4 Placemaking Tips for Public Markets | Placemaking Round-Up

Posted February 13, 2022 - 13:17

This round-up from the Project for Public Spaces connects people who share a passion for public spaces to ideas and issues, news, quotes, places, and events from the placemaking movement.

How to Transform Markets into Places

A lively scene at the Flint Farmers' Market where people can connect with each other.

With a little placemaking, public markets, like parks and plazas, can anchor communities and provide a place for people to gather.

In this article, Project for Public Spaces revisits one of its partners, the Flint Farmers' Market, and highlights 4 key takeaways for transforming markets into gathering places. Read more.

More from the Blog

Thinking Beyond the Parks Department: A Q&A with Javier Otero Peña
January 14, 2022 • by Priscilla Posada

Our Top 10 Articles of 2021
December 27, 2021 • by Nate Storring

Catching Up with the 2020 Clarity Parks Project™ Grantees
December 15, 2021 • by Priscilla Posada

How to Create Successful Markets

March 1 - March 24: Our upcoming How to Create Successful Markets online training will feature over 12 speakers from around the world—Deadline to register is Tuesday, February 22nd at 6pm!

Learn More & Register

Events & Opportunities

Now through February 15, 2022 • Apply for a Great Places Award, Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA)

Now through February 28, 2022 • TD Park People Grants, Park People Canada

February 28, 2022 • Cafecito Placemaking Chats, PlacemakingX

March 7, 2022 • Apply to the National Fund for Sacred Places, The National Trust for Historic Preservation

March 23-26, 2022 • Register for CNU 30.OKC | Resilient Together, Congress for the New Urbanism

Have an event or opportunity you would like to share? Email us at [email protected].

Public Space News

Maximizing Municipal Dollars. The American Rescue Plan, a federal aid package, will provide U.S. cities with funding for programs and services. Places like New York City can make this money go further by asking residents what they need and training government employees among other placemaking principles. (City & State New York)

Mutual Aid Support for the Unsheltered. In this podcast episode, Next City speaks with Sandra Comstock about how she and a group of Portland-based advocates set up a "Hygiene Hub" to offer unhoused people bathrooms, showers, washing machines, and a place to connect. Today this service is also able to offer paid employment to its users. (Next City)

Transformative Parks Projects. Park People is celebrating its tenth anniversary by showcasing 10 transformative park projects from across Canada. In this series, a wide array of the country's most notable urbanist writers explore the future of city parks. (P ark People)

Placemaking Playbook

As always, here's a roundup of placemaking projects and ideas that inspired us this week:

An excerpt from the book “Dream Play Build: Hands-On Community Engagement for Enduring Spaces and Places” by James Rojas and John Kamp (Next City)
Libraries have emerged from the pandemic as a key resource for low-income entrepreneurs (Bloomberg)
NYC's outdoor dining is likely to remain in place, but the shed-like structures will go (Curbed)
New York's Central Park launches a lab that will study the effect of climate change on urban parks (Bloomberg)
Philly to improve and restore many of its parks (Billy Penn)