Home : Our Work : Northside Neighborhood Connections Northside Neighborhood Connections Share this project Northside Neighborhood Connections was a collaborative project between Grounded (formerly known as GTECH) and One Northside. One Northside is a community initiative driven by thousands of neighbors who are working to improve quality of life in all 18 neighborhoods of Pittsburgh’s Northside. If you’d like to get involved with One Northside, learn more about it here. What’s the context? During 2016, Grounded worked with One Northside to catalog and map the treasures of the Northside. As part of this process, eleven student researchers walked down every street in the Northside, interviewed hundreds of residents, and attended dozens of community meetings. Ultimately, we mapped 1260 treasures like museums, gardens, and murals. You can see all of the data collected here. What’s happening now? As part of One Northside, neighbors identified a number of goals that are important for their communities. Grounded provided assistance on a few of those goals: Create safe connections between neighborhoods Beautify the Northside and explore placemaking opportunities Enhance existing assets in the neighborhoods Promote the Northside as a hub for arts and culture In January 2016, One Northside and Grounded began working together to plan a trail system that could begin to address those goals. The purpose of the trail is to connect neighbors to each other, make the Northside an inviting place for visitors, and show off the amazing treasures it has to offer. Grounded met with community groups and held public meetings for Northsiders to share their ideas for the trail. By incorporating the expertise of residents and the catalog of 1260 Northside treasures, Grounded created trail maps for the Northside’s neighborhoods. Where can I find the trail maps? To access digital versions of the trail maps, visit our resources page. References The base data for this project came from City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning GIS Division and Northside Asset Inventory Mapping, a project of Grounded and One Northside. The route for the trails and featured treasures were chosen based on input from Northside residents, community groups, and an advisory committee. The network of existing and proposed bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure was also taken into account. Information in the neighborhood descriptions found on the map was primarily sourced from the following books and resources: The Allegheny City Society’s history tour booklets Allegheny City : a history of Pittsburgh’s North Side by Dan Rooney and Carol Peter Allegheny City, 1840-1907 by the Allegheny City Society Pittsburgh: a new portrait by Franklin Toker Resurrecting Allegheny City: the land, structures & people of Pittsburgh’s North by Lisa A. Miles Pittsburgh steps: the story of the city’s public stairways by Bob Regan We also want to give a big thank you to Northside historian, John Canning. John donated his time to edit the brochures, shared a bit of his endless knowledge of Northside and Allegheny City history with us, and connected us with Northsiders. The photos below are just a few examples of the destinations along the neighborhood trails.