Planning Hennepin with Emerson Elementary

CDG continued a successful set of collaborations with Minneapolis Public Schools and Arts for Academic Achievement. During the 2011-2012 school year, we worked closely with teachers and 5th grade students at Emerson Spanish Immersion School to explore urban planning and design topics. The classes were structured around a larger community dialogue called "Plan it Hennepin” which sought to imagine a re-energized and refreshed Hennepin Avenue as a walkable and unified cultural corridor stretching from the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden to the Mississippi Riverfront. CDG led students on explorations of design tools and methods (including mapping and drawing, walking exploration, photo documentation and observation, and model-making), culminating in a final project that explored students' opinions about Hennepin Avenue and presented their ideas for how it should be in the future.