Keep it Queer: Supporting Queerness and Queer Belonging in Denny Blaine Park

Abstract

Denny Blaine Park has been enjoyed by queer and nudist parkgoers for decades. Past tensions, an active lawsuit, and an improvement plan pose threats and opportunities to the park’s culture and history. This thesis proposes ways that reimagined designs for Denny Blaine Park can support queerness and queer belonging in space. In order to arrive at these design proposals, two questions were first explored: how can design be done queerly, and what do queer community members want or need in Denny Blaine Park? Queerness was defined in terms of sexuality and gender, as well as a broader ethical framework founded upon subversion of harmful powers, collective connections between beings, the valuation of multiple ways of being, and the creation of more just futures. Through literature and precedent studies, methods of universal design, material reuse, queer planting design, and affirmational signage were identified as queer design strategies supportive of these values. To ascertain and center community interests, a queered process of community engagement was practiced to learn from human and more-than-human parkgoers and inhabitants. The takeaways of precedent studies and community engagement were combined with queer methodologies of community-driven design, universal design, material reuse, queer planting design, and affirmational signage to create three potential reimagined designs for Denny Blaine Park. By having a foundation in queer ethics, these proposals aim to break barriers that inhibit queerness and queer belonging in Denny Blaine Park. In doing so, these designs strive for more just and loving futures within this beloved queer space.