Much of Mayfield, Kentucky was destroyed when an EF-4 tornado cut a devastating path through the heart of its downtown in December 2021. In 2023, UKLA’s senior capstone studio worked with community members and a diverse range of design professionals from public and private practice to develop designs for a variety of downtown spaces including parks, a farmer’s market, an arts district, a streetscape, and government building sites. This symbiotic model of collaboration between community, practice and academia in the aftermath of a natural disaster fostered a deep sense of empathy, purpose and service within the students, and left the Mayfield community with a powerful combination of hope and an inspiring vision for how to build back better together.

This studio would not have been possible without the leadership and coordination of Jill Celaya, lifelong Mayfield resident and Chair of the Mayfield Rebuilds Committee; the participation, encouragement, and support of so many citizens of Mayfield; the involvement and guidance of the talented design team that worked with Mayfield in their recovery and planning effort, especially Thomas McKinley, who helped lead our studio, and Mark Arnold of Bell Engineering; and the knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm of Helen Siewers and Russell Clark of the National Park Service Recreation, Trails and Conservation Assistance program. We are also grateful for the generous financial support for student travel provided by UK’s Student Sustainability Council and the American Society of Landscape Architecture Kentucky Chapter.