Urban planners and city representatives from across the country are gathering in Lexington this week to discuss how to make public spaces more connected and accessible nationwide.
Representatives from the Reimagining the Civic Commons initiative are discussing how to potentially use what they learn from touring Lexington in other cities. Lexington is one of 12 cities involved in the initiative as part of a collaborative effort.
Lisa Adkins is the CEO of the Blue Grass Community Foundation. She says joining the initiative is a way to not only improve recreation, but also to promote social and economic mixing.
“It's very much focused on the public realm, and creating cities and places that are more sustainable, that are beautiful, that are really putting people first,” Adkins said. “Cities and places that are more bikeable, walkable, and green-resilient are all values.”
To achieve that goal, those representatives are visiting neighborhoods, parks and other places people gather to discuss what Lexington is doing well, and how to implement that elsewhere.
That includes locales like the Henry Clay estate, the distillery district and McConnell Springs.
Rebekah Ross is an urban planner from San Jose, California who was part of the tour. She says she’s been impressed with Lexington’s pedestrian infrastructure.
“It's a very innovative and inspirational, protected pedestrian system that provides a lot of connectivity, and it's aligned with so much of what our group wants to do, and so much of what we do back home,” Ross said. “The public art is amazing. There's public art everywhere and the architecture’s amazing. But just navigating the streets and getting around and using the trail system has been easy.”
Lexington is the eighth of the twelve member cities Civic Commons members plan to tour. They’ll be visiting through Thursday evening.
