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Get Involved: Help Us Create More Community-Powered Public Spaces | Placemaking Weekly

Posted November 7, 2021 - 14:53

This newsletter 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.

There Has Never Been a Greater Need for Great Public Spaces
A placemaking transformation in Woodruff Park, Atlanta, Georgia, made possible through a grant and technical assistance from Project for Public Spaces.
A placemaking transformation in Woodruff Park (Atlanta, Georgia) made possible through a grant and technical assistance from Project for Public Spaces.
This week, Project for Public Spaces launched an open call for the first round of Community Placemaking Grants—a new way to kickstart the improvement of public spaces that serve the people who need them most.

As the past two years have shown us, these kinds of catalytic projects are needed now more than ever to ensure that everyone has access to a healthy, fulfilling environment. Today, we need your help making that vision a reality.
 
DONATE NOW
In order to further our work creating community-powered public spaces around the world, Project for Public Spaces has set a goal to raise $50,000 by the end of 2021.

Over the coming year, your gift will help us offer Community Placemaking Grants in more cities and towns, bring back our popular training series on placemaking and public markets, and more.

We’re incredibly grateful for any amount you can give. This drive ends on December 31st—but there's no day like today to show your support!
 

More Events & Opportunities
The 10th International Public Markets Conference in London, UK.
Interested in hosting our 11th International Public Markets Conference in your community? The Request for Information for conference co-presenters will be released in the Biweekly Bazaar—our public markets newsletter—on November 14th. Sign-up to the mailing list to keep up-to-date.

November 10, 2021 • Event: Place Driving Equity: Investing in Public Space for Shared Prosperity, Next City

Now through November 15, 2021 • Call for Sessions: Placemaking: The Intersection of People, Plants, & Gardens, American Public Gardens Association

Now through November 21, 2021 • Call for Presentations: the 21st Annual Parks & Greenspace Conference, Park Pride

Now through November 30, 2021 • Call for Session Proposals: CNU30.Oklahoma City, Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU)

Now through December 1, 2021 • Call for Projects: Bringing a Sacred Place to Your Community, Nature Sacred
 

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

From the Blog
Why We Need Market Cities
October 8, 2021 • by Kelly Verel and Kurt Wheeler

Getting Kids Outside for Better Health with the Makers of Claritin®
September 29, 2021 • by Priscilla Posada

Flyover Park: Empowering the Next Generation of City Builders in Calgary
June 25, 2021 • by Ximena González
 

Public Space News
The Loneliest People in America. Here's an interesting piece about co-housing as an antidote to the feelings of isolation parents of young children may feel. While many people tend to believe the elderly are the group most susceptible to loneliness, it's actually "young adults according to [a] Harvard survey) and mothers of small children."

This article underscores, for us, the importance of public spaces like parks and libraries where young people and their caretakers can connect with others. (NY Times)

Placemaking as a Statewide Strategy. The Bass Center on Transformative Placemaking just reviewed a new study on the economic impact of Michigan's statewide placemaking efforts. The results are promising, including higher occupancy rates on commercial corridors, and property value increases of $659 million in residential buildings and $3.2 billion in commercial buildings from 2008 to 2019. (Brookings) 

New York's Hart Island Will Become a Park. Hart Island is the largest public cemetery in the United States, and the last island in New York City to be made more accessible to the public. This fall the Parks Department has taken over control of this area previously run by the Department of Corrections "much like a jail." (Bloomberg)

There are some people who want Hart Island to have more limited access than, say, Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, which, in contrast, has actually extended its hours during the pandemic to give the neighborhood much-needed outdoor space. But as we've written before, there are respectful ways to break some of the taboos that frequently dictate our relationship with cemeteries.

Placemaking Playbook
As always, here's a roundup of placemaking projects and ideas that inspired us this week:
    1. Designing public spaces for "care" as a way to holistically combine culture, health, and more (CityLab);

    2. How a building for dorms at a public university ended up with almost no windows emphasizes importance of community engagement (Slate);

    3. Philly builds upon community fridge success with a free pop-up grocery store (Next City);

    4. A community garden allows immigrant Angelenos a way to express their cultural heritage (NY Times);
       
    5. A study shows how COVID-19 has expanded our personal space, maybe for good (Scientific American).

Copyright © 2021 Project for Public Spaces, All rights reserved.

 

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