image: City Builders Design program participants visit a local architecture firm to learn about design and planning efforts in Richmond’s Arts District.
Storefront for Community Design announced the launch of the development of Design Richmond: An interactive guide to exploring and shaping our city. The interactive guide and activity book will empower residents, specifically youth ages 13-18, to become active participants in the design of their communities. The comprehensive community-developed guide will also support the Richmond 300 Master Plan.
The success of similar guidebooks in Baltimore and Chicago were the inspiration for the book. Design Richmond will be organized into four chapters: Health and Wellness, Land Use, Transportation, and Housing. Each chapter will encourage residents to investigate the city’s past planning and design, discover current challenges, and design solutions.
“The interactive guidebook will help connect residents to the resources they need to arrive at real life solutions for Richmond’s built environment and supports the goals of creating a more equitable, sustainable, and livable city.”
Storefront kicked off the initial development of Design Richmond in fall 2022. In 2023, Storefront is collaborating with urban planning and design professionals, consultants, nonprofit partners, educators, interns, and youth to create the guidebook and launch it in 2024. The book will provide supplemental activities for middle school classrooms and nonprofit programs, an accessible resource for Richmond residents, and new curriculum for Storefront’s City Builders Design program.
The book will be developed thanks in part to national grants, sponsorships, and donations from supporters. For more information and to learn how to give involved click the link below.