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Standard Slide Presentations

Inclusive Planning for Social Change

Brick by Brick: Houston Freedmen’s Town Street Restoration

Sunday, March 30, 2025
11:30 AM - 12:15 PM CT
Location: 501-504
CM: .75
Passport
Division Endorsement: Planning and the Black Community Division
Providing infrastructure in a historic corridor requires a carefully choreographed balancing act that ensures that improvements do not jeopardize existing cultural heritage. Learn about the City of Houston’s strategy to upgrade aging infrastructure and improve the streetscape and multimodal experience while protecting the historic bricks on Andrews and Wilson Streets in Freedmen’s Town.

Freedmen’s Town, a neighborhood established in 1865 by more than 1,000 formerly enslaved people, is now recognized as Houston’s first Heritage District. It includes seven UNESCO Routes of Enslaved Peoples sites. The Freedmen’s Town community has suffered significant historical wrongs. It has not been adequately included in decision-making processess; this project has worked to address these issues and develop a collaborative path forward.

Presenters share the innovative techniques and policiesthey explored to arrive at a resilient street and infrastructure design that maintains the community’s rich historical identity and character. They explain how the community was integrated into the project to rebuild trust and how they engaged artists to help celebrate Freedmen’s Town’s story.

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Learning Objectives:

  • Develop strategies to address the challenge of providing and upgrading infrastructure and multimodal accommodations on historic street corridors.
  • Define successful partnerships among local authorities and community organizations to support transportation equity and give a voice to local communities — especially those that have been historically underserved.
  • Develop successful ways for local governments to create more inclusive, context-sensitive community engagement in transportation planning and design.