The master plan defines the North Tulsa community’s aspirations and creates a framework for redevelopment of three publicly owned sites in Tulsa's Kirkpatrick Heights / Greenwood neighborhoods.
Coinciding with the 100-year centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, the Our Legacy Tulsa planning process kicked off in August of 2021 and was led by the City of Tulsa, PartnerTulsa, an 11-member Leadership Committee, and WRT's planning team.
The focus of Our Legacy Tulsa is the redevelopment of 56-acres of publicly owned land
with eventual transfer from PartnerTulsa to a community-led model—ensuring the social and economic benefits of redevelopment are experienced by Black Tulsans, by descendants of the Race Massacre, and by future generations and their heirs.
Tulsa Kirkpatrick Heights/Greenwood — Tulsa, OK
Efforts included a series of community meetings, surveys, workshops, design charrettes, and informal conversations, as well as small focus groups, stakeholder interviews, and online engagement—all of which provided interactions with thousands of residents who ultimately shaped everything from the vision statement and guiding principles to the design and land use concepts for the three publicly owned sites, early action projects, and implementation strategies.
After 16-months of planning with significant community involvement, Our Legacy Tulsa was approved unanimously by Tulsa Planning Commission in November 2022 and City Council on December 14th, 2022.
The new district will be vibrant and of mixed uses, with diversity in housing, Black-owned businesses, new performance and recreational spaces, an expanded Cultural Corridor, energy production and stormwater management, and perhaps a Greenwood Streetcar circulator to bring it all together.
The planning team was committed to creating a development framework that reflects the community’s needs today and aspirations for the future. In order to achieve the vision, the master plan elements include land use, urban design and open space, mobility, and economic development policies describing how the community will:
- REBUILD mixed-use destinations that are affordable and welcoming;
- MOVE between and through walkable nodes with increased ease of mobility;
- CONNECT to the land, to each other, and to the entrepreneurial spirit and legacy of Greenwood through new enterprise and local ownership.
Future development will INNOVATE through technology, connection to place and people, and support of local business; moreover, it will HONOR the Legacy of Greenwood and Black Wall Street as it was, through sharing and learning from the past to support the generations of today and inspire the generations of tomorrow.
As the plan moves forward to implementation, it will be imperative that North Tulsans continue to be engaged in the process.
Congratulations to North Tulsans and the City of Tulsa on the completion of the plan, in addition to WRT's consultant team of World Won Development & Standpipe Hill Strategies, P.U.M.A, the Tulsa office of TSW, and Studio Zewde.