A wide-ranging report by students at the Conway School of Landscape Design has set a course for improvements at Aquinnah Circle, where planning efforts have ramped up following the relocation of the Gay Head Light last year.

Two public visioning sessions this winter, along with a separate meeting with members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), set the foundation. Released last month, the 75-page report provides a series of guiding principles and recommendations for the Circle, where sweeping views of the Atlantic, along with the Gay Head cliffs, Moshup Beach and other features, draw more than 100,000 visitors each year.

The principles focus on education, safety and natural resource protection, and aim to create a tourist-friendly experience and a stronger sense of community.

“They are in no way set in stone, and should be adapted as the needs of the Aquinnah community change,” the report says.

Mariko McNamara and Ryan Corrigan are the authors.

The report highlights the Circle’s importance to the Wampanoag Tribe, which has occupied the area for thousands of years and has long benefitted from tourism at the cliffs. Small tables where members sold their goods in the 1800s later developed into the Aquinnah Shops, which now form the hub of tribal commerce on the Island.

Derrill Bazzy, chairman of the town community preservation committee, which put together an advisory group to oversee the project, called it a shared effort between the town and tribe that will continue. “The Circle really cannot be approached in any other way,” he said by email. He added that the recent designation of Aquinnah Circle as a cultural district by the Massachusetts Cultural Council was another example of successful collaboration between the town and tribe.

The report focuses largely on parking and circulation, describing the Circle as “undirected and confusing” when it comes to navigation. It points to a convergence of busses, vans and pedestrians near the shops as an area of critical concern.

The area as a whole is designed for 160 cars, including a town lot that requires a fee during the summer. Twenty spots are reserved for residents and shop employees. The report notes the absence of bike lanes and bike paths, and the possibility for walking trails to better connect major features such as the shops and the lighthouse.

Recommendations related to circulation include consulting experts to study conceptual traffic flows, investigating alternative parking and shuttle systems for the peak season, and using time-stamped tickets that explain parking rules in writing. Rough designs illustrate alternative traffic and pedestrian patterns at the site.

Community discussion this year focused largely on the public bathrooms at the base of the Circle, including their distance from the shops, poor condition and a 50-cent fee that many oppose. Guidelines in the report include placing the bathrooms in a more central location.

Gathering places should be on a shallow slope, and no more than 200 feet from commercial areas and destinations, the report recommends. It also recommends regrading some areas, such as the interior of the Circle where the tribe holds its annual powwow, and making sure all current and future paths comply with American Trails grading standards.

Residents have stressed the importance of preserving the area’s natural character while improving the visitor experience. Among other things, the report notes the 48.5-acre Aquinnah Headlands Preserve to the north and south of the Circle, which provides habitat for least terns, northern harrier hawks and five other state-listed species. The guidelines call for limited pavement and the planting of ecologically important species.

The report also calls for the establishment of committees to “gather and place strategic educational technology” at the Circle, and organize historical audio and video material. It recommends developing a walking-tour brochure.

The report concludes by laying out a strategy for the future. The next steps would be to simulate some of the ideas graphically and hold additional visioning sessions to identify the areas of greatest concern. Residents could eventually vote on specific projects, and partner with local groups to obtain funding or conduct further study.

Mr. Bazzy said he hopes to work with the Conway School again next year, but that decision will be made in the fall.