[Toggle navigation]

From World’s Fairs to The World’s Park

We held our first community forum for design improvements to Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

The World's Park
Ozgur Gungor | March 10, 2015

The first Community Forum for The World's Park project was held on March 1, 2015 in the Queens Museum.

Photo: William Michael Fredericks

Community advisors, dedicated to transforming the former World's Fairs site into a regional destination, shared their preliminary design concepts for Flushing Meadows Corona Park at a community forum of more than 80 park enthusiasts on March 1st at the Queens Museum.

Here are some highlights from what the advisors presented in teams, each focusing on a specific challenge:

1.  Team Access underlined the need to make the park’s entrances more visible. They proposed:

  • The Green Thing: a collection of large vegetated wayfinding arrows to lead people into the park;
  • Art-trances: art installations to mark the entrances.
2.  Team Navigation tackled how people can find their way around more easily once they're in the park. They proposed:

  • Multilingual welcome maps in or near many entrances to the park;
  • Signage system that would pair existing place names with bold symbols to make them easier to remember and find (e.g., the sign for a soccer field would include an image of a soccer ball), and show distances to other attractions and exits in the park.

3.  Team Learning targeted for more interest in the park's history and landmarks. They proposed:   

  • Multilingual GPS-based smartphone application that would alert a passerby of notable points of interests tagging any upcoming events at specific locations.

4.  Team Opportunity would like to encourage greater use of the park by people with different abilities and special needs. They proposed:

  • Sensory Space Playground for All Children: A play area targeting all five senses that would be created in underused open space and buildings in the park.

A big thank you to all who attended despite the heavy snow and we applaud our community advisors for their inspiring presentations. 

We look forward to seeing the further development of the community advisors' ideas that will be exhibited at the Queens Museum from April 12th to May 3rd. Learn more about The World’s Park project.

We're aiming to form a creatively-empowered group of park users that can shape Flushing Meadows Corona Park’s future for years to come, and to create a replicable model of stewardship for parks citywide.

Susan Chin, Design Trust for Public Space executive director

Photos (5)
[close]
Photo: William Michael Fredericks

Page of

The public gathered for the first Community Forum for The World's Park project at the Queens Museum.

Photo: William Michael Fredericks

Page of

Design Trust Executive Director Susan Chin welcomes the public and introduces the Community Advisors.

Photo: William Michael Fredericks

Page of

Community Forum attendees listening to the Community Advisors present their ideas at the first public event for the project. 

Photo: William Michael Fredericks 

Page of

Forum attendees offer their feedback to the Community Advisors at the first public forum for the project, on March 1, 2015. 

Photo: William Michael Fredericks

Page of

Public feedback at The World's Park first Community Forum 

Next

Public Presentations

The World's Park Exhibition & Forum: "You Are Here"

Sunday, April 12, 2015 @ 2:00 PM

Related Project

Reconnecting a regional park with its neighbors

The World's Park
blah
[close]