Increasing Walkability in West Hyattsville – a case of cross-cultural participation in community design and planning
Margarita Hill (University of Maryland)
Various public agencies in Maryland are pursuing community design and planning strategies that promote new urban patterns that are described by a plethora of buzz phrases: “Walkable Communities”, “Livable Communities”, “Smart Growth Neighborhoods”, “New Urbanism Neighborhoods”, “Pedestrian Pockets”, “Sustainable Communities”. In some part, this is a response to local advocacy planning and changing demographic patterns that call for the development of communities with compact, affordable, mixed-use housing, with comfortable pedestrian access to employment, retail and regional transit centers and with improved recreational facilities and schools. In an attempt to put together new planning strategies to address these concerns, stakeholders in the process face many challenges. One of these challenges is the growth of new immigrant and multi-cultural populations within certain local communities. More than ten municipalities within Prince George’s County have populations where more than 25% of residents are foreign born. In West Hyattsville, nearly 30% of the population is foreign born with half of those community residents having arrived to the USA within the last 10 years. In addition, these communities are becoming increasingly diverse from a cultural perspective. In looking at race as an indicator of cultural diversity in West Hyattsville, we see a population characterized as 25% White, 55% African American, 3% Asian, and 16% Hispanic. In addition, 10% of residents described themselves as multi-racial (a mix of two or more races). This multi-cultural context requires different methods of democratic process and produces many challenges in promoting community participation. How do community planners begin to understand the needs of these multi-cultural communities and include more diverse populations in the design and planning process? This paper will describe the participatory community design and planning approach utilized in creating a plan for a more walkable community in West Hyattsville and discusses the issues that arose in the process. It will address the questions raised in the panel description and thus generate a discussion about how we understand, engage and plan for multi-cultural and new immigrant populations.