit,” said Rachel
Frierson, DRFC’s director of programming.
Tool 10 Share The Share Power tool helps organizations ensure
Power community partners are meaningfully involved After the trips, the CAT members met to prioritize the elements
through all phases of a project. they wanted to see on Detroit’s riverfront. DRFC gave all their
feedback to the design firms bidding on the project. When the
final four firms publicly presented their designs, the advisory
team members saw their voices represented.

“I think about this quote that our guide at Governors Island said
to us, and it really stuck with me, that is to think about 100 years
ahead. I think that’s what we have to do. We have to think about
way down the line, children, generations coming behind us,”
said CAT member Denise Kennedy, after the trips.

The selection of the 21 advisers started with a public call for

nominations. To ensure diverse voices were represented on the
CAT, DRFC looked at gender, race, age, marital status, parental
status, and geography of candidates. While providing valuable
input into the design process, the CAT was also a way for the
DRFC to expand its network of contacts and community groups
and get their feedback. CAT members received stipends to host
“kitchen conversations” and other convenings. As the project
work continues, the advisory team has become a gateway to
multiplying connections to other communities on the ground.

Children design features of a Detroit

Riverfront Conservancy playground.

66 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 67

Committing to Equity, Successful equity-based work depends on serious inner
reflection—and Friends of Waterfront Seattle has taken a deep
Inside and Out look into the mirror.

As the manager of a future 20-acre green space along

Organization: Friends of Waterfront Seattle Seattle’s downtown shoreline, Friends’ honest self-assessment
Park: Waterfront Park has led to changes in hiring and accountability to staff. Instead
of conventional cover letters, they invite job applicants to share
what Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) means to them. Staff
can join a Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) caucus
or a white caucus. There’s a biweekly DEI book club and monthly
Location Seattle Section Prepare
WA Internally all-staff DEI training, where they discuss everything from self-
care to preventing burnout.

The effort to diversify the staff hasn’t gone unnoticed. According

Tool 11 Publicly Use the Publicly Commit tool to hold your
Commit organization accountable to racial equity, and to Friends, community partners—including elder indigenous tribal
welcome new opportunities for leadership and leaders—said they noticed the shift in representation.
collaboration.

The organization has also added land acknowledgement

and public equity statements to their website and across all
their public-facing communications. The latter is: “Friends of
Waterfront Seattle (Friends) recognizes and acknowledges historic
and existing systemic racism embedded in our city. Friends is
committed to becoming an anti-racist organization by prioritizing
racial equity inside the organization and the public spaces
we operate. Our goal is to continually cultivate inclusive spaces
where all people—specifically Black, Indigenous, and People of
Color (BIPOC), as well as underserved communities—are invited
and welcome to enjoy Waterfront Park.”

Honoring different cultures in Seattle has become

a driving principle of program and event design
for Friends of Waterfront Seattle.

68 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 69

Putting Budget Power in The High Line is backing up a commitment to equity with their
checkbook: Their Neighbors Council has decision-making power
Community Hands over a portion of the High Line’s budget. Fifteen Council members,
people who live and work in the Manhattan neighborhoods the 1.5-
mile greenway traverses, receive a stipend for their participation
Organization: High Line on the Council, which meets monthly. Through the Council,
Park: High Line the High Line is able to develop and strengthen connections with
community members and to elicit Council member input and
ideas to better serve neighbors, small businesses, and other West
Side stakeholders. One way the High Line leverages the ideas and
input of the Council is through the “Neighbor to Neighbor Fund,”
Location New York Section Prepare
NY Internally an annual visioning process that helps elevate issues impacting
the local community. Once an issue has been identified, the
High Line then directs financial resources to addressing it. By
engaging Council members as co-designers, the High Line wants
Tool 9 Examine Use the Examine Your Budget tool to
Your Budget determine who benefits from your organization’s to empower them to hold it accountable to its promise to link
spending—and whether it is equitable. “individuals and communities to the social, environmental, cultural,
and economic resources on and off the High Line.”

The High Line created the ¡Arriba! party The High Line‘s Neighbors Council is a program
in response to neighbors’ feedback. for sharing power and decision-making.

70 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 71

Fostering Board and Community “This will unfold over decades, but we are committed to delivering
a place that offers new economic, social, and environmental
Committee Connection improvements that benefit Buffalo Bayou East, its existing
communities, and Houston as a whole,” says Anne Olson, president
of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP), of the ambitious plans for
Organization: Buffalo Bayou Partnership a four-mile waterfront stretch in the area east of downtown. Two
Park: Buffalo Bayou communities there, with deep Hispanic and African American roots,
have long been underserved in regards to public space access.

