Creating Sanctuary for All
By Zach Lykins, Executive Director, Trinity Community Commons
5 min read Trinity Community Commons details their ongoing journey towards an equitable, accessible, and enjoyable space for all community members and neighbors. The Civic Design Center helps collect additional ideas for the future of their outdoor common space.
Trinity Community Commons is located on a bike route, near a transit corridor, and provides space, food, and community in East Nashville
Trinity Community Commons (TCC) was founded 10 years ago to serve its neighbors and develop community. The beautiful old church building we operate in sits at a really dynamic corner of the neighborhood. It’s bordered by commercial properties and neighborhood homes. It’s also very close to the intersection of Trinity & Dickerson, one of the deadliest corridors in Nashville, and the interstate. We’re near lots of new development, both transient people and generational residents. TCC’s physical space has the opportunity to be a gathering place for all people in our community.
TCC wants to use our building and our outdoor space to show radical hospitality to all people. Everyone has worth and potential, and everyone should feel welcome at TCC. The challenge? We can’t use most of our building—we haven’t been able to repair after a fire in 2021.
But we do have a big front lawn! We’ve hosted community meals, parties, after school programs, clothing swaps, and neighborhood markets there. We want to give neighbors a reason to slow down, meet each other, and hear this message: You’re important, just because you’re a person. You belong right here, in this community. Your neighborhood needs you. You have so many gifts to give. You matter.
Trinity Lane Refuge faces Challenges
This is hard to do for a couple reasons. Our front lawn isn’t very safe, and unless we’re hosting an event, there’s no reason to slow down and meet neighbors. Cars speed by on Trinity Lane. It’s loud, it’s hot, it smells. Gathering out front doesn’t feel safe. Just last year, a car sped down the hill, veered into our lawn, while neighbors were hosting a weekly market, and barely missed a few people.
Despite that, our building and front lawn have been a refuge to so many neighbors passing by, searching for shade and a place to sit & rest. But unless we’re hosting an event, our space isn’t welcoming. We don’t offer neighbors a place to sit. There isn’t anything to do, no reasons to stop and interact with others. We’re not showing radical hospitality to our neighbors most of the time, and sadly it’s by design.
Another challenge is that some neighbors who seek refuge near Trinity leave trash. Sometimes neighbors complain to us about this. I completely understand, and I’m not a fan of trash either. But we can’t treat our neighbors like problems to be solved, or nuisances to be shooed away.
Precedent in Copenhagen Could Solve the ChallengeWhat if we could design a space that would attract and keep neighbors interested long enough to slow down? To feel safe enough to rest. To meet and talk with one another. To build trust and community.
One of our neighbors, Owen Luterbach, inspired me with the story of People’s Park in Copenhagen. The park’s designer interviewed all neighbors (wealthy, poor, housed, unhoused, moms, & gang members alike), to find out what they wanted and needed. He then designed a park that would make everyone feel safe to come and spend time there. Here’s a quote from the park’s designer that struck me:
“We know that it increases safety a lot more to create a park with life and a diversity of users than to put up surveillance cameras… That’s why we wanted to develop the park in a way that would draw more users into the neighborhood and would make more users actively use the park… We hoped to improve things involving the people who lived near the park, used the park day or night, and for events. Put simply, we were there to create more community and love.”
I want a greater sense of unity and love in East Nashville! People’s Park shows me that it’s possible to design a space where everyone is welcomed.
The People’s Park in Copenhagen takes everyday materials and makes them into play space! How can we make the areas around us just as welcoming?
Our Neighbors Envision Solutions
Jami Anderson at her weekly market, which attracts people to the Trinity Community Commons
So what do we need in that open green space? I’ve heard lots of ideas after hosting weekly community meals at TCC over the last three years. Neighbors want safety & shade, healthy food, a place to sit and rest, as well as safe friends to connect and share life with. I want more of our neighbors to tell us what they want, too.
Jami Anderson hosts a weekly community market on our front lawn and wants this for our space:
“Something bordering the street sides of the front yard that would protect us from the stray traffic that may shoot onto the property from Trinity Lane itself. I've also always wanted some kind of solid interactive art or structures that double as art and for something for children to play with or swing upon to get them engaged on our green space - kind of a modern playground that doubles as art if that makes sense.”
Nate Paulk spent 10 years building relationships with neighbors at TCC. Here’s his dream for our space:
The front lawn is used currently as a market and gathering space, addressing social and nutritional needs.
