Ruston Way Waterfront Vision Plan Charrette, Tacoma, Washington

The Ruston Way Waterfront Vision Plan was a high-profile community visioning process for Tacoma’s signature waterfront park. Urbsworks designed, managed, and conducted the two-part process: multiple workshops to build interagency support among government stakeholders followed by a multi-day design event, called a charrette, for engaging the public. By bringing together multiple agencies ahead of the public charrette, Urbsworks was able to build interdisciplinary relationships and secure staff and funding support for a new approach to every aspect of the waterfront: design, programming, engineering, construction, and funding. Many new agency relationships were forged during this process; for instance, the city arborists and the parks staff in charge of tree maintenance had never before coordinated their efforts, but with the goal to increase tree canopy a major regional resilience strategy, such partnerships were understood to be important and necessary for the future of the area. Together the agency pre-charrette followed by the public charrette established a commitment to new ways of working to secure the future of Ruston Way, a regionally significant waterfront.

All images by Russ Carmack