City of PSL participates in 2026 Parks and Greenspace Park Pride Conference
Accompanied by Kelly Boatwright, Assistant Director of the Parks and Recreation Department, Nikki Zheng, Bloomberg Harvard Fellow and Civic Designer, traveled to Atlanta for the Park Pride 2026 Parks and Greenspace Conference to connect with national leaders in urban park advocacy.
They learned insights from designers using landscapes to tell a land ' s story and community leaders transforming vacant lots into neighborhood anchors. This gathering affirmed Naturally PSL’ s commitment to activating green spaces with, by and for our residents.
Bringing these lessons back to Port St. Lucie can foster deeper relationships between our residents and the natural world.
On Common Ground Program grantee training and tour
In addition to the Park Pride Conference, the City team participated in a 1.5-day training as a 2025 On Common Ground grantee. Alongside dedicated community members from other cities, they toured Atlanta’ s parks with a focus on observation and curiosity.
As part of the training, they practiced tools from the Trust for Public Land’ s pilot toolkit following principals of human-centered design, " Building Common Ground," which is designed to support community engagement in local parks. Staff also visited Discovery Park on the River Line, hearing the impressive story of how 19 cities and seven counties collaborated to plan a 100-mile corridor along the Chattahoochee River.
Seeing these complex, meaningful projects firsthand highlights that when a community organizes, transformative change is possible.
www. PSLParks. com
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