Children and Nature Network — "New Tom Lee Park Will Be a Nature Game Changer for Memphis Neighborhood"
"Tom Lee Park in Memphis is named after an African-American river worker who, in 1925, rescued 32 passengers from a capsized steamer in the Mississippi River.
But now, the park is poised to become more than a place named after a Black hero. It will become a place of refuge for nearby children who look like Lee — and who, for the most part, only get to see nature trails and green spaces if they’re on a school field trip.
After working out a deal to ensure that the park’s main event — the annual Memphis in May Festival — wouldn’t be pushed off the riverfront, the Memphis River Parks Partnership is proceeding with a plan to transform the 30-acre park so that it offers more than an expanse of lawn, a smattering of trees, and asphalt parking and play lots. . . .
Memphis is the nation’s second poorest large city, and its poorest zip code — 38126 — sits next to Tom Lee Park. Sixty-one percent of the people who live in that mostly-Black zip code are poor, and the median age is 24. In the other surrounding zip codes, 33 percent of the people who live there are poor.
In those neighborhoods, community centers and parks exist, but they tend to be places structured around sports and planned activities and not nature. Like most communities inhabited by people of color, green spaces are rare – and nature parks are rarer."
The Canopy Walk gives visitors an immersive experience of an ecologically-diverse area at the far south end of the park.
Related
Memphis Flyer — "Take Me to the River"
Tom Lee Park Engagement Center opens at Beale Street Landing to share Studio Gang design with Memphians.
Commercial Appeal — "A spectacular new face for our riverfront."
"Final schematic designs for Tom Lee Park renovations, drawn up by architecture firm Studio Gang and landscape architecture firm SCAPE, were revealed in a virtual public meeting Thursday afternoon."
Memphis Magazine — "Revising the Riverfront"
The Studio Gang team in Memphis is led by Gia Biagi, whose title is principal of urbanism and civic impact at the firm, and who, Coletta says, knows as much as anyone about the Memphis riverfront.