The Towns Park Design Project - Episode 1
Hi, and welcome to The Towns updated website. If you are familiar with the east end of Regina, you may have noticed The Towns subdivision has started construction and is starting to be home to many residents.
We wanted to take the time to tell you about some of the stories and exciting projects being worked on behind the scenes.
We are very excited to launch the first blog and video episode on a project that we have collaborated with the students at St Gabriel school … check it out!
Back to the Basics:
The overall concept of The Towns was based on paying homage to ghost towns and dying communities within the province. Saskatchewan has a very rich history of small towns that many of us either have roots from or have no idea even existed. The Towns was created to bring back the essence of these small towns through street names, amenities, and park and landscaping elements. The neighbourhood is meant to evoke the basics of small-town living, a sense of community, all while living within the City. Terra Developments Inc. (‘Terra’) needed some big help in bringing this concept to fruition, so, we sought out the help of some very helpful citizens that live in the surrounding community.
Background:
Back in the day Saskatchewan had a very robust network of rail lines. The vast lands caused many issues for transporting goods across the province, so the rail lines were built in the necessity for commerce and trade. As much as the rail lines created a sense of economy and connection it also created the development of new communities. Many small towns and settlements were built as little hubs to support the function of the steam engines. Because the train engines ran on steam, they needed consistent stops every 8-10 miles to fill up with water. Water tanks were positioned very close to the rail and the concept of small communities began to grow around them. These water stops were the main economic driver for most of these towns, but once diesel and gas engines became more popular, the need for the water stops ended. With these lost train, stops came many abandoned towns and communities that once were thriving little hot spots along with the transportation network.
Workshop #1:
Developing a community with its sense of identity can be challenging, especially selecting an identity that people will want to live in and be a part of. We thought the story of The Towns was cool, but we also knew that we needed help from some creative people to help pull it off. We reached out to Mrs. Parisienne’s Grade 5 class at St. Gabriel School (Windsor Park – neighbouring community) and asked them to help us with this task, they accepted and with our team, we headed into their classroom to work on a series of workshops. The Towns will be home to 8.5-acre park space, and we wanted this space to bring out the theme of The Towns and to evoke that small-town community feeling. Our team gave the students the task to help provide creative input to this park space, and help us get a better understanding of the amenities and design features kids wanted in a park space. The students exceeded our expectations in understanding the design concept and the intent to bring the community together.
There was no design idea left untapped, and they brought so many new ideas and perspectives for us to work with. Unfortunately, COVID hit and caused the school to end a little earlier than expected. But we were able to document this experience and are thrilled to show off episode #1.
We got to say, we miss the kids, working on this project has been likely one of the best forms of community engagement Terra has been a part of. The City is looking bright with kids like this group who care about the community!
Have a great summer, and stay tuned for the next episode of the student’s workshop!
Terra Developments Inc
Cathy Lawrence
Land Development Manager