Students, faculty, and staff will have an opportunity to imagine what facilities, services, and policies they would like to see in central Arkansas to make the region more livable, comfortable, healthier, and more prosperous.

Imagine Central Arkansas is an effort to involve citizens in the planning for the future of the region. A kickoff celebration took place Wednesday, Sept. 19, at Little Rock’s River Market. It will be followed by several community events – including a brainstorming event from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26, at the covered patio at the Old Student Union building across from Cooper Fountain.

The UALR event and others around central Arkansas are the start of a new long-range planning process for developing the next long-range plan for the future of the region by MetroPlan, central Arkansas’s regional planning commission.

“Previous MetroPlan documents focused on transportation. This time we are opening up the agenda for other things citizens imagine for housing, economic development, and other quality of life issues,” said Richard McGee, deputy director of MetroPlan.

Citizen suggestions in previous long-term plans for central Arkansas resulted in development of the Big Dam Bridge, the Two Bridges pedestrian river spans, and equipping city buses with bike racks.

“Imagine Central Arkansas is the region’s opportunity to do just that – to imagine what the future will be like. In essence, it is intended to embody the region’s aspirations,” McGee said.

The event at UALR will offer an opportunity for central Arkansans to voice their suggestions for improvements for the future in central Arkansas – commuter buses between Conway, Benton, Pine Bluff, and Jacksonville, more bike lanes, more parks, protections for historic structures, charging stations for electric vehicles – the ideas are endless.

Imagine Central Arkansas is intended to embody the aspirations of the people of the region. Those aspirations will form the long-term vision for what Central Arkansans want the future to become.