National Park Service Next Parks Coltsville

NPS and Van Alen Institute launched Next Parks to reimagine how parks shape and impact our everyday lives.

We engaged residents and stakeholders around the newly-formed Coltsville National Historical Park in Hartford, CT, through a series of public workshops.

Our report, “Your Park,” begins the necessary process of making diverse local, regional, and national narratives and experiences heard.

Our findings and recommendations are based on two half-day workshops designed to generate ideas, highlight connections, and begin conversations.

We designed activities, like the “Object Stories” workshop, that provide an open-ended space for interaction between participants, teasing out stories and ideas.

Using what we learned, we created a series of maps around key themes that emerged during the workshops...

...and a catalog of programmatic and place-based ideas for Coltsville.

The report ends with a framework and tools for continued work in bringing together communities, forming working groups, and building ideas and partnerships.