Greening America’s Communities: Oklahoma City

Location: Oklahoma City, OK  |  Client: EPA Office of Sustainable Communities  |  Project Date: April 2017 – April 2018

Project Images

Links and Resources

Final Report – Greening America’s Communities: Oklahoma City

Project Description

Situation

In 2016, Oklahoma City applied to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for technical assistance under its Greening America’s Communities program to address flooding and connectivity issues for five key locations within the Paseo Arts District, Central Park, Jefferson Park, and Edgemere Park neighborhoods. The city also wanted to pilot new opportunities for integrating green infrastructure with street and public space improvements. EPA brought together a team of federal agency staff and design professionals to help the city create community-supported design solutions.

Solution

Skeo led the design team in reviewing existing documents and plans, conducting an initial site visit with community stakeholders, documenting baseline conditions, and partnered with Perkins+ Will to develop initial design ideas for each site location. The designs explored a range of green infrastructure strategies to absorb the rain, reduce flooding and filter the runoff of pollutants.

The design team held a charrette (a design workshop) to gather input from community members on the initial designs, and met directly with stakeholders, including business owners, city staff, and administrators from the schools within the project area. Following the charrette, the design team refined the design options to incorporate feedback and developed illustrations and the final report to support the city’s efforts to identify funding sources for implementation.

Outcome

The final report outlines the public engagement process, conditions analysis, and design tasks undertaken to prioritize and address key neighborhood challenges using a sustainable approach to flood mitigation and safe passage. The report includes a set of recommendations specific to each of the five locations with detailed illustrations to help community members, city staff and potential developers envision the functional, aesthetic and experiential qualities of the proposed designs. The design options propose improved amenities for pedestrians and cyclists and provide a range of green infrastructure approaches to address stormwater and floodwater issues including an infiltration roundabout, increased tree canopy, a detention amphitheater, stream restoration and a multipurpose trail with infiltration. The report also includes next steps and potential partnerships to support and fund implementation.