Jack London Business Improvement District is working to create a better connection between downtown and the Jack London District using the existing Broadway thoroughfare. Designing a better Broadway within the context of community wellbeing had attendees rolling up their sleeves and diving into a guided workshop and a mini design session at SPUR’s Oakland office on February 11. DIALOG’s Antonio Gomez-Palacio, Vance Harris, Mona Lovgreen, and Lori Wesolek joined forces with the Jack London Business Improvement District, SPUR (San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association), and members of the local Bay area community to take a closer look at the challenges facing the Jack London District of Oakland, California.

With more than fifty people engaged in the workshop, the guests were invited to break into five groups, with each focusing their discussion around topics like social inclusivity, environmental impacts, economic considerations cultural dynamics, and political implications to tackle a core priority for the district: access to Jack London; Oakland’s only publicly accessible mixed-use waterfront.

Currently impeded by California Interstate 880, the group used the Community Wellbeing Framework to generate ideas, look at the various current issues, and identity the key, missing stakeholders. With Community Wellbeing at the core of our design thinking, we asked the workshop attendees to evaluate, re-evaluate and build upon the district’s past and current efforts to improve the Broadway connection to Jack London. It is our hope the Community Wellbeing Framework workshop presented the attendees with powerful to continue the discussion and advance the next phase of Jack London.

Thanks to the Jack London Business Improvement District and SPUR!

Let’s keep the conversation going!