Abbott Square Community Meetings

Jan-Feb 2013

On Feb 2^nd, we had the second Abbott Square community meeting, where the community had the opportunity to engage the process of transforming the Abbott Square in downtown Santa Cruz into a center for creative activities. The vision is to create a welcoming, interactive space for families, and to create a platform for cultural activities, festivals, and art events. Initially, I didn't have a plan go to this meeting, but when Stacey told me about the project, I thought it’d be a great opportunity to get more experience working with kids. 

We started the workshop by inviting parents to bring their kids into the meeting for a presentation about the potentials and goals of an urban space. We saw lots of photos of interactive urban spaces from major cities around the world. Kids really liked this part of the talk and they cheered for their favorite ideas.

After the presentation, we took the kids to Abbott Square located right next to the museum to show them the actual space that we are designing for. Kids were instantly attracted to the little fountain, which is pretty much the only fun aspect of Abbott square right now. They climbed up the fountain and started to play. Greg brought back their attention to the subject of the workshop by asking them why they liked the fountain and what el they want to see in Abbott Square.

Then we took the kids to the sculpture garden on the third floor in the museum building. This place has sculptures arranged in the space and a water wall. The biggest sculpture in this collection is stable enough for children to climb up, so most of the kids were attracted to this sculpture. Other favorite sculptures among kids were a little dog and what they called "a colorful weird person."

Then, we moved into a classroom, and after all the kids were seated, it was time for brainstorming. Kids shared some of the plans they have come up with for Abbott Square with others in the classroom: a chocolate fountain, live animals and insects, a sculpture of a hot lava monster and etc.

Greg asked them to take 2 minutes and think quietly about what they would like to see most in the Abbott Square. After that, the kids were ready to draw their favorite ideas on tables covered with butcher paper. Here are photos of what some of our young planners came up with.

Abbie’s plan was a maze, piano, zip line and giant swing sets.

Jodie’s plan for an ice crème stand and a house that can fly.

Tamara's Dolfie Sculpture with Fountain, a ladder and a slide, a sand pit surrounded by a garden, with a canopy decorated with colorful lanterns and a rain fountain.

Brandon’s plan consisted of his Titanic ship sculpture, a bread sculpture, Matterhorn play mountain rollercoaster, a tower of terror and a cloud sculpture above including the precise measurements of all the components.

Here is the final result of our brainstorm session. We wrote the kids ideas on the board and the ideas with the highest vote are circled in orange.

Once we were done choosing the ideas, we practiced our presentation in the adults' meeting along with some ideas played in pantomime by the kids.

I had a very good time in brainstorm session with the kids and I think Greg did a great job leading the kids and inspiring them to share their awesome ideas. I hope we see some of the kids' plans built up in the Abbott Square very soon.