Metro Denver Nature Alliance
Group Members: Nikki Chernick, Alexa Cotton, Madison Kraus, Alex Handloff
This team will be partnering with Metro Denver Nature Alliance (Metro DNA), a non-profit coalition seeking to promote healthy lifestyles through equitable access to nature. Metro DNA has indicated that the Colorado Metro Denver urban region has disconnected and inadequate natural environments as well as inequitable access to those natural environments. Furthermore, regional visions and plans have rarely legitimately implemented qualitative data through stakeholder engagement. Consequently, these graduate consultants from MENV will create a vision for Metro Denver’s future regarding green spaces and access to nature through qualitative analysis of stakeholders representing the entire region. This process will be narrative-driven and have equal salience as quantitative analyses in the final regional vision.
Their role as graduate consultants has three phases:
- Review of relevant literature
- Collect narratives by interviewing community partners
- Utilizing these stories to inform a green infrastructure plan
The respectable deliverables for each phase will be:
- An annotated bibliography
- A creative deliverable dependent on the information we acquire through the interviews
- A section of the Metro Denver 2020 Comprehensive Plan
The inclusion of this team’s deliverable will ensure the conservation and restoration of a connected network of accessible, culturally relevant and ecologically functioning open spaces. Working with Metro DNA will provide a unique platform for creating a plan which is collaborative, equitable, astute, and will pave the way for future protection and restoration of natural resources.