Dorothea Dix Park Master Plan
City of Raleigh, Dorothea Dix Park Conservancy, Michael Van Valkenburgh and Associates
The City of Raleigh has embarked on a generational effort to create America’s next great public park. The opportunity to create a new public space of this size (308 acres) in the heart of Raleigh is unparalleled in the United States. The City of Raleigh is committed to making Dorothea Dix Park a park for everyone, a place of belonging for all individuals, families, and communities — of every economic level, background, ethnicity, race, religion, interest, and need.
In 2017, the City and the Dorothea Dix Park Conservancy partnered with world-renowned landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) to create a visionary Master Plan for the park. From the outset, equity was one of the team’s guiding principles. Neighborland joined the team to provide our online platform for participation and data synthesis. Through the course of the planning process, we also helped craft the engagement strategy, developed new technical capabilities, and provided communications strategy, data visualization, and video storytelling.
In describing the outcome of the engagement effort, the foreword to the Master Plan states:
“The Master Plan is a result of site analysis, evaluation of best practices, expertise from the consultant team, and, most importantly, a synthesis of extensive city-wide engagement and feedback. Over the past 18 months the City, in partnership with the consultant team led by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, has led an extensive public engagement process providing opportunities for community members to participate in exploring and shaping the future of Dix Park. This unparalleled effort has been the largest outreach and engagement process the City has ever undertaken.”
Over the 18 month public engagement effort, over 65,000 residents participated on the Master Plan. In February of 2019, the Master Plan was adopted unanimously by Raleigh City Council. Project Manager Kate Pearce and her team, Dorothea Dix Park Conservancy CEO Sean Malone and his team, Master Planning Executive and Advisory Committee Members, and all contributors to the plan were given a standing ovation by City Council and the public when the historic decision was made.
Over the spring and summer of 2019, the City developed an Implementation Plan for Phase 1. Implementation planning and design are expected to begin in the fall of 2019. Phase 1 projects are expected to break ground within the next 2–5 years.
Governance
At the beginning of the planning process, Mayor Nancy McFarlane and Raleigh’s City Council appointed 45 residents with diverse backgrounds and experiences to serve on the Master Plan Advisory Committee. This group worked closely with the design team throughout the planning process and made recommendations to the Master Plan Executive Committee. There were also over 200 individuals who participated in Master Plan Workgroups, enriching the planning process by providing topic-specific expertise and advising both the Executive and Advisory Committees.
The Executive Committee included Mayor McFarlane and Council-member Kay Crowder, along with Director of City Planning Ken Bowers, Director of Parks Diane Sauer , NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson, and Dorothea Dix Park Conservancy leaders Jim Goodman, Orage Quarles, and Carlton Midyette. This Committee worked in close collaboration with Raleigh City Council and staff to lead the Master Planning process.
Equitable public engagement
The City of Raleigh led the creation of an equitable master planning process for the park to serve all of Raleigh’s residents. The City’s Outreach and Engagement Strategy is guided by an equity framework that details the objectives, implementation, and evaluation of an inclusive and accessible planning process. From traditional community meetings to experience-based events, programs and online participation, the strategy calls for multiple channels for engagement, ensuring that the City reaches a broad, inclusive, and representative audience. The goal is to empower residents to shape the development of Dorothea Dix Park.
Process
Meeting people where they are
Led by MVVA, the team designed and facilitated five citywide public workshops oriented around the key elements of the Master Plan. Additionally, the City facilitated an extensive number of community workshops and pop-up engagements across the city. The team also began activating the current site with walking tours, festivals, and recreational activities. The pop-up engagements provided an important opportunity for the design team to “meet people where they are” and engage a broad, inclusive, and representative group of stakeholders. A complete overview of the public engagement effort can be found in this appendix to the Master Plan.
Bridging digital divides
Throughout the planning process, the public was invited to share their insights, prioritize ideas, and comment on potential opportunities and solutions. Data collected at in person workshops and pop-ups were posted online in near real-time to ensure that residents who participated online were treated as equal participants in the process. The engagement team intentionally sought out audiences that find traditional planning forums difficult to attend, and residents of all ages were invited to be a part of the process.
Insights
Several clear priorities for the public emerged: honoring the site’s history as a mental health facility and a slave-owning plantation; robust transportation connectivity with the city and Triangle; preservation of the open and green spaces on the site; extensive walking and biking trails; places for gatherings and concerts; a water element; sports and recreation facilities; spaces for public art; and financial sustainability for the park and its programs.