As they implement their Buffalo Bayou East Master Plan, BBP

plans to form three community-led groups. One for arts and culture,
Location Houston Section Prepare
TX Internally the second for health and wellness, and a third focused on economic
development. They started with the arts and culture committee in
2020. BBP has worked to ensure these groups have real influence
and decision-making power in their organizational structure.
Tool 10 Share There are two tools in the Prepare Internally
Power section of the toolkit that will help you determine
who holds power in your organization and how For example, BBP already had an arts committee composed
power and decision-making can be shared with
primarily of Board members. So they knew they needed to navigate
community members.
power sharing and incorporate input from both committees
as they work on decisions about including public art in the project.
The community-led committee was encouraged to offer input on
which neighborhood artists should be represented. The Board-led
committee has focused on an existing commitment for BBP to
include international artists.

BBP’s power sharing among all stakeholders is evolving organically.

The Board-led art committee and the East Sector Arts and Culture
stakeholder group currently meet separately. BBP staff are ensuring
alignment between the two. The committees will provide each
other with feedback throughout the art nomination processes, as
members slowly learn about each other.

Buffalo Bayou promotes art and public space

activation in Houston‘s East Sector.

72 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 73

Investing in Community The 17 miles of the Mississippi River flowing through St. Paul,
Minnesota, are part of the larger Dakota Homeland, and include
Connections several sites of spiritual and cultural significance to the Dakota
people. As the Great River Passage Conservancy (GRPC) develops
three capital projects to revitalize the river and bring it back to the
Organization: Great River Passage Conservancy center of public life, they recognize that this heritage is inextricably
Park: River Balcony, River Learning Center tied to all past, current, and future projects on this land. Developing
and designing projects to honor the sacredness of these sites
requires building trust and sharing power in new ways.

Minnesota’s Indian Affairs Council often acts as a liaison between

Location St. Paul Section Prepare
MN Internally government and American Indian tribes across the state, but with
so many development projects underway, tribes often lack both
capacity and expertise to engage actively in design processes.
GRPC set out four years ago to ensure local tribe voices
Tool 8 Check Who’s Use the Check Who’s Included and Share Power
Included tools to make sure you are practicing inclusive were heard, and their input was integrated into the revitalization
decision-making. project at all stages.

The result? Today, three out of 11 GRPC Board members are

local tribal representatives. GRPC mandated that the project
designer incorporate Dakota voices in their work, and they raised
funds to pay for a consultant to facilitate that process. Full Circle
Indigenous Planning bridges the gap between the designers and
tribal populations and makes sure the concerns and needs of
local tribes are heard.

In the past, engagement between the City of St. Paul and its
tribal populations has been piecemeal, straining the time and
capacity of both tribal and agency/nonprofit staff, not to mention
missed opportunities for connection and communication. The
GRPC hopes their partnership with the Dakota tribe will set a new
standard of long-term engagement and collaboration.

Great River Passage Conservancy invested

in a process that ensures inclusion of the
Dakota people‘s voices.

74 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 75

Toolkit Section No one can address inequity alone. Great partners for park

Build
organizations can be other public space managers, government
agencies, nonprofits, and community members. The partner
network review tool considers where topical gaps might exist

Partnerships
in organizations, or where power dynamics between partners
hinder equity. An organization may be uncomfortable naming
the specific communities to work with and ensure equity
for—but doing so can be a powerful way to gain trust with
people who are often ignored by such efforts. The community
network review tool is helpful in such efforts.

Tool 12 Align with

Partners

Tool 13 Review
Your Partner
Network

Tool 14 Review Your

Community
Network

Tool 15 Maximize
Your Impact

76 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 77

Championing Affordable 11th Street Bridge Park, a project of the nonprofit Building Bridges
Across the River (BBAR), is addressing decades of disinvestment
Housing in the adjacent Ward 8 majority-Black Anacostia neighborhood.
Their equitable development plan includes affordable housing
strategies to avoid displacing longtime residents—and they have
Organization: Building Bridges Across the River formed several strong partnerships to implement them.
Park: 11th Street Bridge Park
The organization held tenant rights workshops and partnered
with nonprofit developer Manna to launch the Ward 8 Home Buyers
Club. The Club offered financial education and peer support at
monthly meetings, and 99 Ward 8 renters have gone on to buy
Location Washington Section Build
DC Partnerships their own homes since participating.

