Denmark Docs

Over the last couple of weeks we've been focused on the first of our two main projects for the semester, which has been Denmark, SC. Our visit was very informative, as we were able to walk through town and experience the downtown at a scale that helped us understand what the issues are and what some solutions may be for encouraging more activity in the core of the town.

Having gathered the information, it was time to put it to use. We had information from the citizens from the charrette in December, big ideas that had been generated in response to the community input, and more specific locations and implementations for those big ideas. So the challenge became organizing that information, so it would tell a story that the town could use to spur future ideas and development, and eventually lead to a much more comprehensive master plan.

Some of the main focuses were the issues of safety and connections and how we could address those through preliminary design ideas. We pointed out locations that would be prime for multiple groups to gather and share space and locations that could be made safer with added lighting and a presence of activities and people ("eyes on the street") could create better places. Also, we wanted to provide the community with the information that they gave to us in a form that can be compiled and reused for future planning initiatives.