PEDESTRIAN LINKAGES AND COMMONS EXPANSION

PEDESTRIAN LINKAGES AND COMMONS EXPANSION

We believe that community is built and maintained most easily in what are known as ‘third spaces’. These are places that are not our homes or offices and are often open, public gathering spaces. While they can be places such as book stores, coffee shops, or corner bars, the connecting thread is that they are open to all people without the expectation of a purchase of goods or services. While many times public parks serve this goal, another type of space that accomplishes this, but that is in small supply in Knoxville and America as a whole, is the pedestrian street or plaza. The reason the heart of our city is Market Square - and the reason it is so beloved - is because it is a place where people can freely gather and create commuity, whether by accident or on purpose. Everyone deserves a place like this near where they live; it is a cornerstone of helping to build a strong and connected neighborhood.

Join us in working toward more ‘pedestrian linkages and commons expansion.’

SAYING YES TO MORE PLACES FOR PEOPLE

Our initiatives are based on simple concepts, like having more freedom to safely walk and gather in a space just for people. This initiative will seek to identity potential linkages in our city’s disconnected network of pedestrian infrastructure and find ways to expand those links, as well as expand the ‘commons’ throughout out city, so that everyone can have a people-focused, car-free area to gather near where they live.

HOW TO SAY YES

  • The easiest way for you to show your support for this initiative is to email us and join our organization. It’s free, and the more people our movement has behind it, the more powerful our collective voice becomes when we speak to the City or to the Planning Commission. In your email, make the the subject line ‘YES, PLEASE’ and provide us with your basic details like name and street address. Your address will stay private, but it helps us know where in town our supporters are. We may use your name for petitioning purposes.

  • If you want to take immediate action, alongside joining our movement, go to https://www.knoxvilletn.gov/government/city_council and find your City Council representative and email them. Tell them you support expanding spaces in our city for pedestrians - from sidewalks to plazas - and that you support YES! Knoxville’s PLACE Initiative to identify areas for this expansion and ways to fund and construct them.

  • Want to help us do ground work advocacy? This may involve showing up to neighborhood meetings to explain your desire for more people-focused spaces in our city, it may involve helping us recruit more neighbors to support this initiative, or it may involve your design skills to help us create visions of what could be. Who knows! But if you want to be directly involved in the PLACE Initiative, email us with the subject line ‘PLACE TEAM’ and we’ll get in touch!