Community Design Solutions was hired to oversee and direct a process of information gathering leading up to a visioning charette for the Near West Side area in Milwaukee. This process involves revisiting past plans for the area and examining the business diversity of the neighborhood and a series of Focus Groups to gather input from various stakeholders including lenders, developers, residents, City officials, agency leaders, business owners, and other interested parties. This information was disseminated to six teams of architects each assigned to the Opportunity Sites sites.
A day long charette was held at the UW-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning on April 7th, 2016. Throughout the day, teams generated ideas for the sites and then shared them with the larger group to receive feedback. Following the initial input, the architectural teams revised their designs to reflect stakeholder input.
