Placekeeping and Participatory Design in Chicago’s Douglass Park
January 29, 2026
Summary
In 2025, a team of ID students explored how local community artists might participate in, navigate, and maintain a shared artmaking space in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. Working with the Chicago Park District and Cooperation Racine, the team supported the revitalization of the Creative Space—a combination woodshop and ceramics studio in the historic Douglass Park Fieldhouse.
The result was a vibrant, identity-driven wayfinding system that contributed to transforming an underutilized basement space into a welcoming creative studio guided by community values.
Community-Centered Wayfinding and Visual Identity
The Creative Space at Douglass Park remained largely inactive since the pandemic, following the retirement of a key staff member. While the nearly 100-year-old fieldhouse regularly hosted extensive performance-based programs—dance, theater, music, movies—the basement-level arts studio lacked visibility, community awareness, and clear visual communication systems to engage visual artists and invite new creative residents.
ID students asked: How can design methods revitalize this civic creative space while prioritizing community-informed decisions?
OPPORTUNITY
More Than Wayfinding
Without a coordinated approach to accessibility, promotion, and programming, the underground space would be unable to fulfill its potential as a vibrant hub for creativity, cultural exchange, and community inclusion.
Guided by the park’s mission to ensure all local youth and community members can access creative and recreational spaces, Douglass Park staff emphasized the need for a scalable communication and navigation system to support discoverability, navigability, and usage of creative spaces and resources.
PROCESS
Listening Before Designing
The team’s approach combined analog observations, site visits, interviews, and early prototyping to understand both the physical and operational constraints of the space. Surveys, workshops, feedback sessions, and interviews collectively informed the project’s goals to shape the identity and approach for the visual communications system.
Research Methods
Examined the North Lawndale and Douglass Park community context, including demographic data, cultural assets, and neighborhood history.
Studied comparable wayfinding systems in museums, galleries, and public venues to identify best practices for creative spaces.
Team members engaged in printmaking and artmaking to better understand their own biases as designers and prototype more art-informed experiences.
Conducted interviews with staff, pop-up art booth surveys, community printmaking demonstrations, and discussions with class participants to gather diverse perspectives.
Installed signage prototypes for physical walkthroughs and feedback sessions with community participants, iterating based on real responses.
The 5E Framework (Entice, Enter, Engage, Exit, Extend) helped structure the wayfinding journey from initial discovery through ongoing community stewardship.
Key Design Insights
Four principles emerged to guide the wayfinding system:
- Solutions should be scalable, tailored, and easily maintained
- Spatial cues allow people to orient to new spaces and zones
- Wayfinding should be experiential, not just informational
- Signage and layout should support the identity and discoverability of the Creative Space
OUTCOME
A System That Speaks the Community's Language
The Creative Space wayfinding system features colorful and bold symbols, bilingual translation (English/Spanish), and gender-inclusive icons. The system was sized and installed for maximum visibility with intentional placement to support navigation from the upstairs front entrance down to the basement studio. The comprehensive system includes:
- Entry Navigation: Directional signage guiding visitors from the main entrance through the building to the Creative Space
- Spatial Orientation: Clear identification of important public areas such as restrooms, elevators, and stairwells
- Internal Wayfinding: Room and zone divisions within the Creative Space itself
- Resource Systems: Material labeling and first aid safety signs to support independent use of the studio
Beyond physical signage, the team created design frameworks that could be replicated in other civic and community contexts, introducing scalable approaches to participatory wayfinding.
IMPACT
From Underutilized to Indispensable
The project generated a newfound sense of energy, commitment, and community in a space that is under-resourced yet highly creative. The Creative Space Grand Opening in January 2026 drew over 150 artist vendors, youth, senior citizens, city leaders, and community members—demonstrating a major community need for public spaces in service of artistic endeavors in North Lawndale.
Immediate impacts include:
- Improved navigation and accessibility for community members using the creative space
- Increased visibility and legitimacy of artistic practice within the public realm
- Strengthened sense of ownership and belonging among local artists and youth
- Fostered trust between institutions, designers, and community stakeholders through a participatory process
Looking ahead, the project serves as a replicable model for participatory wayfinding and brand identity development. It offers a scalable framework for other public creative spaces seeking community-centered design, building pathways for increased community stewardship, promoting placekeeping practices, and supporting artist career and community wellness investments.
TEAM
Students
Rebecca Beltrán (PhD 2027), Project Lead
Roger Hong (MDes 2025), Visual Design
Summer 2025 Research Team
Arundhuti Bhattacharya (MDes + MBA 2026)
Brian Dexheimer (MDes + MPA 2026)
Regina Ellis (MDes + MBA 2026)
Xuci Hu (MDes 2026)
Ashlyn Spilde (MDes 2025)
Partners
Chicago Park District Arts & Culture Unit
Cooperation Racine