Projects

2020 Urban Planning Thesis Prize: Margaret Haltom’s “The Next Southern Landmark: A Roadmap to Confederate Monument Redesigns and RFP for the Site of a Former White Supremacist Statue”

Community members engage in a public review of the proposed designs for Health Sciences Park. They offer critiques and commentary before voting on the winning design.

Community members engage in a public review of the proposed designs for Health Sciences Park. They offer critiques and commentary before voting on the winning design.

by Margaret Haltom (MUP ’20) — Recipient of the Urban Planning and Design Thesis Prize in Urban Planning

Following white supremacists’ acts of violence in Charleston, South Carolina (2015) and Charlottesville, Virginia (2017), activists and city officials mobilized to remove 52 Confederate monuments across the South. This contemporary era of monument removal is well-known—documented in news outlets and academic journals alike—and ongoing. Preservationists dispute the role of monuments in public memory, while progressive policymakers battle against heritage laws that prohibit their removal. But the future of these vacant pedestals, and, in particular, the role of community members and urban planners and designers to collectively create new landmarks in their place, remains relatively unexplored.

This thesis considers the context of, and process for, redesigning the sites of former Confederate monuments through a case study in Memphis, Tennessee. Focused on a former Nathan Bedford Forrest monument and its surrounding nine-acre park, I collaborate alongside a community coalition to create a process for redesign and Request for Proposals. I partner with the Lynching Sites Project (LSP) of Memphis, a coalition of teachers, faith leaders, local historians and other community members seeking to build monuments to victims of racial terror. Together, we ask: How might communities in the South reimagine and redesign former Confederate monuments? And, as the urban planner liaising with this community coalition, what is the planner’s role in creating inclusive processes to reclaim and transform these highly charged public spaces?

Through collaboration with LSP, as well as interviews with other activists, local leaders, planners, and designers, the thesis offers a roadmap for community-driven redesigns and explores the planner’s role in facilitating a more equitable design process.

 

The monument to white supremacist Nathan Bedford Forrest sits vacant in Health Sciences Park, Memphis, TN (photo adapted from Andrea Morales).
The monument to white supremacist Nathan Bedford Forrest sits vacant in Health Sciences Park, Memphis, TN (photo adapted from Andrea Morales).
A timeline of Confederate monument construction charts the rise in monument placement from 1900 to 1920 alongside the legalization of segregation, the peak of lynching, and the resurgence of the KKK. Confederate monuments assert a racial and political hierarchy: the South’s victory over Reconstruction, the North, and Black rights.
A timeline of Confederate monument construction charts the rise in monument placement from 1900 to 1920 alongside the legalization of segregation, the peak of lynching, and the resurgence of the KKK. Confederate monuments assert a racial and political hierarchy: the South’s victory over Reconstruction, the North, and Black rights.
Following white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, VA, #TakeEmDown901 activists in Memphis rally for the removal of the Forrest statue (photo adapted from Andrea Morales).
Following white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, VA, #TakeEmDown901 activists in Memphis rally for the removal of the Forrest statue (photo adapted from Andrea Morales).
Submission 4: Filename: Haltom_ThesisAward_4 A map of the Memphis Medical District shows the nearby hospitals and medical school. Health care workers, patients and students move through the park every day.
Submission 4: Filename: Haltom_ThesisAward_4 A map of the Memphis Medical District shows the nearby hospitals and medical school. Health care workers, patients and students move through the park every day.
Community-based organizations are uniquely positioned to facilitate a redesign process for the former Forrest monument, as well as the 51 other sites of recently removed Confederate monuments across the South
Community-based organizations are uniquely positioned to facilitate a redesign process for the former Forrest monument, as well as the 51 other sites of recently removed Confederate monuments across the South
A map of Health Sciences Park includes commentary from community members. Park goers and planners say the park is not a welcoming space. The vacant foundation of the Forrest monument still stands as a symbol of hate in the center of the park.
A map of Health Sciences Park includes commentary from community members. Park goers and planners say the park is not a welcoming space. The vacant foundation of the Forrest monument still stands as a symbol of hate in the center of the park.
Park visitor review and add ideas to an interactive installation by the vacant Forrest monument. (Collage by Margaret Haltom, images on the wall of the installation by Colloqate’s Paper Monuments precedent).
Park visitor review and add ideas to an interactive installation by the vacant Forrest monument. (Collage by Margaret Haltom, images on the wall of the installation by Colloqate’s Paper Monuments precedent).
The proposal will bring community ideas to the forefront of design decision-making through interactive installations, conversations in the park hosted by Lynching Sites Project of Memphis, and collaborative design workshops (photo adapted from Interboro Partners).
The proposal will bring community ideas to the forefront of design decision-making through interactive installations, conversations in the park hosted by Lynching Sites Project of Memphis, and collaborative design workshops (photo adapted from Interboro Partners).
The process map outlines each step of a Request for Proposals (RFP) design-build. The thesis offers a precedent RFP process for community-based organizations who may be unfamiliar with this tool for redesign.
The process map outlines each step of a Request for Proposals (RFP) design-build. The thesis offers a precedent RFP process for community-based organizations who may be unfamiliar with this tool for redesign.
Community members engage in a public review of the proposed designs for Health Sciences Park. They offer critiques and commentary before voting on the winning design.
Community members engage in a public review of the proposed designs for Health Sciences Park. They offer critiques and commentary before voting on the winning design.

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