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How a Library Pop-Up Is Protecting Public Wi-Fi | Placemaking Weekly

Posted February 8, 2021 - 00:12

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.

How a Library Is Reimagining Public Wi-Fi During COVID-19
When the Somerville Public Library closed due to COVID-19 in March 2020, one of its vital services that proved hard to provide safely was wireless internet access. 

Over three days last month, local placemaking nonprofit CultureHouse transformed an empty courtyard at this library into an all-weather workspace for the community—bringing back free Wi-Fi to a community where one in five lack access. Read more.
 

More from the Blog


Our Top 10 Articles of 2020
December 17, 2020 • by Nate Storring

Winter Placemaking During a Pandemic: Six Ideas from Around Canada
December 11, 2020 • by Alyson Dobrota & Gail Armour

The Power of Placemaking through Corporate Social Responsibility
November 16, 2020
 

Events & Opportunities
Feb 10, 2021 • How to Bring Democratic Decision-Making to Authentic Community Engagement, Next City

EXTENDED: Feb 15, 2021 • Call for Nominations: Great Places Awards, Environmental Design Research Association & Project for Public Spaces

Feb. 18, 2021 • Watch Party: A Pandemic of Opportunity: What & How to Change the Public Realm, SF Urban Film Fest & Project for Public Spaces, featuring PPS's Juliet Kahne

Mar. 12, 2021 • Request for Applications: Rural Design Workshops & Learning Cohorts, Citizens' Institute on Rural Design

New • Job: Chief Executive Officer, Baltimore Public Market Corporation
 

Public Space News
Just in time for Black History Month. Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, a new book out this month, explores the four-century history of African America through the voices of prominent Black writers. (CityLab)

As Brentin Mock writes in review, "The Black experience in America can be defined in large part as the never-ending search for refuge, sanctuary, and safe spaces to live, away from the plantation in all its forms, but to no avail."

Shared Governance. In this essay by open government advocate Bianca Wylie and co-design champion Zahra Ebrahim argue that creating equitable public spaces requires us to think as collaboratively about rule-making as we do about placemaking. (Azure)

Build Back Better, but Better. State of Place founder Dr. Mariela Alfonzo and writer Sam Lubell make the case that a federal infrastructure plan won’t be enough to fix the inequities built into our neighborhoods, homes, and public spaces. (Slate)

Instead, they propose a "spatial equity recovery": "Significant enhancements to buildings, streets, and public spaces that could create jobs, seed economic opportunities, drive productivity, and dramatically cut costs related to health, crime, and more."

Re: Zoom Towns. More of us than ever before are choosing to forgo formal offices. But some metro areas have seen bigger gains than others. (CityLab) Yet despite this rise in remote working among white collar workers, the appetite for city living still seems strong among city dwellers. (CityLab)

London's Low Traffic Neighborhoods Face Equity Questions. Recent street adaptations are intended to make more space for bikes and pedestrians. But a new court ruling says they could have an adverse impact on disadvantaged groups. (CityLab)

Performative Pedestrian Infrastructure. Joe Cortright walks you through a new street improvement in Houston, where pedestrian window dressing masks a foundation of auto-oriented design. Unfortunately, this is a common practice in many American cities. (Strong Towns)

Two Cities Expanding Food Carts. New York City Council passed a new bill that will gradually lift the decades-old cap on street vendor licenses. (CityLab) Meanwhile, in Dallas City Council considers a similar bill. (Dallas Observer)
 

Placemaking Playbook
Here is a roundup of 10 inspiring placemaking ideas from the week:
  1. A list of 11 Black urbanists that every urbanist should know (Planning)
  2. The story of Samuel J. Cullers, the first American Black “professional trained” urban planner and housing advocate (coUrbanize)
  3. Edmonton's plan to make alleyways great places to live (Next City)
  4. A project to map every monument in St. Louis (Next City)
  5. The quest to get Lego to make a little space for bicycles (The Verge)
  6. A sustainable village of 9,000 shaped by the Squamish nation in Vancouver (Globe and Mail)
  7. A Kansas City neighborhood that is protecting renters while investing in itself (Brookings)
  8. A reflection on trust and public space from Minneapolis and Akron (Civic Commons)
  9. A new book on the neuroscience of urban design (CNU Public Square)
  10. Five planning trends to watch in 2021 (Planetizen)

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

 

 

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