Last night, September 20th, was The Big Night in Tulsa, Oklahoma. What am I talking about you might ask? Martha Schultz, a planner for the City of Tulsa, arranged what we call The Big Night. A gathering of four communities which border the downtown area; Brady Heights, Country Club Square, Crosbie Heights, & Owen Park, and event which cleverly relates to a classic movie called...you guessed it, The Big Night. The event was held to promote the unification of these neighborhoods as wonderful assets to downtown. Myself and my classmates from the OU Urban Design Studio facilitated the event along with Martha leading community SWOT Analysis. What is SWOT? It is a brainstorming exercise in which community members categorize the areas Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Strengths and weaknesses are considered internal, as in controlled by the community itself or things already present. Opportunities and Threats are considered external as in outside the control of the community and things which are yet to be. I hope that is understandable, if not let me know and I'll try to explain further. All together I would say it was an excellent night in which students got more valuable experience and several communities came together, something which is always noteworthy. I myself worked with the Crosbie Heights group and came to know some great community members, they are passionate about not only their history, but their future as well. I expect to see great things come from this event and will post some of the findings of the nights event as it becomes available.
Link to the movie storyline
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115678/
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