Re-creating Guadalajara Metropolitan Park
Contracted by the State of Jalisco and Guadalajara 2020, and in partnership with CTS Mexico/Embarq, the International Sport and Culture Association and Project for Public Spaces, 8-80 Cities led an in-depth community placemaking process for the 120 hectare (300 acre) park in the heart of Guadalajara.
The Guadalajara Metropolitan Park is a 120 hectare (300 acre) park that serves a population of approximately 4.5 million people in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara. Selected as a site for the 2011 Pan American Games, the park was slated to receive significant capital investments from the State Government in 2009. 8-80 Cities was hired to design and implement an engagement process that would help the state better understand what citizens wanted to see in their park.
8-80 Cities assembled a team of experts including Project for Public Spaces, CTS Mexico, and the International Sport and Culture Association to facilitate a community placemaking process to come up with a new vision and concept plan for the park.
Multiple stakeholders were engaged in the process through public presentations, workshops, stakeholder interviews, focus groups, surveys and site assessments.
Throughout the process we were able to reach out to community groups, elected officials, state government, Pan American Games officials, park user groups, local businesses and nearby neighborhood groups. By working with the stakeholders a detailed community-led concept report was created.
Fourteen destinations in the park were identified and a comprehensive program of uses and activities for each of the destinations was developed by through community input.
The report was used as a framework for a design competition for the park. The architecture firm that best represented the program/vision created with extensive community input was awarded the technical design.
