The Open City Symposium at CAPPA
Poly Heights Project
About the
Poly Heights Project
Polytechnic Heights was important in the development of Fort Worth and continues to have a lot to offer. The community is full of wonderful, passionate, hard-working people who are its greatest asset. This project is in collaboration with CDFW, the University of Texas at Arlington, and Texas Wesleyan University. The proposed project ended with a symposium hosted by the University of Texas at Arlington in the spring of 2021.
The community-based master plan for the Polytechnic Heights neighborhood was developed in collaboration among professors and students from the architecture and landscape architecture departments at UTA in the Fall Semester of 2020 and Spring Semester of 2021, ending in a Symposium hosted by UTA in April 2021.
This master plan hoped to act as a tool to invigorate the community of Polytechnic Heights with a greater sense of pride by recognizing and refining the inherent value within the land this neighborhood was built upon.
Questions about the project?
Fall 2020
Students at UTA conducted community-based research through the “Spatial [in] Justice” Seminar led by Dennis Chiessa, where they
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Conducted historical & spatial analysis of the Poly Heights Community
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Conducted two community engagement workshops
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Packaged research and workshop outcomes to be handed over to the Spring semester landscape design studio class led by Dr. Joowon Im
Spring 2021
UTA Students conducted a Studio Project to develop a community master plan. This project was led by Dr. Joowon Im, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture.
April 9, 2021
UTA hosted “The Open City Symposium” - a 1-day reception was hosted featuring many thought leaders in the area of design justice, including Teddy Cruz (Estudio Teddy Cruz), Fonna Forman, Sara Zewdel (Studio Zewde), Richard Rothstein (Author: The Color of Law), and A.K. Sandoval-Strauszi (Author: Barrio America).
The Poly Heights Project was a capstone project for this symposium.
July 2021
The Poly Heights Project Masterplan will be shown in an exhibition to the community.
More information coming soon!
View The Draft Recommendations
The community-based master plan for the Polytechnic Heights neighborhood was developed in collaboration among professors and students from the architecture and landscape architecture departments at UTA. Prof. Dennis Chiessa and his students from the Spatial [in] Justice course conducted multiple community meetings and research in Polytechnic Heights during Fall 2020. With the data and findings collected from Fall 2020 and Spring 2021, Dr. Joowon Im and her students from Environmental Landscape Planning and Design course created a community-based master plan in collaboration with Prof. Chiessa and his students from Architecture Design Studio II.
Project Events & Updates
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Community Design Fort Worth is a 501c3 nonprofit design center created by members of the community who believe the public should have a voice in the vision and design of our City. We are a collaborative group that is knowledgeable about planning and design and is passionate about elevating and inspiring our community for a better Fort Worth.
If you would like to support our efforts in creating a Community Vision for Fort Worth and Poly Heights, please consider donating.