Awards
WGI Ranked #35 On The Zweig Group’s 2020 “Hot Firm List”.
WGI makes a very significant 41-spot jump from last year’s Hot Firm ranking of #76.
Community Engagement Defines the Future in Grand Rapids
Team Better Block powered by WGI teamed up with The Rapid to organize a series of community events that temporarily transformed underutilized community spaces into safer, more active, and vibrant places for people to spend time in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Grand Rapids region is growing faster than anywhere else in the state of Michigan. A significant portion of that growth is along the northern terminus of The Rapid‘s Silver Line BRT service in downtown Grand Rapids.
Team Better Block Powered by WGI engaged with the local community and helped create enhanced spaces for The Rapid’s Silver Line series of themed events that temporarily transformed three intersections along Division Avenue. These events included local food vendors, family-friendly events, music and dancing, theme-related activities, as well as a lot of laughs and good times.
These events are part of the Division United initiative. The goal is to integrate land use and transportation planning with transit capital investments, thereby improving economic development, ridership, accessibility, and catalyzing private sector development. Using the outcomes and lessons learned from these pilot projects, WGI will make recommendations on how to incorporate these strategies into the overall Silver Line TOD plan.
All the events were free to attend and enforced proper precautions in relation to the COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. The end result was a lot of fun experiences, great food, and smiles throughout.
Is your neighborhood looking to maximize the potential of underutilized urban areas? Contact our Placemaking experts today and let’s discuss your community’s goals and how WGI can help you plan for the future.
Andrew Howard
Andrew is a nationally recognized placemaking and public space activation expert. He is the co-founder of the internationally recognized Team Better Block (TBB) which helps communities develop and organize their economic assets to build productive, resilient relationships across the public, private, and civil sectors. Now being used in over two hundred cities and six nations, the Better Block demonstrates how temporary sustainability improvements to a single city block can build momentum for long-term financial, social, and environmental advancements. Andrew and TBB joined WGI early June 2020.
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