Kerns Placemaking Initiative

Kerns Neighborhood Association is undertaking a Placemaking Initiative in 2021 to clearly identify the Kerns neighborhood to residents, workers and visitors of the neighborhood.  We feel that Kerns Neighborhood is a bit of a hidden treasure within Portland with much lower name recognition than other neighborhoods, such as Laurelhurst, Buckman, Sunnyside, etc.

Some Kerns residents have come up with a 3-tiered approach to placemaking in Kerns:

• Banners
• Gateways
• Featured Places

This also will coincide with an Outreach Initiative that we are pursuing to reach out to Kerns neighbors.

Below is a map of the Kerns neighborhood, followed by a map of location candidates for banners, gateways and featured places

Placemaking Initiative Place Candidates (as started by Dave Weaver, Kerns NA Vice Chair)

Here is a document by Kerns board member Daniel Lyman that provides a Scope of Work for gateways / gates

Banner Design Ideas

Download (PDF, 6.5MB)

Below is a rendering of a potential Featured Place by Kerns resident, architect Martha Peck Andrews.

This corresponds to Place 1 on the map above.

As it is now:

Concept:

This is a similar project which was implemented in the Los Angeles area by Daniel Lyman

These are some icons signs and buildings in the Kerns neighborhood for inspiration: