Yakima, WA | 54 Acres | Completed Spring 2020
Project Role: Project Manager, Design Workshop Facilitator
Challenge: The Yakima Area Arboretum had been developing its community spaces rapidly and did not have a larger vision for growth and expansion. Our challenge was to bring a diverse stakeholder group together to collaboratively devise a framework setting priorities for future development.
Solutions: A master plan report that guides future development based on a set of six principles outlined by stakeholders and approved by the community. Additional growth and development projects were prioritized based on impact and feasibility.
I led our research phase by determining several methodologies including a public survey, site observation, public meetings, stakeholder interviews, and competitor analysis.
Outdoor plaza spaces provide social spaces for students.
More Stakeholders = More Time
As the project manager, I was responsible for "Steering the ship" and we had a big ship. Not even including our consultant team there were 18 internal stakeholders who all had thoughts and strong beliefs about the direction of the master plan. Getting started we were very open to stakeholder feedback and input, but we noticed how it started putting us behind schedule. As I move forward with more projects with large stakeholder groups it's important to set expectations on appropriate times for feedback and input.
Meet People Where They Are At
Our survey results generated a ton of data and information. The public and our stakeholders would have been overwhelmed and its possible insights would have been overlooked in the shuffle. By creating quick graphics we were able to take the important insights generated and share them with a wider audience. It's so important to understand who you are working with and tailor your communication approach to their expectations.
We launched a public survey to understand users' behaviors and uses for the site that we might not have seen during our observations. We asked questions specific to our assumptions on site, trying to access the importance of specific elements to park visitors like parking and educational exhibits.
143 people completed the survey which was shared at community events and on the Arboretums social media pages. We created an infographic to quickly communicate some of the key results to community members.
Analyzing the survey results, we picked up valuable feedback and topics to look into, helping us develop a priority project list.
Results from the survey were presented to a wider audience as an infographic.
Final Masterplan Graphic, showing the location and relationship between new features.
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Thanks for stopping by, contact me at: Saitelbachj@gmail.com