Southwestern Medical District Park Community Engagement

The Southwestern Medical District in Dallas, Texas is home to world-renowned hospitals—a place of innovation, hope and healing.

But step outside of those institutions and into the streetscape, and a less vibrant and healthy story emerges. In 2017, the Texas Trees Foundation found that the Medical District lies within one of Dallas’ largest and worst urban heat islands—where cement soaks up the sun’s rays and radiates heat back outward, causing temperatures to be up to 15 degrees hotter than what is reported.

The Texas Trees Foundation transformed the 2-mile Harry Hines corridor in SWMD into a vibrant, connected and safe multi-modal linear parkway with an 10-acre park, all based on community priorities. MIG led a community engagement process that prioritized outreach to the communities most impacted by planning processes, especially those that have been historically left out of civic conversations.

The wide variety of outreach and engagement methods ensured that people could participate in the way most comfortable for them: Interviews, an interactive online survey, focus groups, pop-up outreach events, walking tours, door-to-door canvassing, and community open houses. All the engagement activities were conducted in English and Spanish and over 3,400 community members participated throughout the process.

Winner of a 2024 Texas APA Planning Achievement Gold Award for Public Outreach.