Abstract :

Community gathering spaces that appeal to a full cross-section of an areas inhabitants are rare. Scarcer yet are public sites that engender a deep personal connection between an individual and a specific place. Tumamoc Hill, or Cemamagi Du’ag, the “hill of the horned lizard”, is one of those places. Nestled on the edge of Tucson’s birthplace and within two miles of Downtown, Tumamoc receives about 1,000 daily visitors. The current work builds on and is guided by a year of data attained through open ended surveys and a focused questionnaire that has identified salient themes of people’s connection to this place. Yet, many voices remain underrepresented and additional characteristics that underpin neutral community gathering spaces are to be identified. To fills these gaps this second phase of Cuéntame Más will reach out into underrepresented Latinx and indigenous communities and dig deeper to understand generalizable core elements that create a space for personal, community, and natural connections.