Urban Design Student Collaborates with Tulsa Non-Profit

Camila Coronado, a Master of Urban Design student with the Gibbs College of Architecture, is collaborating with Kendall-Whittier Main Street, a Tulsa based non-profit, on a project to envision enhancements to Whittier Square, a historical district in Tulsa.  

Whittier Square was Tulsa’s first suburban shopping district. Along Route 66, businesses popped up in the late 1920s and the neighborhood thrived for decades. In 1967, however, a section of interstate highway bisected the neighborhood, which resulted in serious deterioration of the area. Kendall-Whittier Main Street was formed in 2010 in an effort to revitalize the area into what it once was. Since their founding, they have worked to bring back community events and an economic base to the area.  

Camila Coronado is working to help Kendall-Whittier Main Street with their mission. She is pictured above promoting her Photovoice research activity at a recent event at Whittier Square. This activity involved distributing bilingual flyers to merchants as well attending community events to recruit residents to share their photos and stories about Whittier Square and the surrounding neighborhood. This firsthand information from residents and merchants will inform her designs for the Whittier Square area.

To explore more about Camila’s project or to help, click the link below!

Imagining Whittier Square