Building Bridges Across the River also started a discussion about

community land trusts (CLTs). CLTs are nonprofits that purchase
Tool 15 Maximize The Maximize Your Impact tool will help you
Your Impact determine whether your organization needs and hold land, often for the purpose of offering permanently
to partner or play more of a supporting role affordable housing that low-income residents can lease or own.
in order to advance equity.
The CLT model is used across the US to sustainably address
displacement in neighborhoods where rents are rising rapidly.
They created a CLT Advisory Committee made up of community
members. Building Bridges put them through leadership training,
sent them to CLT conferences, and raised funds for early property
acquisition. They also reached out to City First Homes, a DC-
based nonprofit with permanent affordability mortgage programs
and ample experience in this field. After four years of work,
Douglass Community Land Trust (DCLT) became a full-fledged,
community-led nonprofit.

Both Building Bridges Across the River and City First Homes
agreed from the start that any CLT they fostered would be
completely independent and community controlled. DCLT is
controlled by a Board of community residents (two-thirds) and
expert advisors (one-third).

One of 11th Street Bridge Park‘s equitable

development strategies has focused on
affordable housing.

78 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 79

Building Strategic Meditation, a running track, a plaza for health and wellness
programming, a basketball/soccer court, and separate biking
Partnerships and walking paths. The Underline’s first segment of what will
be a 10-mile linear park in Miami proves this organization’s
commitment to equitable public health outcomes. Naturally,
Organization: Friends of The Underline partnerships have been central to making that vision a reality.
Park: The Underline The organization has hooked into a larger network of Miami
nonprofits and philanthropies focused on addressing health
inequities in the city’s underserved communities.

“You have to be always looking for that next opportunity and

Location Miami Section Build
FL Partnerships be open to having others help you—don’t think that you have all
the answers,” says Founder and President Meg Daly.

Going forward, they want to ensure that their spending on the

Tool 13 Review The Review Your Partner Network tool will help
Your Partner you identify partnership gaps and which new next 9.5 miles furthers their public health agenda. That will require
Network partners should be prioritized. more strategic partnerships: The Underline has recognized the
need to evaluate their entire network of partners for mission
alignment and impact.

Up first: A basketball program is just one example of The

Underline’s effective partnership strategy to improve the health
of all Miamians. With funding from Swire Properties and
collaboration with the Miami Heat, the program intends to make
sure underserved kids benefit from playing on the park’s Urban
Gym. Can you say “swish!”?

The Underline has focused on improving health

and wellness gaps among communities.

80 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 81

Joining Forces for When the High Line Canal Conservancy was formed in 2014 to
bring together regional partners and plan a vibrant future for the
Environmental Resilience old 71-mile irrigation canal in Colorado’s Denver metro area, one
question was constant: What about the water? With present-
day water challenges typical of rapidly growing regions, Denver
Organization: High Line Canal Conservancy Water, the public agency that owns the canal, has been gradually
Park: High Line Canal moving irrigation customers to more sustainable water sources.
The shift has created a need for creative solutions to maintain the
860 acres of open space around the canal as a recreational and
ecological resource.

Location Denver Section Build

CO Partnerships Through an innovative partnership and with a goal of maximizing
the environmental benefits of the High Line Canal to the region,
the Conservancy, Denver Water, and governmental partners
worked together to study the feasibility of repurposing the system
Tool 12 Align with The Align with Partners tool will prompt you to
Partners review your external relationships through the for stormwater management.
lens of our four equity categories (see p. 26)
—including Health, Wellness, and Resilience.
Ultimately, 62 of the 71 miles were found usable for water quality
improvement and flood mitigation. Redirecting stormwater into
the canal has helped alleviate the environmental impact of new
development. Redirected water, especially in Denver’s northeast
communities, will also help vegetation grow in places where
green space has been lacking and make them more resilient.

This partnership has yielded direct benefits for the Conservancy

too: Denver Water recently pledged a historic $10 million toward
long-term care of the Canal. “The Canal provides an incredible
opportunity for our region to repurpose aging infrastructure in
a sustainable, forward-thinking way. The transition of the Canal
will help preserve a piece of Colorado history in perpetuity using
modern-day modifications to allow for stormwater conveyance,”
says Harriet Crittenden LaMair, Executive Director of the High
Line Canal Conservancy.

