Thursday, May 14, 2020 • 12:00–12:59pm (ET)

As residents, designers, and policymakers adapt public spaces to face the threat of COVID-19 and its social and economic fallout, success will depend a great deal on our ability to experiment, observe, and learn.

So what better time to revisit the work of trailblaizing public space researcher and PPS mentor, William H. Whyte [2]? This Thursday, join Project for Public Spaces staff for a free watch party of Whyte's influential 1980 documentary, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Register now. [3]

More Events & Opportunities

Giving Tuesday: Missed out on #GivingTuesdayNow this week? It's not too late to support Project for Public Spaces [5] to mark this global day of generosity organized in response to COVID-19.

Webinar: Placemaking – Engaging Community in a Time of Physical Distancing [6], May 20 (featuring Nidhi Gulati, PPS)

Global Event: Porch Placemaking Week [7], May 30–June 5

RFP: Call for New Members [8], the High Line Network, May 31

Conference: Walk/Bike/Places 2020 [9], August 4-7

Looking for resources on how to respond to COVID-19? Watch our growing video library of past webinars. [4]

Communities in Nairobi Compete to Contribute to Public Space [10]
May 1, 2020 • by Miki Takeshita

Homelessness & Public Space During COVID-19: Seven Takeaways [11]
April 24, 2020 • by Nate Storring

Announcing Our New Senior Directors of Programs & Projects [12]
April 16, 2020 • by Christina Ragone

Farmers Markets Are Vital During COVID-19, but They Need More Support [13]
April 10, 2020 • by Hanna Love & Nate Storring

Open streets are gaining ground, but who are they for? Seattle is perhaps the first American city to announce that the streets that it has opened to pedestrians and cyclists in response to COVID-19 will become permanent (Seattle Times [14]). While the desperate need for additional public space has opened a window of opportunity for livable streets advocates, however, some have pointed out that physical distancing rules have opened up yet another front in the uneven policing that prevents black and brown people from accessing public spaces (The Guardian [15]).

If cities fail to collaborate with the communities most affected by the virus to address the intertwined inequalities they face, tools like open streets can only do so much good.

Finding More Space for More Uses: Following in the footsteps of Vilnius, Lithuania, this week the City of Tampa has announced that several "Business Recovery Zones" where roadways would be closed to car traffic to allow additional space for outdoor dining (That's So Tampa [16]). As businesses around the country are likely to reopen at significantly reduced indoor capacity to accommodate physical distancing, we hope more cities will consider loosening regulations on street vending and outdoor dining—while adding new health guidelines. 

But streets aren't the only open spaces sitting right under our noses that could serve more uses. Golf courses, graveyards, parking lots, and schools could all offer more space for people to get outside close to home (CityLab [17]). 

Sidewalk Labs Hits the Road: Google offshoot Sidewalk Labs has announced that it no longer plans to build Quayside, a controversial smart-city development in Toronto. While the company poured record amounts of money into community engagement, it also faced opposition from the beginning for their opaque relationship with the public corporation that selected them for the project, as well as concerns over data privacy (Globe and Mail [18]).

Placemaking Playbook: Finally, here's a roundup of 15 recent innovative placemaking projects making headlines:

1. A global snapshot of public space use during COVID-19 (Gehl [19])
2. A picnic blanket for physical distancing (Dezeen [20])
3. A COVID-19 intensive care unit in a shipping container (Pop-Up City [21])
4. A call for planting female trees to reduce pollen (Twitter [22])
5. Parking lots providing vital access to WiFi (New York Times [23])
6. A survey of indigenous innovations that work with nature (Pop-Up City [24])
7. Community portrait murals in Vancouver's storefronts (DailyHive [25])
8. Toronto trees wrapped in rainbows to honors essential workers (BlogTO [26])
9. A field guide to social interactions at the market (The Social Life Project [27])
10. A market finds a new kind of community by going virtual (Next City [28])
11. Watch Oakland's open streets in action (StreetsBlogNYC [29])
12. A history of crowded public spaces as an aesthetic (New York Times [30])
13. A little free pantry in Tampa (Tampa Bay Times [31])
14. Scenes of makeshift adaptations from around the US (New York Times [32])
15. A defense of aerial salutes from fighter jets (CityLab [33])