👋 Are you one of the 3 million people who work, visit, or live in the Southwestern Medical District? 🏥 

There is still time to provide your input on the future of the Medical District and the Harry Hines corridor, but the survey closes soon! Please take a moment to provide insight into your mode of travel preferences in the District, programs and amenities for the park, and more.

Help us by sharing the survey with your family, friends, and colleagues today!

Event Highlight:

🏠 Public Open House at the Satellite Room 🏥

On Tuesday, November 14th, the Satellite Room was bustling! The SWMD project team held our Public Open House event for phase two of engagement. Located in the Medical District across the street from Parkland Hospital, this already lively space became even more vibrant with local government professionals, hospital employees, medical students, neighbors, and more in attendance. 

Attendees absorbed new design renderings for the streetscape and park, while submitting their preferred types of amenities and programming for the park. Participants shared their common travel routes throughout the District on interactive boards, while everyone learned about the project's purpose and progress with a presentation and bilingual guides at each poster.



There are so many THANK YOU's to extend to everyone who helped our team to execute the first community event of this scale for the SWMD project!

• Celestial Beerworks for lending us their beautiful event space for the evening 
• Celestial Taqueria for preparing delicious tacos and quesadillas
• All of our project partners who we couldn’t have done this event without! 

The partnership and representation from the following groups was beyond appreciated. Thank you for bringing your staff and expertise to share for the betterment of the project.

• City of Dallas Planning and Urban Design
• City of Dallas Department of Transportation
• City of Dallas Office of Integrated Public Safety Solutions
• City of Dallas Police Department
• City of Dallas Public Works
• City of Dallas Code Compliance
• Dallas Water Utilities
• North Central Texas Council of Governments
• Southwestern Medical District Master Plan
• Southwestern Running Club

Thank you to everyone who came out and helped to shape the community’s vision for the future of this District!

Couldn't make it to the Open House? No worries! Click here to download the Public Open House boards and see some of the most recent graphics, maps, and renderings for the project!

Happy Native American Heritage Month

Janette Monear, Texas Trees Foundation CEO and President, co-produced, wrote the narration for, and edited "Spirit of the Trees". A two-time Telly Award winning series originally aired on PBS, this multi-part series weaves together native voices, art, and music from 40 indigenous tribes and nations from across the United States. This remarkable journey with Native People provides insight into the traditions of their spiritual practices, foods and medicines, art and music, shelter, and land management – all inseparably connected to trees, forests, and Mother Earth.

Just one part of a five-part series, this section features Southeastern tribes and escaped slaves who fled to the Southern Florida Everglades to its virgin forests and cypress swamps. The natural harmony they developed with the Everglades ecosystem ultimately sustained their survival, and today they thrive as the "Unconquered Seminole Nation". This segment reveals stories, photos, traditions, and the current efforts to preserve their cultural knowledge and natural harmony with the land.

Spreading the word about the SWMD Transformation Project!

Lannie McClelen, SWMD Program Manager, presented to a group of undergraduate students at UT Arlington recently, along with a presentation for the Executive Women of Dallas group in October. Lannie also just spoke to a group of medical professionals at the UTSW Community Engagement Grand Rounds alongside former SWMD intern and 2nd-year medical student, Sanjna Bhatia.

This week, Lannie and consultant from Hyphae Design Laboratory, Brent Bucknum, are headed to Melbourne, Australia for the 6th International Conference on Countermeasures to Urban Heat Islands to give a presentation titled "Global Dilemma | Local Solution: Leveraging Evidence-Based Design to Meet the Challenges of the Urban Heat Island in the Southwestern Medical District" to share the project's work with microclimatic sensors placed throughout the District and how this is impacting design, like strategic planting with specific tree and shrub species to combat air pollution, and sun, shade, and wind modeling to accommodate human thermal comfort.

SWMD - In the Media

Climate Connections: Urban Heat Islands on CBS 11 News

We're now entering the winter season, but we haven't forgotten how brutal the heat was this summer. Back in September, Lannie McClelen, SWMD Program Manager, was interviewed by Jeff Ray, CBS 11 News Meteorologist to discuss how the transformation of the Medical District will reduce the urban heat island effect in Dallas, providing an example for the rest of the City and Country, to follow suit in designing their urban spaces to be cooler, safer, and greener.

Check out our newly redesigned SWMD website!

Over the past few months, the SWMD team and the TTF Marketing and Communications team have been hard at work redesigning our website and the new version officially launched in October! Visit our site to absorb new language, imagery, and renderings for the project, read past Newsletters and Project Updates, learn more about ways to get involved, meet the Project Team, and more!

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