Community Visioning - Decorah, IA

JBC Landscape Architects guided Decorah through a community visioning process focused on enhancing transportation corridors, strengthening community identity, and improving pedestrian and recreational connectivity. Working with Trees Forever field staff and Iowa State University partners, the team engaged residents and stakeholders through surveys, focus groups, and assessments of circulation patterns, sidewalks, parks, and other community assets, identifying opportunities to improve safety, accessibility, and connectivity.

The steering committee highlighted several priorities: enhancing sidewalks and circulation, strengthening trail networks and connections to downtown, improving pedestrian crossings and traffic calming, and developing cohesive wayfinding and signage to support a unified community identity. These goals informed coordinated concept plans addressing accessibility, trail connections, intersection safety, and downtown corridor improvements.

The resulting vision provides Decorah with a clear, actionable framework for long-term enhancements, offering a roadmap for phased implementation, improved mobility, stronger recreational access, and the continued cultivation of the city’s character.