How an Atlanta Park Is Connecting People to Housing through Place-Based Social Services [2]

More from the Blog

Sneak Peek: Mobycon on the Dutch Approach to Streets as Places [3]
August 21, 2020

Restoring the Joy of Parks in Communities Impacted by Natural Disasters with the Makers of Claritin® [4]
July 31, 2020

Essential Places: Warren Logan on Open Streets Beyond Brunch and Bike Lanes [5]
June 26, 2020 • an interview with Warren Logan by Nate Storring

Equitable Development During and After COVID-19: Five Takeaways [6]
June 12, 2020 • by Nate Storring

Reimagining Streets as Places [7]

Virtual Training, October 5–21, 2020

The early bird rate for our upcoming Reimagining Streets as Places virtual training course [7] ends on September 4th, so don't forget to register before rates go up!

This interactive multi-day course will prepare participants to systematically change transportation infrastructure and behavior, implement community-based street activations, and balance the movement and public space functions of a street. Sessions will also include deep dives into topical issues, like responding to COVID-19. Register now. [7]

More Events & Opportunities

Sep. 3 Webinar: Homelessness, Parks & COVID-19 [8], Park People 

Sep. 10 Grant: Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge [9], U.S. Department of Agriculture

Sep. 30 Webinar: Don’t Just Tick the Box, Think Outside It: Reimagining Public Engagement in Parks and Public Spaces [10], Park People 

Oct. 1 Call for Proposals: EDRA52Detroit: Just Environments [11], Environmental Design Research Association

Missed any of our webinars on COVID-19 and public space? Watch the videos on our Events page. [12]
 

Policing Public Space: Last weekend, another police shooting put the unequal way that people are policed in American public spaces into stark terms. On the streets of Kenosha, WI, police shot Jacob Blake, a Black 29-year-old man, four times in the back as he tried to enter his car, where his three sons watched on (Vox [13]). Blake is now paralyzed from the waist down.

After a viral video of the incident drew protests, a white 17-year-old boy shot three protestors with a semi-automatic rifle during a scuffle, killing two of them. Responding police officers did not detain or fire on the shooter.

Muncie, All-American City: Project for Public Spaces fellow Jane Ellery was part of a team that was recently won the recognition of All-America City for the city of Muncie, IN, from the National Civic League. This honor recognizes Muncie’s work in inclusive civic engagement to address health and well-being and create stronger connections among residents, businesses, and nonprofit and government leaders (Muncie Journal [14]).

Keep the Suburbs Weird: During this election, President Trump has made "protecting the suburbs" a key part of his campaign, but most suburbs aren't the homogenous, single-family places his administration depicts (Brookings [15]). In fact, as author Jason Diamond's argues in his new book The Sprawl, the suburbs are more diverse, culturally rich, and strange than some urbanists might think (CityLab [16]).

From Polluted Waterway to a String of Pearls: In 2015, Project for Public Spaces produced a report for Middletown, CT, that proposed transforming a polluted waterfront into a string of connected destinations for the whole community. Today, remediation is underway to bring that vision to life (Middletown Press [17]).

To Tree or Not to Tree? Can planting trees make a city more equitable (CityLab [18])? Consider asking residents first (CityLab [19]).

Google Gets Granular: Google Maps, which has become a ubiquitous way for many people to navigate the public realm, is getting a visual overhaul worldwide, finally letting users distinguish forest from floodplain, and desert from snowfield (The Guardian [20]). Perhaps most interestingly for placemakers, though, selected urban areas will also add tiny street-level details, such as sidewalks, crosswalks, and accurate road widths.

What Killed Quayside? Google Sidewalk Labs bet big on their smart city project in Toronto, ON, Canada, and lost big time. Does their defeat by a handful of activists mark the end of an era of tech optimism (OneZero [21])?

New Leadership at ASLA: The American Society of Landscape Architects announced this month the selection of Torey Carter-Conneen as its new CEO (ASLA [22]). “I’m honored, humbled and incredibly excited to help the Society and the landscape architecture profession forge a new path forward to effectively address the growing challenges of the climate crisis, the urgent need for racial and social justice, and the stark realities and disruption of social norms caused by a global pandemic,” says Carter-Conneen.

Red Hot: New research demonstrates how the racist housing policy of redlining [23] has concentrated the urban heat island effect in neighborhoods of color, raising temperatures 5°F on average higher than other neighborhoods (New York Times [24]).

Farmers Markets Are Essential: In some ways, celebrating National Farmers Market Week [25] earlier this month felt bittersweet. While farmers markets are often viewed as a privilege for the well-off, the pandemic has cemented them as essential businesses that increase access to local, healthy food for everyone. Yet, even before the coronavirus, not enough support, funding, and resources have been directed to the organizations and individuals that run markets (Farmers Market Coalition [26]).

Here's a roundup of 25 inspiring placemaking ideas from the week:

1. People-powered placemaking transforms a racist monument in Richmond, VA (Greater Greater Washington [27])
2. The equity gap in plans for a 20-minute city (Smart Cities Dive [28])
3. June Jordan and Buckminster Fuller's utopian plan for Harlem (The New Yorker [29])
4. The pizza farms of the American Midwest (New York Times [30])
5. Ten actions for child-friendly streets (ArchDaily [31])
6. The reason every city looks the same now (The Atlantic [32])
7. Pandemic learning hubs for virtual education (Bloomberg Cities [33])
8. The broken algorithm that poisoned American transportation (Vice [34])
9. "Traffic gardens" that teach kids the rules of the road in Portland, OR (Bike Portland [35])
10. A new book on the collective power of small actions (Public Square [36])
11. A story of stewardship about a St. Paul traffic median (Streets.mn [37])
12. The Lakota teens that are maintaining a sense of place during the pandemic (ArtPlace [38])
13. A conversation with veteran PPSer Cynthia Nikitin about public space and resilience (Kaatscast [39])
14. The under-appreciated art of slow research and arts-led community engagement (The Nature of Cities [40])
15. A people's history of Skid Row in Los Angeles (Hyperallergic [41])
16. Public art in Memphis, rooted in environmental justice (Next City [42]) 
17. A COVID-19 guide to community engagement (Hester Street [43])
18. The case for joyful interventions (Strong Towns [44])
19. An app that uncovers racist symbols in your city (Fast Company [45])
20. A Main Street manager's guide to preparing for pandemic holiday shopping (Main Street America [46])
21. Comedy clubs that moved outdoors in New York City (New York Times [47])
22. An app to find out which Native territory you are in (Hyperallergic [48])
23. A history of America's beer gardens (Wine Enthusiast [49])
24. The case against policing noise pollution (The Local [50])
25. A planned greenbelt that combines recreation and fire protection in Paradise, CA (CityLab [51])