Culver City Parks Task 8.1 Final Plan - Flipbook - Page 81
GOAL 3
STRENGTHEN RECREATIONAL, ARTS,
AND CULTURAL PROGRAMMING FOR
ALL AGES.
Rationale
Great cities of all sizes create strong emotional
bonds with the people who live and visit there.
These bonds grow out of a “sense of place” that
emerges from a combination of local culture, history,
geography, and landscape. Cities are increasingly
turning to the practice of “placemaking” to forge
these bonds with residents and visitors, drawing
on techniques from both the arts and sciences to
create emotional and social connections between
people and spaces, transforming those spaces into
places. The long-term vision for Culver City’s parks
must be rooted in the role it will play in the daily
lives of the people who live and work there, as well
as visitors to Culver City’s cultural attractions.
Entrepreneurial planning considers, respects, and
employs community wants and desires within the
framework of existing policy priorities – that’s the
‘planning’ part. At the same time, entrepreneurial
planning recognizes that there are various tools and
techniques available to optimize strategies based
on financing challenges, market opportunities, and
positioning strategies – that’s the ‘entrepreneurial’
part. Taken together, entrepreneurial planning
builds upon community context to anticipate future
market realities and opportunities.
Public parks and open spaces in Culver City might
be the best opportunity to catalyze economic
development through placemaking. The size
and prominence of the area’s institutions creates
opportunities both in the neighborhoods and
throughout the city to provide tangible benefits
to all of the city’s residents and visitors.
The General Plan 2045 aligns with the objectives
of and supports strengthening recreational and
arts and cultural programming for all ages. The
plan rightfully identifies the creative economy
as a unique and locally-focused economic
development engine that should be supported
and nurtured. Various activation strategies and
amenities look towards partnership opportunities
with creative economy stakeholders, including
through publicly- and privately-owned art and
various active performance venues that are public
assets to be included as part of an examination
of programming and activation opportunities.
Additionally, the General Plan 2045 identifies
parks, recreation, and public facilities as critical
to encourage healthy and active lifestyles. These
goals support increased offerings throughout the
parks to attract a broad range of park users through
expanded and additional classes and programs
for various audiences throughout the year and at
different times of day and days of the week. And,
the General Plan 2045’s identification of economic
development goals to provide for sustainable
economic growth and equitable opportunity for
wealth creation supports expanded opportunities
for revenue development and support for local
business participation as programming partners.
The foundation of successful projects is creative,
consistent, and high-quality programming of the
public realm. Culver City’s network of parks must
be dynamic destinations that change by time
of day, day of the week, and season of the year.
Programming will attract large numbers of visitors,
extend the length of their stays, and keep them
coming back again and again.
Culver City has a tremendous responsibility to
maintain a vibrant public realm in the face of
demographic, environmental, and real estate
market forces. Successful ongoing efforts in
response to – and in anticipation of – these forces
must effectively integrate entrepreneurial planning.
The underlying goal and premise of entrepreneurial
planning is to employ creative real estate tools and
techniques to leverage neighborhood improvement
strategies, unlock value, and improve local quality
of life in service of and in collaboration with public
sector economic development strategies.
Relationship to the General Plan
CULVER CITY PARKS PLAN 81
