By Elyse Belarge, M.R.P. ’19
In an effort to revitalize one of the last public spaces in Collegetown, a group of Cornell students will host a weekend-long event and design charette at the Eddy Street Gate in Collegetown. The event will start at 5pm on May 4th and run through the morning of May 6th.
These students are members of Design Connect, a student-led planning organization that provides design services to clients in the Finger Lakes region. The project’s client is the Cornell Planning Office, which will be using the results of the charrette to inform future capital investments in the space.
The charrette will include performances, interactive installations, public art and more. The event will allow participants to experience Eddy Gate in a new way and contribute to shaping the space in the future.
Project Manager Alec Martinez envisions the event as a way to “bring the planning process to the people – as opposed to the other way around – to get the most diverse input as possible. In this sense, this is a democratic, citizen-led revision of public space by the community and for the community.”
Hannah Plummer, Design Connect’s current board chair, sees this event as “a way for Cornell students and the broader Ithaca community to share their ideas for this space and build community with one another.”
We would also like to take an opportunity to thank those who helped sponsor the event; the Women’s Resource Center, the Department of City and Regional Planning, the Organization for Cornell Planners, and the Cornell Council for the Arts.
To find more information about the event schedule and the project, please visit www.eddygate.org.