Extensive community engagement over 71 miles

is a High Line Canal Conservancy priority.

82 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 83

Collaborating for Equitable When Waterloo Greenway was preparing to open its first
phase, COVID-19 hit. The pandemic’s economic fallout severely
Economic Development affected Austin’s small and minority-owned businesses. Waterloo
Greenway Conservancy worked closely with other organizations
in Downtown Austin, lending resources and new park features and
Organization: Waterloo Greenway Conservancy assets—the Moody Amphitheater opened in August 2021—to help
Park: Waterloo Greenway community partners and the city at large bounce back.

The Board’s Community Engagement Committee teamed up

with the boards of local partners, such as the Red River Cultural
District. They collaborated on programming that fostered revenue
Location Austin Section Build
TX Partnerships opportunities for small businesses and partners in the District.
The Conservancy’s engagement and outreach staff promoted
downtown cultural destinations, restaurants, bars, and hotels,
and invited local artists to showcase their work in Waterloo Park.
Tool 15 Maximize The Maximize Your Impact tool is focused on
Your Impact helping you figure out how to best work with They organized an in-person market at the park and four artist
partners who share your goals. workshops. They promoted all events across the city and on
social media. They also provided funding support for five virtual
markets hosted by Frida Friday ATX, which describes itself as
“an intentionally intersectional grassroots movement that supports
and amplifies BIPOC, WoC and community creatives.” The
virtual markets featured 50 vendors and reached 2,000 viewers
each month.

Frida Friday ATX in Waterloo Greenway

supports Austin‘s creative economy.

84 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 85

Toolkit Section Our toolkit is designed so that your progress—and success—

Ensure
with embedding equity can be tracked, measured, and shared.
Our tools for creating a work plan and measuring impact
point the way to drawing a clear line between an organization’s

Progress
goals, activities, and resources. They allow practitioners to
dig deep into the metrics and indicators and identify who is
responsible for making progress toward achieving set goals.
They can also be a way for park organizations, partners, and
community members to mark progress and collectively
recognize challenges. Tracking progress isn‘t the end of the
equity journey: The goal is continual improvement.

Tool 16 Create a
Work Plan

Tool 17 Track Your

Work

Tool 18 Tell Your

Story

86 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 87

Rethinking Procurement Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. (ABI) set ambitious goals to foster
economic development with a $20 billion investment—but they
for Equity soon realized they were falling short on their aim to work with
more disadvantaged business enterprises (DBEs) in the city.

Organization: Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. Through intensive outreach, ABI, which operates a railway corridor-
Park: Atlanta BeltLine turned-multiuse trail in the Georgia capital, identified roadblocks
that were preventing DBEs from answering their requests for
proposals. Turns out, their payment schedules weren‘t ideal for
DBEs, which often have less sustaining capital and therefore need
to be paid more quickly. ABI’s insurance requirements were also
Location Atlanta Section Ensure
GA Progress deemed cumbersome.

So ABI modified their procurement policy. They worked with

their finance department to pay vendors within three months.
Tool 16 Create a In the Create a Work Plan tool, you can choose
Work Plan from a list of hundreds of possible metrics They also launched a vendor registry portal where they publish
to track your progress toward equitable their contracting needs, answers to frequently asked questions,
outcomes. Measuring your efforts may lead
and helpful resources like a video that explains how vendors
to beneficial organizational changes that will
support embedding equity in your project. can become eligible to do business with ABI. ABI is tracking
DBE participation and, as of 2021, they have a new goal: 50%
of procurement contracts held by DBEs by 2024.

Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. supports equitable economic

growth through urban redevelopment projects along
its railway corridor-turned-multiuse trail.

88 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 89

Engaging Young People Get young people from San Francisco communities with a historic
lack of access to high-quality public spaces involved. Focus on
through an Equity Lens engaging local youth of color and young people from low-income
households. These are the types of lofty goals that all too often
float untethered from real impact. But Golden Gate National Parks
Organization: Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Conservancy (GGNPC) is determined to make it a reality—and they
Park: Crissy Field have carefully established metrics to track progress.

