Reimagining the Matilda Lot
Client: University Crossing Public Improvement District
Human-Centered Design | Qualitative Research | Prototyping | Storytelling | Client Management
Design Challenge: How might we improve the quality of life through reimagining land use for the University Crossing community?
The Scenario
The University Crossing Public Improvement District, a civic organization focused on the improvement and beautification of public spaces within the University Crossing neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, approached our graduate design program to understand how we might address a vacant, city-owned piece of land that was only being used as a de facto dog park.
Over a few months, our design team focused on understanding three broad questions: 1) who was using the land today, 2) how were they using the land, and 3) how would they like to use the land in the future to help improve their overall quality of life. By answering these questions, our design team would be able to provide our client with design recommendations informed by community-based evidence.
The project also aligned with broader goals across the City of Dallas shared by Mayor Eric Johnson in his Fall 2022 State of the City address.
“[The] city manager will soon be asked to produce a complete inventory of all unused, underused, and vacant city-owned land. If there isn’t a feasible development plan for any city-owned property, it’s time to look at how to responsibly and strategically develop it into a park or other green space or affordable housing.”
- Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, State of the City, November 2022
The Solution
Our design team hosted the Matilda Lot Community Day to activate the land, prototype physical improvements, and understand the community’s sense of ownership to the vacant land.
My Role
Lead: I led a team of four multi-disciplinary designers through all phases of our human-centered design project including secondary and primary research, ideation, prototype design, and implementation.
Research: I helped execute all phases of our design research methods including coordination, planning, deployment, and synthesis of key learnings and insights.
Connect: I served as the primary liaison for the surrounding neighborhood and our research participants ensuring they were connected and aware of our team’s work.
Implementation: I facilitated the implementation of our prototype including design, deployment, and feedback.
The Design Process
Our team leveraged our human-centered design process to support our client, the University Crossing Public Improvement District. Our iterative process is illustrated below.
Context & Understanding
To learn more about the Matilda Lot, who used the Matilda Lot, and what the community might want for the future of this space, the design teams conducted primary qualitative research using several different design research methods including observation, expert interviews, surveys, and neighborhood canvassing.
01 Design Research
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Our team used observation to understand how people live, work, and play in this neighborhood. University Crossing is a vibrant and diverse neighborhood consisting of shops, restaurants, arts attractions and multifamily residential properties. To build context around this neighborhood, our team spent hours visiting local businesses, experiencing public art and murals, attending existing programming, and walking the University Crossing trail, a primary amenity adjacent to the Matilda Lot.
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After building a baseline understanding of University Crossing, we focused on engaging specific groups including the UC PID Board of Directors, a local public school named Mockingbird Elementary, and public space experts such as the Better Block Foundation.
Through these interviews, we 1) identified future objectives for this neighborhood related to amenities like the University Crossing trail, 2) learned that Mockingbird Elementary families have ample green spaces to use that are more easily accessible than the Matilda Lot, and 3) established basic principles around belonging, safety, and use when transforming vacant public spaces.
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A pivot point during our design research was when our team learned that the Matilda Lot was primarily used by the North Stonewall Terrace neighborhood, a small residential community that sat just outside the University Crossing community. We focused our research efforts on this audience specifically by spending 10 hours over 2 weekends canvassing the neighborhood and conducting 32 doorstep conversations. We also deployed a survey and received 46 responses.
Overall, we learned North Stonewall Terrace is highly engaged and cares deeply about the Matilda Lot as the primary audience. Within this group, there were three groups that use the land: dog owners, families with children, and general walkers. They were interested in improving the space, but like the current openness and flexibility. They also wanted to feel safe and welcome while using the land.
Across all research efforts, our team distilled what we heard into the below key learnings to help inform our prototype direction.
Current Use: The Matilda Lot is currently being used primarily by residents of the North Stonewall Terrace neighborhood that are dog owners, families with children, and general walkers.
Future Improvements: Community members are interested in improvements to the Matilda Lot, but would prefer if these improvements maintained the current use of the space as open and flexible.
Neighborhood Safety: An underlying goal of the community is improving the feeling of safety in University Crossing and the Matilda Lot could be used to support this effort.
Neighborhood Investment: Investment in the Matilda Lot could lay the groundwork to support future investment in the University Crossing Trail and the amenities along the trail.
02 Research Insights
The Prototype: Matilda Lot Community Day
Our prototype took the form of a Matilda Lot Community Event and included four primary elements that we were testing:
Edge Activation: Does enhancing the edges of a space help define its identity and welcome visitors into the Matilda Lot?
Interior Improvements: Do minimal interior improvements encourage people to return to the space or to use the space differently?
Co-Design Activity: Can we encourage the community to identify what park and park-life elements align with their needs and interests?
Community Clean-Up: Will the neighborhood’s sense of ownership around this space extend to a willingness to care for it?
On Saturday, November 19, 2022, we invited the University Crossing community to our event. We organized a community cleanup, installed benches and planters, activated the edges with signage, crosswalk graphics, and ballast improvements, and facilitated a co-design activity.
The co-design activity provided a map of the Matilda Lot where attendees could select, rank, place, and describe physical improvements to the public space. Finally, our prototype stayed active for two weeks following the event so we could measure in both active and passive environments.
The Results
More than 30 community members attended the event. Overall, the neighborhood is interested in low-impact improvements that maintain the integrity of the current use of the space (open and flexible) and align with the current aesthetic of the space (natural and raw).
Top Improvement Interests:
Painting the Matilda Bridge wall
Native plants and landscaping
Children’s nature play elements
Walking path
Benches
Attendees agreed or strongly agreed they felt:
Engaged
Safe
Welcome
Likely to Return
Part of a Community
100% of prototype participants would be interested in participating in, rather than planning or organizing, future Matilda Lot community cleanups.
These [bollards and crosswalk] help make the lot feel more associated with the neighborhood versus just being a random plot of Dallas city property.
- Prototype Survey Response
[The event] made me feel like I had some agency into what happens with this public space in our neighborhood. Filling out surveys is one thing but being able to talk to actual people feels better to me.
- Prototype Survey Response
The Impact
After executing the Matilda Lot Community Event prototype, our design team laid out guiding design principles and actionable design recommendations for the client to consider and implement.
Address the Edges: Addressing the perimeter edges of the lot would make the space more welcoming.
Enhance the Interior: Improvements to the interior of the Matilda Lot should support visitor’s current flexible use of the space and complement it as a natural space.
Implement Ongoing Maintenance: A thoughtful and comprehensive maintenance plan is required for the long-term success of any improvements.
Engage the Community: The North Stonewall Terrace neighborhood should be considered an active community member and stakeholder for future plans of the space.
