"Learning from Klyde Warren Park" is a short animated film, which takes a glance at how Dallas, TX, bridged a freeway with a highly programmed park. Reconnecting two areas of the city, Klyde Warren Park is a centrally located public space organized and funded by a private foundation. From personal experience, the park provides a welcome respite from the blazing heat for all walks of life: families with children playing in the fountains and children's area, business men and women having a lunch meeting, people playing with their pets in the dog park, walkerbys grabbing lunch at the 10+ designated food truck locations along the south-east side of the park, teens strolling, enthusiasts chanting to exercise moves on the main lawn, friends chatting under a tree, and vendors. All mix in this ingeniously crafted public space.
Buffalo too has struggled with a community bisected by a sunken expressway. The Kensington Expressway (Route 33 or Humboldt Parkway, as it is still dubiously named) has seriously impacted the social well-being of its surrounding neighborhoods over the past 50 years. This video only serves as precedent, not direction, as any modification to the Kensington Expressway will without a doubt be extremely expensive. I feel that the more we share, the more we become aware and hopefully, even in small ways, we can direct our energies toward vitally different urban spaces for people and activities they love.