“I wonder how TCC can become a true sanctuary for the community. Not hidden from the stress and anxiety of East Trinity Lane and especially that corner, but a place of beauty and refuge in the midst of it. Design decisions, like those made by architects and city planners, either increase or decrease the stress that people feel daily. My hope would be to continue to redesign our space and grounds and our organization to bring peace to the people of the community each day.”
I think that if most of our neighbors could meet each other, we’d learn a lot from each other. We’d trust each other more. We’d realize that we’re not all that different, and we’d realize that we need each other.
I want more spaces for all of our neighbors, especially those who can’t access great places because of money or social stigmas, to be welcomed, to receive radical hospitality, to join a community of neighbors who genuinely want to know them and include them in their lives. We can design spaces like this together.
Neighbors share their Ideas for the Commons
By Nia Smith, Community Design Coordinator
The following is a reflection on the commentary provided by community members during one of the weekly dinners at TCC. The Civic Design Center presented both the larger vision and TURBO options to bring new life and protection to the space. Initial ideas included sidewalk activations, interventions to prevent accidents, and more seating to allow neighbors to linger. The visions were printed out so neighbors dining could ask questions, doodle and envision the future together.
A sketch made by AP, a guest at the dinner requesting a bike stand, canned food and book, a fire hydrant and an automatic water bowl
Chief among the comments was an emphasis on “community for all,” by increasing the accessibility to the space through ADA compliant parking, bike racks with tools for repair, a canned food and book library, and an automatic water bowl for furry companions that can be housed outside of the church.
Increasing the tree canopy, an effort taken in part with Root Nashville, will make the Commons a cooler place for people looking to pause for a moment, especially as temperatures increase to dangerous levels. Other weather protection, like rain covers, sun sails, and water resistant furniture will make the open space of TCC safe and comfortable all year round.
The proposed vision with a note about parking. In this proposal, the Trinity Community Commons’ sidewalk is widened on Meridian St, making it a much more enjoyable walk.
Jami Anderson’s weekly market
In the vision design seen above, there were concerns about the proposed play space splitting the front event lawn, making it difficult to have one speaker make announcements to the whole crowd. Additionally, seating for large meals was requested to be in the front yard as to draw pedestrians into the space. The Civic Design Center recommends switching the location of the play space and picnic seating to accommodate these requests. Despite these changes, the celebration of Anderson’s market will be maintained!
The existing community garden and the shared space of Trinity Community Commons would be maintained by the neighbors who use the space. The garden could grow not just food for communal dinners, but flowers for fundraising classes, and provide access to urban growing space. According to local organization, Trap Garden’s community garden locator, access to growing spaces become less available the further east you travel. Growing spaces can serve as community hubs, where immigrant populations, like the Hispanic and Kurdish communities in east, can grow culturally significant foods. While introducing non-native plants to the ecosystem can come with numerous downfalls, plenty of experienced gardeners have managed to bring a taste of their home to Nashville. With intention and community feedback, these spaces of stewardship can benefit all, including the environment.
Envisioning a Holistic and Restorative Common SpaceEmphasis on communal maintenance is crucial to the Commons, now and in the future. Dinners are hosted by guests who volunteer, serving meals, cooking, setting up the dining space, cleaning the dishes and tearing the space down again. Everyone takes a task or two to ensure comfortable communion. Thus, requests were made for a more complex trash and recycling system. With the plans to revitalize the community garden, a small scale compost option should also be considered.
Here are some of the doodles and changes requested by attendees of this dinner. The first is a note on the sun and traffic patterns by Zach. On the second, people listed their dream amenities in a communal space. The third shows changes to the proposed front and back spaces.
Community partners, like Open Table Nashville, provide crucial services to anyone attending the dinner. At this session, free foot washes and massages were provided in a private area. The weekly dinner is provided in partnership with The Nashville Food Project. Guests mentioned Drkmttr, a music venue located not far from Trinity Community Commons, at one point offered a food pantry. That kind of inter-connectivity between hyperlocal spaces provides additional support and an opportunity to share resources with those who need it. Local businesses, nonprofits and even other churches can work together to build a network of sanctuary for all.
Responsibility for the places we exist in is what turns public space into common space. A care for what things look like, feel like, and how they can be made better is necessary for other spaces like Trinity Community Commons to exist. Activation and responsibility is how Trinity Community Commons can sustain itself. Designing public spaces for all and allowing them to become common spaces is how we get our cities and streets back. If we can design public spaces as common spaces, and feel responsible for their growth and maintenance, we can have spaces we like to live, work, and play in.
We’ll be back to break bread with our neighbors and friends again soon. We hope to see you there!