Learn more about the work to improve Memphis’ public spaces - The Sidebar Podcast
From The Daily Memphian:
One of the biggest changes in Memphis in the near 30 years I’ve lived here is the transformation of how we view and create public spaces.
It’s not just parks and the bike and trail connections between those parks, but also an emphasis on how all kinds of public spaces — think libraries or Crosstown Concourse — are all now viewed in a whole new light. How do those spaces invite people and connect them? How can they offer not just activity, but quiet?
George Abbott has seen those changes too since he moved to Memphis to join the Memphis River Parks Partnership as its head of communications before the pandemic. And it’s why he’s involved in the Reimagining the Civic Commons initiative that’s been funded in Memphis and nine other cities since 2016.
The initiative — funded by national foundations The JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation and William Penn Foundation — is embarking on a new round of work on what it means to improve public spaces, which George joined me to discuss on this week’s episode of The Sidebar.
One of MRPP’s first projects was in part funded by the Civic Commons initiative back in 2016. Now, George is working with The Hyde Family Foundation, which, although it is not a funder of the effort, has put a tremendous amount of money and emphasis on public spaces in Memphis.