Digging Deeper into Streets as Places [2]

More Events & Opportunities

Sep. 14 Webinar: Real Play City Challenge [3], PlacemakingX & Real Play Coalition

Sep. 16 Webinar: How to Keep Parks Clean in a Pandemic [4], Next City 

Sep. 30 Webinar: Don’t Just Tick the Box, Think Outside It: Reimagining Public Engagement in Parks and Public Spaces [5], Park People 

Oct. 1 Call for Proposals: EDRA52Detroit: Just Environments [6], Environmental Design Research Association

Video Now Available: Does Planning Care about Black Lives? [7], plenary panel from Walk/Bike/Places conference

Missed any of our webinars on COVID-19 and public space? Watch the videos on our Events page. [8]
 

When Dutch Mobility [9] meets Placemaking [10]

In case you missed it, our partnership with Dutch mobility firm Mobycon has us both so energized that we decided to write guest posts for each other's blogs!

In our guest post for Mobycon, the Project for Public Spaces team explores what streets are for, how placemaking applies to streets, and why recognizing streets as our largest public space asset matters now more than ever. Read more. [10]

In Mobycon's article on our blog, their team introduces how the Dutch approach to transportation planning can balance mobility with the need for streets that are safe, inclusive, and lively public spaces. Read more. [9]

More from the Blog

Restoring the Joy of Parks in Communities Impacted by Natural Disasters with the Makers of Claritin® [11]
July 31, 2020

Essential Places: Warren Logan on Open Streets Beyond Brunch and Bike Lanes [12]
June 26, 2020 • an interview with Warren Logan by Nate Storring

Equitable Development During and After COVID-19: Five Takeaways [13]
June 12, 2020 • by Nate Storring

Lockdown vs. Harm Reduction in Hawaii: While much of the country has taken great strides in adapting their public spaces to social distancing guidelines, prior to this Thursday the Island of Oahu, HI, had prohibited all access to parks and beaches. Even now people may only use these spaces alone—not even with other members of their household (Honolulu Civil Beat [14]). "This crackdown is really hurting people of limited means who are crowded into their apartments and houses and have no other alternative," said Meg Walker, Senior Placemaker at Project for Public Spaces.

Adapting in Downtown Detroit: In a new interview, longtime Project for Public Spaces collaborator Robert Gregory of the Downtown Detroit Partnership discusses how he has approached reopening the city's landmark public spaces and adapting his work life and workplace to the new reality (Authority Magazine [15]).

Playful Learning Landscapes: A new report from our partners at the Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking explains how cities can design, implement, and maintain "playful learning landscapes"—programs and installations that invite children to learn in everyday public spaces (Brookings [16]).

Public Health Needs Public Space: Researchers are making the case that the unequal distribution and investment in parks in American cities has contributed to higher COVID-19 deaths for Black and Latino Americans (USA Today [17]). "Think of the potential we would have as a society if health wasn't a barrier for people, if everyone was in tip-top shape," says Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "One of the most cost-effective ways to improve health is to find open space and use it."

Failure is the Best Teacher: A rush to return to pre-pandemic life could cause politicians to give up the chance to address the failures of our status quo (CityLab [18]). "Positive urban transformation," write Jennifer Bradley and Josh Sorin, "came out of an intense reflection on what caused such catastrophic failures and a deep commitment to find a better way forward."

Here's a roundup of 10 inspiring placemaking ideas from the week:

1. Six key considerations for translating COVID streets into long-term streets as places (Planetizen [19])
2. The clever signage in London that marks neighborhood streets open to pedestrians and users of wheelchairs, bikes, and scooters—not closed to cars (The Guardian [20])
3. The newly legal home restaurants revolutionizing California’s food scene (Eater [21])
4. A ballon on every mailbox to honor a "first class" mail carrier in Santa Rosa, CA (The Press Democrat [22])
5. A manifesto for place-healing (Planetizen [23])
6. A New NYC Club of Black and Brown Cyclists Takes the Streets (Curbed [24])
7. The myth of pedestrian infrastructure in a world of cars (City Observatory [25])
8. Janette Sadik-Khan’s case for returning urban space to citizens during and after the pandemic (The Guardian [26])
9. The wide sidewalks that have helped Toronto commercial corridors weather social distancing (The Globe and Mail [27])
10. The latest city to put an equity lens on its parks: Milwaukee (Next City [28])