Harley O'Neill

Sarah’s Sweetwater Greenway Loop Festival is a local celebration of Gainesville, Florida's unique artistic, environmental, and civic heritage and an acknowledgement of the need for greater collaboration throughout historic neighborhoods. This joint effort provided residents who live and work along the proposed route of a greenway already approved by the City of Gainesville’s Strategic Plan the opportunity to come together as neighbors and strengthen their bonds of community, as well as contribute their voices and their ideas to the visioning process. I spoke to the dynamics and community health benefits of centering local artists from these neighborhoods as experts, and utilizing their creative expertise throughout the design process, because they are excellent researchers, interrogators, and change makers.