Project for Public Spaces

Omaha Waterfront Improvement Plan

Omaha, NE (2001-present)

Client: U.S. General Services Administration; Lively Omaha

When the General Services Administration (GSA) began planning on a new build-to-suit office building for the National Park Service (NPS) on the Missouri riverfront in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, they saw it as an opportunity for GSA and the National Park Service to work with local partners--including, the Omaha Community Foundation, the City of Omaha Parks Department, Lively Omaha, and others--to shape waterfront development. More than $1 billion of public and private investment is in progress in and around the waterfront. In the longer term, the opportunity is for these partners and others to work together to create a world-class waterfront for Omaha--one that is cohesive, lively, and highly desired as a workplace and destination.

In October 2001, GSA and the Omaha Community Foundation sponsored PPS to lead a public brainstorming workshop in Omaha. Its purpose was to help shape the program and layout of uses on the various planned waterfront developments, and to gain insight into the features, orientations, and amenities that will make these developments work together as a whole. More than 100 people from diverse parts of the community contributed to the recommendations.

Later that same year Lively Omaha worked with PPS to develop a riverfront improvement plan. Lively Omaha then recruited and trained 22 volunteer facilitators to use PPS's Place Performance Evaluation Game to conduct 23 workshops involving over 1,000 citizen participants, who put forth literally thousands of ways to improve their public spaces. Working closely with neighborhood and civic organizations, the facilitators have evaluated areas all over Omaha, from dense mixed-use urban districts to small suburban parks to a college campus. Lively Omaha posts all the evaluations on their website, which was developed with the assistance of PPS and keeps local stakeholders and the general public abreast of news and events.

The cumulative effect of Lively Omaha's efforts has been enormous. A subsequent project, Omaha By Design, is a comprehensive urban design study that will strengthen the design standards identified in the City's Master Plan. Lively Omaha's work with influential partners and community members continues to transform the city through placemaking.