Where: Rancho Cordova, USA 

When: 2019

Role: Project and Design Leader (as part of the Center for Public Interest Design, PSU)

Partners: Sacramento Regional Transit, City of Rancho Cordova, Mills station Arts and Culture Center (MACC)

Graphics: Elaborated by the Author

Photos Credit: the Center for Public Interest Design

The Center for Public Interest Design and Sacramento Regional Transit partnered with the City of Rancho Cordova to explore how the Mather Field / Mills light rail station might better serve the community and act as both a connector and a hub towards a regional arts corridor. Building on the success of the new Mills station Arts and Culture Center (MACC) located in an historic building next to the station platform, the team worked with partners to investigate how proposed development near the station and upcoming investment into low-floor conversion of the station platform can lead toward a unified vision for the area and improvements that maximize social impact. The CPID hosted community engagement events to amplify community voices in the planning processes. The first event was a place-making workshop at the MACC on March 16, 2019. The results was a tactical intervention on the street surface that spread throughout the entire station site and beyond and corresponded with station programming of a musical performance and art exhibit. These recommendations, as well as designs for next steps, were contextualized in a “How-to Guide” for project partners to implement in the future.