GGNPC, which jointly operates Crissy Field with the National

Park Service, started implementing new metrics of success with
their Academic Internship Program in summer 2021. Each summer,
Location San Francisco Section Ensure
CA Progress they partner with three area colleges that serve diverse student
bodies, predominantly from the San Francisco Bay Area. They
offer internships in natural resources, youth education, geographic
information systems, and more. Students get technical training
Tool 16 Create a The Create a Work Plan tool offers hundreds of
Work Plan ideas for tangibly measuring progress toward and mentorship, and build workplace and leadership skills.
your equitable outcome goals.
In 2021, they decided to track the change in number of applicants
compared to the prior year, and collect social and demographic
data (for example, ethnicity, age, gender, education level). They
also counted the number of interns from the Bay Area compared
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
to non-local interns. Finally, they tracked the number of interns
established metrics to track progress on who qualified for and/or were receiving financial aid. Within a
their efforts to engage more youth of color. few months, GGNPC was able to connect outreach activities to
positive outcomes—with the numbers to back it up. For example,
staff participated in school career fairs, hosted a webinar for
interested applicants, and promoted the internships on social
media and through partner networks. In 2021, the number
of applicants increased by 22% compared to the year before.
Of those, there was an increase in Asian youth by 32%, Hispanic/
Latino youth by 25%, and Native American/American Indian youth
by 4.7%. Of the interns hired, 71% were students who qualified
for and/or received financial aid, and 65% were from the San
Francisco Bay Area.

These numbers are helping the organization to tell a story about

impact and better evaluate which activities produce results.

90 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 91

Combining Metrics to Trinity Park Conservancy has set out to do much more than check
off boxes on their way to embedding equity.
Measure Progress
Their October 2019 equitable development plan outlines
equity-focused priorities for Harold Simmons Park in Dallas, the
Organization: Trinity Park Conservancy first project in their Trinity River waterfront revitalization. And
Park: Harold Simmons Park to clearly measure their progress, they combine qualitative and
quantitative metrics. The effort requires going beyond posting
someone at a meeting door with a clicker counter. For example,
rather than tracking the number of meetings or participants per
event, they track the recurrence of participants. In this way, they
Location Dallas Section Ensure
TX Progress can assess the depth of engagement.

Another useful metric: the number of community-originated

program ideas. Not only do they monitor how ideas are
Tool 17 Track The Track Your Work tool will help you organize
Your Work your actions and activities in support of your generated, but also whether they are funded or implemented.
goals and sharing your impact externally. Such quantitative-plus-qualitative tracking offers valuable
insight into whether the Conservancy’s own structure is designed
to incorporate community decision-making power. Since
participating in the High Line Network’s embedding equity pilot,
they have greatly increased the number of community members
serving on committees.

“Harold Simmons Park is a transformational project for the City

of Dallas, and the Conservancy wants to work with community
partners to make sure that the community surrounding the Park
is able to participate in the economic opportunities that it will
bring,” says President and CEO Tony Moore.

Equitable development workshop

led by Trinity Park Conservancy.

