Tourism-Oriented Placemaking: The Chickasaw Nation

The Chickasaw Nation spans 13 counties and 8,000 square miles across south-central Oklahoma. Rich with nature, recreation, historic downtowns, and developed resort sites, the Chickasaw Nation is positioned to draw on a large regional tourism market from Oklahoma and North Texas. The tribe also invests in major tourism developments in Oklahoma City. The tribe sought to develop tourism-oriented placemaking strategies for 10 cities: How could each of the selected communities identify opportunities, goals, and locations for physical interventions that would build on local assets and Chickasaw heritage?

One-Day Place Strategy Workshops

Hampton facilitated a quick-format, one-day place strategy workshop in each city. The workshop brought stakeholders together for a conversation about tourism-oriented placemaking. Participants got training about placemaking, then left the meeting room and went into the field to evaluate their own community locations. Participants discussed what they saw in the field, and began to generate approaches for investing in the public realm to drive tourism. By the end of the day, Hampton and the team presented possible pitches back to the participants for discussion and refinement.

Place Strategies for 10 Cities

Following the workshops, Hampton and the team developed a report of conceptual projects, initiatives, or programs that celebrated each location’s cultural landscape, tourist market position, and relation to the history and future of the Chickasaw Nation. The outcomes focused on quick actions that could be taken right away, and “big moves” that could be pursued with the right resources and time.

Regional Tourism through Place Character

Hampton developed concepts for place character practices the Chickasaw Nation and individual communities could use as part of its cultural tourism approach.