The Community First Toolkit: A Framework for Equitable Public Spaces

Communities across North America have faced uneven development for decades. The Community First Toolkit (CFT) provides a visionary, adaptable framework for public realm advocates to directly tackle infrastructural racism and embed equity at all stages of the design process.

This free, online resource centers landscape as a vehicle to maximize community benefits. The 18 tools prepare designers to respond to equity issues in 4 impact areas: civic & cultural life; economic development; health, wellness & resilience; organizational growth.

Since 2020, the CFT has been deployed in 54 projects across 32 cities. Through engagement, the CFT continues to expand into new communication formats, including a Learning Curriculum and Peer-to-Peer Network.

Landscapes sit at the intersection of some of today’s most critical issues: 1) uneven access to quality public spaces, often along lines of race, class, and ethnicity; 2) underutilized, disconnected, or abandoned infrastructures from shifting industries and investment patterns; and 3) ever-increasing needs for spaces that support environmental resilience and social connection. The Community First Toolkit (CFT) was developed for the High Line Network, a program of Friends of the High Line that convenes equity-focused landscape organizations. The New York High Line is widely regarded as both an icon of landscape design and a symbol of “green gentrification.” Building on lessons learned, the CFT’s core message is that parks and public spaces are not incidental to broader issues of equity and access - they can be drivers of equitable community development. The Toolkit breaks down why, for whom, and how public realm projects can mitigate the negative impacts of past developments while ensuring positive outcomes for as many people as possible, particularly for those previously harmed.

Engagement and multi-disciplinary collaborations have been key to the development and continued evolution of the CFT. Practitioners and design experts helped identify the Toolkit’s impact areas, including with an exhibition and project-based course at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The CFT format was refined through a two-year pilot with park nonprofits around the US, ensuring adaptability across different geographic and historic contexts, project scales, and organizational capacities.

The tools are broken into 5 sections - Examine History, Center Equity, Prepare Internally, Build Partnerships, Ensure Progress - covering both internal practices and public-facing programs. As a result, the impacts have been broad-ranging. Different projects have applied the tools to fit their specific needs: in Dallas, the Trinity Park Conservancy created park-based equity metrics for budgeting and programming; Philadelphia’s Rail Park developed an archive of community histories representing the 10+ surrounding neighborhoods; the Richmond BridgePark comprehensively restructured internal priorities and external programs to support place-keeping efforts by Black and Brown communities.

All CFT tools are available for download on the website, which also features case studies and Learning Curriculum guides that allow open space advocates to use the Toolkit in their own communities. The CFT has been featured in leading design publications and convenings, including Architect Magazine, Harvard Magazine, the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, the ASLA 2022 conference, and the Global Cultural Districts Network. Altogether, outreach by the CFT team and its partner organizations has created a peer-to-peer dissemination and learning network. The CFT audience has expanded well beyond its initial focus on nonprofits who oversee park operations to include the full range of stakeholders who affect the design, management, and activation of landscapes, including residents, public sector officials, and more.

The High Line Network now includes dozens of landscape projects across the US, Canada, and Mexico. The digital reach of the CFT continues to grow, with 3500+ unique site visitors in the last year alone. Ultimately, the Toolkit communicates a framework for action, but it is powered by all the people dedicated to reimagining the role of landscapes in creating connected, healthy communities.