92 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 93

Image Credits

P. 11 P. 30 P. 45 P. 49 P. 71
Photo by: Chris Kendig  Photo by: Ayanah George Photo: Courtesy of Great Photo: Courtesy of Friends Photo by: Liz Ligon 
Courtesy of The Rail Park Courtesy of 11th Street Rivers Greenway of the Rail Park Courtesy of the High Line
Bridge Park
P. 12 (top) P. 45 P. 50 P. 72
Photo by: The Sintoses P. 43 Photo: Courtesy of Indianapolis Photo by: Eileen Phillips Photo: Courtesy of Buffalo
Courtesy of Atlanta Photo by: Bill Tatham Cultural Trail Inc. Courtesy of Town Branch Park Bayou Partnership
BeltLine, Inc. Courtesy of Houston
Parks Board P. 45 P. 52 P. 74
P. 12 (bottom) Photo by: Stephen McGee Photo: Courtesy of Western Photo: Courtesy of Great
Photo by: Robin Hill P. 44 Courtesy of Detroit Riverfront New York Land Conservancy River Passage Conservancy/
Courtesy of The Underline Photo: Courtesy of Friends Conservancy Lower Phalen Creek Project
of the Rail Park P. 56 and Prairie Island Indian
P. 14 P. 45 Photo: Courtesy of Great Community
Redlining maps: P. 44 Photo by: Erik Holsather Rivers Greenway
University of Richmond, Photo: Courtesy of BridgePark Courtesy of Friends of P. 78
Digital Scholarship Lab Spatial Affairs Bureau / MWDC Waterfront Seattle P. 57 Photo by: Becky Harlan
Photo: Courtesy of Great Courtesy of 11th Street
P. 18 P. 44 P. 45 Rivers Greenway Bridge Park
Photo by: SWA Group Photo: Courtesy of Houston Rendering by: VJAA Architects
Courtesy of Buffalo Bayou Parks Board Courtesy of Great River P. 58 P. 80
Partnership Passage Photo by: Keshia Eugene  Photo by: Robin Hill
P. 44 Courtesy of BridgePark Courtesy of The Underline
P. 21 (top) Photo by: Timothy Schenck P. 45
Rendering: Courtesy Courtesy of the High Line Rendering: Courtesy P. 60 P. 82
of OLIN + OMA of OLIN + OMA Photo by: F. Carter Smith Photo: Courtesy of High Line
P. 44 Courtesy of Houston Parks Canal Conservancy
P. 21 (bottom) Photo: Courtesy of Buffalo P. 45 Board
Photo: Courtesy of Waterloo Bayou Partnership Photo by: Robin Hill  P. 84
Greenway Conservancy and Courtesy of The Underline P. 62 Photo: Courtesy of Waterloo
Frida Friday ATX P. 44 Photo: Courtesy of Indianapolis Greenway Conservancy and
Photo by: Evan Anderman P. 45 Cultural Trail Inc. Frida Friday ATX
P. 25 (top) Courtesy of High Line Photo by: The Sintoses 
Photo by: Timothy Schenck Canal Conservancy Courtesy of Atlanta P. 63 P. 88
Courtesy of the High Line BeltLine, Inc. Photo: Courtesy of Indianapolis Photo by: John Becker 
P. 44 Cultural Trail Inc. Courtesy of Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.
P. 25 (bottom) Photo: Courtesy of Waterloo P. 45
Photo: Courtesy of High Greenway Photo by: Mason Cummings P. 66 P. 90
Line Canal Courtesy of Golden Gate Photo: Courtesy of Detroit Photo: Lenny Rush 
P. 45 National Parks Conservancy Riverfront Conservancy Courtesy of Golden Gate
P. 29 (top) Rendering by: SCAPE National Parks Conservancy
Photo: Courtesy of Trinity Courtesy of Town Branch Park P. 45 P. 68
Park Conservancy Photo: Courtesy of Trinity Photo by: Adam Lu P. 92
P. 45 Park Conservancy Courtesy of Friends of Photo: Courtesy of Trinity
P. 29 (bottom) Photo by: Calvin Nemec Waterfront Seattle Park Conservancy
Photo by: The Sintoses Courtesy of Western New P. 48
Courtesy of Atlanta York Land Conservancy Photo: Courtesy of Friends P. 70
BeltLine, Inc. of the Rail Park Photo by: Rowa Lee 
Courtesy of the High Line

94 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 95

Bibliography Photo Index

Archer, Deborah N. Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.  Friends of Richmond BridgePark

“‘White Men‘s Roads through Black Men‘s Homes’: p. 12, 29, 45, 88 Waterfront Seattle Foundation
Advancing Racial Equity through Highway p. 45, 68 p. 44, 58
Reconstruction.” (73 Vanderbilt Law Review 1259, Buffalo Bayou
2020). https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/ Partnership Golden Gate National Town Branch Park
vol73/iss5/1 p. 18, 43, 44, 72 Parks Conservancy p. 45, 50
p. 45, 90
Cohen, Mychal. Building Bridges Trinity Park
“Building Community Power for Equity.” Across the River Great River Passage Conservancy
(Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2021). https:// p. 21, 30, 45, 78 Conservancy p. 29, 45, 92
greaterdc.urban.org/publication/building- p. 45, 74
community-power-equity Detroit Riverfront Waterloo Greenway
Conservancy Great Rivers Greenway Conservancy
Davis, Diane E. and Stephen F. Gray. p. 45, 66 p. 45, 56, 57 p. 21, 44, 84
“Beyond appearances: Community activism and
New York City’s High Line.” (Journal of Landscape High Line High Line Canal Western New York
Architecture, 14:3, 74-81, 2019, DOI: 10.1080/1862 p. 25, 44, 70, 71 Conservancy Land Conservancy
6033.2019.1705586). p. 25, 44, 82 p. 45, 52
Friends of the
High Line Network. Rail Park Houston
“Best Practices Toolkit: Strategies and Tactics p. 11, 44, 48, 49 Parks Board
for Early-Phase Infrastructure Reuse Projects, p. 43, 44, 60
Volume 1.” (USA: The High Line, 2019). Friends of The
Underline Indianapolis
Hunter, David E.K. p. 12, 45, 80 Cultural Trail Inc.
“Daniel and the Rhinoceros.” (New York: p. 45, 62, 63
The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, 2006).

