Community Design
Design for Vibrant Communities
Everything a community needs to design their place for the people that live there.
The Community Design program is coordinated in partnership with the Department of Landscape Architecture. The current program works with communities on a range of projects addressing spatial planning and design needs with an emphasis on public spaces. The Community Design program also offers community design training opportunities for extension professionals, community leaders and volunteers.
Through several program resources, communities can begin to involve their stakeholders in organizing a range of public space planning and design endeavors, urban to rural, built to natural and publicly shared spaces in between. There are three broad types of resources and services available: community planning and design activities to build capacity and develop visions, collaborations on planning and design projects involving student designers, and a variety of educational materials.
Publications
Are you ready to learn more about community design? These publications and webinars on community design practices will inspire and inform future projects.
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Tools & Guides
Are you ready to engage your community? These simple tools and how-to guides support community planning through community engagement.
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Design Assistance
Is your community seeking design assistance? Our university staff and student designers collaborate with communities on community design projects.
Explore Design AssistanceCommunity Design Resources
Search by topic for publications, resources and activities to collect and refine ideas, thoughts or visions for your community design projects.
Public Spaces
These resources outline the benefits the placemaking of public spaces can bring to your community. Many communities have an interest in developing a variety of public spaces. Creating meaningful public spaces can be accomplished by communities of any size.
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Streetscapes
Enhancing streetscapes can offer quality of life benefits for communities from economic development to healthier lifestyles. Often, streetscapes are the backbones of our built environments that help connect our communities and establish vibrant relationships.
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Walkability
These resources outline how to assess the quality of walking environments for community members to smoothly travel through your community.
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Wayfinding
These resources walk through how to improve the ability for visitors to navigate your community and for residents to have a greater sense of place through wayfinding.
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Trails
Developing trails has become an interest for many communities in Kentucky in recent years. A number of communities have also been successful in gaining certification through the Kentucky Trail Town program.
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