City Walk is a linear sequence of landscapes connecting eight neighborhoods in Providence, Rhode Island. Image: L+A Landscape Architecture/Ron Henderson

The Providence Preservation Society recognized CITY WALK with the 2017 Preservation Initiative Community Involvement Award. The award recognizes “special initiatives or commitment to preservation values … by an individual, organization, community, or group.”

L+A Landscape Architecture, the firm led by Illinois Tech College of Architecture Professor and MLA+U Program Director Ron Henderson, founded the CITY WALK initiative in collaboration with the Providence Foundation and the Jewelry District Association in 2008.

CITY WALK is a broadly scaled “long and narrow” linear pedestrian and bicycle system that connects eight Providence neighborhoods and extends more than seven miles from India Point Park at the eastern edge of the city to Roger Williams Park at the southern edge of the city. It was included in the Rhode Island Transportation Improvement Plan for 2017-2025 and was approved for $1.9 million design and implementation funding in 2017-2018.

CITY WALK has been recognized previously by the American Society of Landscape Architects – Rhode Island Chapter where it received an Honor Award for Planning and Analysis. It has been adopted into the City of Providence Comprehensive Plan and the 195 Commission Guidelines.

In endorsing the project, city neighborhoods decreed that “CITY WALK is about movement (walking, running, biking) and public space (sidewalks, parks, streets, trees, courtyards, lawns, waterways, bridges). Whether by optimizing existing public space through physical improvements and programming, by creating great new public places, or by encouraging exploration of these public assets, City Walk will add value to the daily life of all who live, work or visit Providence.”