Roberts, Dawn and Nidhi Khattri.

“Designing a Results Framework for Achieving
Results: A How-to Guide.” (Washington, DC:
World Bank, 2012). https://openknowledge.
worldbank.org/handle/10986/32158

Theodos, Brett, Mary Winkler, Peter Tatian,

Sara McTarnaghan, Leiha Edmonds, Somala
Diby, Patrick Spauster, and Ananya Hariharan.
“Measure4Change Performance Measurement
Playbook.” (Washington, DC: Urban Institute,
2021). https://www.urban.org/measure4change-
performance-measurement-playbook

University of Richmond.
“Renewing Inequality: Urban Renewal, Family
Displacements, and Race 1955-1966.” https://dsl.
richmond.edu/panorama/renewal

96 High Line Network Embedding Equity in Public Space 97

Acknowledgements

High Line Network Houston Parks Board Harvard GSD Urban Design
Asima Jansveld Amanda Edwards and the Color Line Course
Ana Traverso-Krejcarek Lisa Kasianowitz
Julie Heffernan Nicole Romano 2020 Researchers
Jack Chen
Community First Toolkit High Line Jose Esparza
Pilot Members Mauricio Garcia Laura Greenberg
Margaret Haltom
Building Bridges Across High Line Canal Conservancy Rajan Hoyle
the River Harriet Crittenden-LaMair Vrinda Kanvinde
Vaughn Perry Suzannah Fry Jones Emily Klein
Anne Lin
Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. Indianapolis Cultural Trail Inc. Jasmine Martin
Nonet Sykes Kären Farber Brett Merriam
Carrie Tracy Ruth Blair Moyers
Richmond BridgePark Luis García Don O’Keefe
Foundation Ciara Stein
Ted Elmore Trinity Park Conservancy Michele Turrini
Dontrese Brown Walter Elcock Sam Valentine
Shekinah Mitchell Elissa Hoagland-Izmailyan Sarah Zou
James Warren Jeamy Molina
2021 Researchers
Buffalo Bayou Partnership Town Branch Park Jiae Azad
Anne Olson Allison Lankford Rogelio Cadena
Karen Farber Eileen Phillips Dylan Culp
Asher Kaplan
Friends of The Underline Waterloo Greenway Alison Maurer
Patrice Gillespie-Smith Conservancy Gena Morgis
Grace Perdomo Erica Saenz Wanjiku Ngare
Melissa Ayala Miguel Perez Luna
Friends of the Rail Park Austin Pritzkat
Rebecca Cordes Chan Urban Institute Shannon Slade
Ava Schwemler Peter Tatian Arshaya Sood
Mary Bogle
Golden Gate National Mychal Cohen Contributing Editor
Parks Conservancy Sonia Torres Rodriguez Janine White
Katherine Toy Olivia Arena
Sue Gardner Jorge Morales-Burnett Decimal Studios
Denise McKinney Guillermo Brotons
Jessica Chen Harvard Graduate Gabrielle Harlid
Mackenzie Seagraves School of Design Allie Heesh
Stephen Gray Joshua Levi
Great River Passage Caroline Filice Smith Francisco Pelaez
Conservancy Laura Greenberg
Mary DeLaittre Anne Lin High Line
Harish Bhandari
Korly DeVries
Erika Harvey
Misha Hunt

98 High Line Network

The High Line Network is a
strategic hub for infrastructure
reuse projects — and the people
who are helping them come to life.

On our own, we don’t have all

the answers. And we never will.
But together, we’re defining
equity-focused practices and
championing their importance to
the public and field at large.

Projects in the High Line Network

are transforming underutilized
infrastructure into new urban
landscapes. Redefining what a
park can be, these hybrid spaces
are also public squares, open-air
museums, botanical gardens, social
service organizations, walkways,
transit corridors, and more. Often,
our member projects employ
innovative models of public space
governance, employing complex
public/private partnerships with
unique management, funding, and
operations challenges.

network.thehighline.org

Embedding Equity in Public Space 100