DC Small Parks Project

Titanic Memorial

NPS

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania are teaming up with the National Park Service (NPS) to get a better understanding of how a series of NPS-managed small parks in Washington, DC function individually and as cohesive stretches of public space.
Included in the study are the small arc of park land stretching from Fort Slocum down through Fort Totten in NE DC, Marion Park in SE DC’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, and the Titanic Memorial along the SW Waterfront.
In order to understand how these spaces function, Penn is leading a Rapid Ethnographic Assessment Procedure (REAP), which involves interviews with NPS staff, DC officials, community leaders, park users, and documenting how people use the parks.
We're particularly interested in how people interact with the parks, their perceptions of the parks, and how usage/perceptions have changed over time.
For more information, contact us.