3 New Trends in the World of Public Markets | Placemaking Round-Up

Posted April 9, 2023 - 19:09

This round-up 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.

Explore Market Trends at the 11th International Public Markets Conference

Hosting our inaugural Call for Speakers for the upcoming 11th International Public Markets Conference in Toronto provided us with the unique opportunity to witness the latest developments in the realm of public markets.

By evaluating 80 submissions from over 20 countries, we observed a growing interest from the field's practitioners to address the challenges posed by climate change, reduce the negative consequences of gentrification, and leverage multidisciplinary research. Read more.

From the Blog

The Ambiance of Life: Music in Public Spaces
March 7, 2023 • by Jim Walker

2022: A Year in Review
February 10, 2023

Our Top 5 Articles of 2022
December 28, 2022 • by Priscilla Posada

Social Inclusion Online Training

Register for our mini-training Places of Social Inclusion: Addressing Homelessness and Mental Health Needs in Public Space taking place Tuesday, May 16 and Thursday, May 18 from 10am to 12pm ET. This two-day crash course will provide an overview of how the mental health and housing crises play out in public space and how placemakers can partner with social service providers to contribute to more inclusive places and fairer cities—early rate ends April 27. Learn more.

More Events & Opportunities

April 2, 2-3pm ET • Register for The Policy Roadmap to Parks for All online discussion, Trust for Public Land & Next City

April 18, 11am ET • Register for the Medellín case study: Architecture, Urbanism and Planning webinar, Cities for Everyone with Gil

Now through June 2 • Submit a proposal a T-Mobile Hometown Grant Application, Main Street America

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

Public Space News

Prioritizing Community Needs in City Budgets. Cascais, Portugal, is a model for the benefits of participatory budgeting—most people in this coastal city live about 500 yards from a project funded this way. The benefits cannot be overstated; even the most qualified mayor would not be able to know all of the problems and all of the solutions for their city and participatory budget helps crowdsource this information directly from the community. If more cities around the world were to allocate more funds to this model, it would go a long way to ensuring citizens can engage directly in politics and satisfy local needs regardless of federal spending or gridlocked national politics. (The New Yorker)

A New Skate Park in Fort Worth, Texas. Project for Public Spaces is thrilled that one of our projects, Fire Station Skate Park, is celebrating its debut. Featuring an array of obstacles and terrain, this park is unique in the north of Texas and eagerly awaited by the community, many of whom were involved with the co-visioning process. It'll be exciting to see how people use the park to get exercise, gather with friends, and people watch. (Fort Worth Magazine)

Preserving "Third Places" for Teens. Third places like roller skating rinks and bookshops are disappearing. This is likely to affect adolescents who rely on free or low-cost activities to socialize outside of school. Faced with life in so-called "social deserts" many people in this age set are turning to video games to meet others, which brings up the question of how we might ensure public spaces are vibrant alternatives to life online? (Psychology Today)

Placemaking Playbook

As always, here's a roundup of placemaking projects and ideas that inspired us this week:

Eight must-read books for urbanists (Bloomberg Cities Network)
The interesting history of public lighting (ArchDaily)
NYC's transit officials consider a problematic time limit for sitting on benches in Grand Central Madison (Curbed)
Learn about three styles of street rebalancing programs including Open Streets, Quiet Streets, and School Streets (880 Cities)
How public art promotes inclusivity in Philadelphia, the unofficial mural capital of the world (American Planning Association)

International Public Markets Conference Sponsor Spotlight

We're thrilled to welcome Link Real Estate Investment Trust, Asia's largest REIT, as a Gold Sponsor. Owning and operating over 50 fresh markets and 130 assets in Hong Kong, Link plays an indispensable role in the lives of Hong Kong people. Learn more!

Support the 11th International Public Markets Conference

We're inviting institutions of all sizes to sponsor the 11th International Public Markets Conference in Toronto, June 8-10, 2023.

This is a special opportunity to advance your organization's mission and form lasting connections with leaders in the field of public markets. Benefits include free conference registrations, media mentions, and much more. Explore the sponsorship package.