Concepts
The MVVA design team responded with design concepts that reflected these desires, and were in alignment with the plan’s design principles. High level constraints around engineering and financial feasibility were also communicated to the public. The site plan and each major section of the park was shared as a scenario for public feedback including: enlarging and enhancing the great meadow; restoring and re-engineering Rocky Branch Creek into a healthy stream and series of ponds; preserving a beautiful grove of trees at the park’s current entrance; creating a multi-use path that loops the interior of the park; creating a new outdoor amphitheatre venue and integrating the park with the Farmer’s Market; connecting the park with downtown Raleigh; and creating a civic center at the top of the hill around the historic hospital structures.
Each of these design concepts was shared with the public at workshops, pop-up events, and online. This feedback helped guide the design team’s iterations of the Master Plan. Two drafts of the Master Plan were made available for public comment, and over 1,000 comments were received on the Plan. 93% of comments were positive or neutral.
Tradeoffs
Through this robust, open, and transparent dialogue the key consideration for the team emerged: what will be the right amount of park-appropriate development from a sustainability and experiential perspective? Led by MVVA and HR&A Advisors, the team presented several strategies for implementation of the plan including funding, phasing, operations, and maintenance. The team communicated clearly to the public that this question would be explored in detail in future scenario planning exercises concerning the buildings on the site, mostly concentrated in the Ridge, Gateway, and Valley sections of the park.
Measuring engagement
Data
67,000 total participants
5,000+ insights
92,000+ page views
1,300+ hours (80,000 minutes) of engagement
1,000+ comments on the Master Plan (93% positive or neutral)
100,000+ notifications delivered
51% engagement on mobile or tablet
67% referrals from Facebook, 26% Twitter, 4% Instagram
Twitter referrals spent 8x time on site
1.56 seconds average page load time
Note that we baselined City of Raleigh resident demographics based on 2016 Census Bureau data, and then evaluated whether the participation on the plan was representative across gender, age, location (zip code). Aside from skewing slightly younger online (24% of online participants were 25–34, compared to 18% of total population), we determined that we did achieve our goal of collecting representative data.
A complete set of data collected can be viewed in the Public Engagement Appendix to the Master Plan.
Equal share of voice
During the course of the process, we observed that some residents were dominating the public dialogue, both in person and online. This included some long time advocates for the park whose passion for the preservation of the site as a park was deeply appreciated by the Dix Park team. From an equity perspective, it was critical that we give all residents an equal voice in the process, regardless of their familiarity or relationship with the park. Consequently, we redesigned our commenting tools to support this principle of “equal share of voice,” and product improvements included truncating longer comments and de-duplicating repeated comments in our sentiment analysis tools and reporting. These design and reporting improvements are now available to all of our partners.
What’s next?
Over the spring and summer of 2019, the City developed an Implementation Plan for Phase 1 of the Master Plan that includes cost and funding options, governance structures, and scope of work for Phase 1 projects. These projects include the restoration of the Rocky Branch Creek, restoration of the Historic Cemetery, renovation and demolition of buildings, creation of the Gateway plaza entrance and adventure playground, and the creation of a multi-use path along the eastern edge of the park. Concurrently, the City and Conservancy been programming the Park with a wide variety of events including nature walks, yoga classes, and arts festivals.
Phase 1 planning and design are expected to begin in the fall of 2019. Phase 1 projects are expected to break ground within 2–4 years, depending on funding, results of future planning studies, and Council direction. Park improvements to enhance the visitor experience will begin this year, which could include wayfinding signage, park amenities and trail maintenance — along with ongoing programs and events.
The City of Raleigh’s community-centered approach to the design of the Dorothea Dix Park is giving residents an extraordinary opportunity to shape the development of their city and state for generations to come. The park presents an unparalleled opportunity to bring the people of North Carolina together — to create a place of belonging for all individuals and families, for all communities, economic levels, backgrounds, and interests.
Acknowledgements
All design and planning images published here were created by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates and the City of Raleigh planning team.
This overview of the public engagement effort includes several quotes from the Dorothea Dix Park Master Plan and supporting documents.
Selected press
Curbed
The nation’s most exciting park project is taking shape in North Carolina
Next City
Raleigh’s Largest Park Looks at Equity as City Booms
The News & Observer
The Dorothea Dix Park Master Plan is a master stroke for greatness
