COMPONENTS OF PLAN 2.2 SHAWNEE PARK: OUTDOOR LEARNING CENTER
SHAWNEE OUTDOOR LEARNING CENTER: PRECEDENT IMAGES The core component of West Louisville Outdoor Recreation Initiative is the creation of a satellite center in Shawnee Park. This center will provide a base in west Louisville for Louisville Metro Parks and Recreation’s Natural Areas Division to provide nature-based educational, recreation, and stewardship programming. To be called the Shawnee Outdoor Learning Center (SOL Center), this facility takes its inspiration from facilities in other major U.S. cities, such as the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee, WI. Development of this center is intended to address barriers that affect participation of urban youth and families in outdoor recreation pursuits and can limit growth opportunities for urban youth. Some of these were referenced in section 1.1 and include such things as lack of neighborhood level opportunities to engage in nature, lack of exposure or awareness to the possibilities in nature, safety issues and fears associated with the outdoors. The SOL Center is intended to be designed and operated with a purpose of building neighborhood capacity for exploration of the outdoors. In addition to providing outdoor programming opportunities, such as through activities associated with Metro Parks and Recreation’s Louisville ECHO initiative, it will also serve as a conduit for developing local volunteer and mentoring capacity through active partnership development in west Louisville.
WLORI MASTER PLAN
Urban Ecology Center, Cedarburg, WI
Lake Flato Architects
Phil Hardberger Park UEC, San Antonio, TX
Lake Flato Architects
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