Moakley Park is the kind of multi-functional, complex project that we love to tackle: it’s both a neighborhood amenity for South Boston and a waterfront destination for the entire city. It has room for active recreation—tennis, running, basketball, and baseball, among others—as well as enjoyment of the waterfront, family barbecues or picnics, kids’ activities and play, or community gatherings. When renovated, it can play a critical role in Boston’s ecology and resiliency on many fronts, mitigating impacts from urban heat island effect, coastal flooding, and major rain events. It’s a park that holds many different meanings for the cross-section of Bostonians who come to Moakley to play, walk, sit, run, and hang out each day.

When a single space performs so many functions for so many people, how do we craft an effective engagement strategy? Continuous and sustained communication, through a variety of programs and formats, has so far proven to be the key to success. Prior to COVID-19 and the need for social distancing, the foundation of our engagement strategy was Community Open Houses and on-site events, including ‘Discover Moakley!’—a daylong community event organized to bring fun and energy to the park with local vendors, an activated street, and booths for community input and resiliency education. We amplified these efforts with digital and physical surveys, one-on-one interviews, and mapping activities; these allowed us to initiate conversations with community members about how the park is used, and to better understand their hopes and dreams for the future of the park.

Throughout the process, we tested a number of new tools. For ‘Discover Moakley!’, we facilitated an interactive activity in which participants poured water over different surfaces to see the rate of water infiltration, creating a demonstration of green infrastructure principles and porous pavement in action. In partnership with Boston Parks and Recreation, we developed a Moakley Park coloring book which we disseminated through social media, creating an opportunity for younger park users to participate.

This spring and summer, the COVID-19 pandemic has demanded a rapid transformation of existing engagement and outreach. This challenge has pushed us to generate ideas for engagement that overcome both existing and new barriers to participation and from which we can build better outreach practices, especially for those traditionally left out of typical processes, using strategies such as online surveys, virtual tours, and interactive video meetings.

As we move into the next phase of work on the project, we are striving to engage even more voices to weigh in on the future of Moakley Park. It’s a process that requires commitment, time, honesty, and a willingness to gather input; self-critical assessment of our successes and failures; and tailoring our process to meet ever-evolving needs. We believe that meaningful engagement plants seeds that bear fruit far beyond the design process—and we hope that Moakley Park will continue to be loved by many generations to come. Learn more about Moakley Park!