What do Identity, Place and Communications mean in Lewisville?

Lewisville is a community with many great stories that are worth preserving, celebrating, and sharing. New stories are being created every day by the increasingly diverse people and businesses who have chosen to live and invest in this special community. The city’s rich history combines with a thriving present and a bright future to create a vibrant identity and a strong sense of place.

Telling those stories effectively requires informed and engaged residents and stakeholders. For many of those stories, there is also an important connection to a specific geographic location in Lewisville or to an event that took place in a certain setting. The focus of this Big Move is on these places and the tools for outreach by the City, its residents and stakeholders, to communicate this identity to the rest of the region, state, nation and world.

Identity

Throughout the Lewisville 2025 planning process, City staff and residents described the need for a cohesive identity and for better communication and marketing of the City. The plan adopted in 2014 defined several aspects of a new Lewisville identity – diverse, green and responsive to community needs. Since then, updated communications and marketing plans and programs have begun to communicate this identity. In 2020, participants in Touchpoint events and online surveys still noted the need for enhanced communication of a distinctive identity. Some comments relate to particular areas within Lewisville – LLELA and Old Town. Updated strategies for these two areas are proposed in Big Moves 1 and 3.

Within this refined Big Move, action priorities are directed to particular aspects of Lewisville’s identity – creating or enhancing the character of special geographic locations within the community and communicating this identity. These steps to strengthen Lewisville’s identity are discussed in detail below.

Special Places

Lewisville’s identity is experienced through its places. Old Town is developing into a thriving center for urban activity in this community. LLELA, at the heart of the Green Centerpiece, is also the place that gives Lewisville a particular focus on nature and green, healthy living. These two places have Big Moves with specific objectives and Action Priorities.

Other important places that express Lewisville’s identity are found throughout the community – at Gateways where people first enter the city; at Identity Focal Points where unique destinations exist or are planned; and in smaller distinctive places throughout Lewisville’s neighborhood and business areas. Design and development priorities for these places are presented in this Big Move.

For visitors and newcomers, the first encounter with Lewisville is typically experienced at one of the major entries designated as Gateways. Lewisville has many heavily traveled transportation corridors and the Gateways on these corridors are the key locations where first impressions are most often made.

Private development should be coordinated with public investment to create unique mixed-use and redevelopment sites at these Gateways and at the Identity Focal Points inside the community. These sites should include a concentrated mix of new development and redevelopment, with retail, employment and residential uses. Their site plans should promote walkable destinations with an emphasis on the pedestrian scale. First floor non-residential uses can be combined with vertically-mixed uses above, such as mixed-use type residential units. Public investments to revitalize all commercial corridors within the City are extremely costly endeavors and not feasible with existing resources. In addition, redevelopment of commercial corridors can take decades to accomplish. The designation of Gateways and Identity Focal Points provides a more focused investment approach. These nodes of development should create interesting pulse points, destinations, and a sense of place for the City. They establish strong entries into the City and, along with Old Town, provide a hierarchical system of mixed-use community centers. These nodes of redevelopment will create priority areas to which new investment can be directed.

Communication

Communication with current Lewisville residents, property owners and businesses is essential so the community’s character reflects the interests of these stakeholders and the City responds to their needs. Communication outside Lewisville is also essential, since this is what brings visitors and customers to Lewisville events and businesses. Together, these two types of communications persuade people, businesses and investors to choose Lewisville for the future.

During community engagement activities in 2014 and again in 2019 and 2020, residents expressed a strong desire for more connection with and awareness of current events and activities. The City offers great amenities and opportunities, but few residents know about its full range of programs. The 2019 discussions were designed specifically to reach people who had been less engaged, so they resulted in insights about ways to improve communication and connection. The 2020 dialogues about heath, disparate impacts and racial equity further underscored the importance of inclusive two-way communication. This Big Move sets priorities for continuing and
expanding this communication.

Since Lewisville competes with surrounding cities and regions to attract quality developments and provide community amenities and destinations, branding and marketing play a key role in communicating Lewisville’s image in the DFW region and beyond.

Goal

Use Identity, Place and Communications to create and share Lewisville’s unique character.