Taking to the streets with cameras and imagination, 45 Newark high school interns participated in a two-day exercise with TSTC to re-envision downtown Newark as a “great place” for residents and visitors. The exercise is a result of an on-going partnership with the Greater Newark Conservancy’s Newark Youth Leadership Project. Previous exercises have focused on traffic calming along the Newark section of the East Coast Greenway and around Broad Street Station, and have led to tangible improvements such as better pedestrian signage and more visible crosswalks.

This year’s program was called “Reworking Newark” to encourage students to take a fresh look at their city and develop a new vision of downtown life. After a two-day session including classroom discussions, a walking tour and role playing exercise, the interns suggested more murals and public art, doubling the number of streetlights, expanded express bus service similar to GoBus, a nightclub for teens and more diverse retail and dining options.  This would help make Newark a “great place” to spend time.

Students noted that their favorite places -such as Montclair, Hoboken and Teaneck – were all clean, safe places with trees and grass, “happy” people and plenty of things to do. Places they identified as “lousy” were dirty, dangerous and loud with abandoned buildings, vacant lots, anti-social people and a lack of attractions. Many students felt Newark was in this category.

For a walking tour exercise,  students were broken into groups – transportation, retail, human services, housing and parking, parks, culture and art, and streetscape – and tasked to look at Newark’s University Heights neighborhood through that lens.  When they rejoined, the students participated in a role-playing exercise as stakeholders and decision makers involved in the redevelopment process: the “mayor’s office” ran the charette, “city council” focused on the economic development components, “city planners” made sure that the land uses fit together, “transportation engineers” ensured it was easy to get to and around the neighborhoods, “parks department” made new parks and improved existing greenspace, and “neighbors” represented the interests of the residents living in the community.

The value of this partnership is that it reminds Newark’s youth that they are catalysts for positive change and that the prosperity of Newark rests in their hands.  The student’s ideas will be sent to Newark’s Mayor Booker and the city council.