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A Rural Placemaking Toolkit | Placemaking Round-Up

Posted June 5, 2022 - 09:38

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.

A Rural Placemaking Toolkit
“Allowing people a little autonomy in a public space is a good thing!” 
—Kelly Verel, Project for Public Spaces Co-Executive Director
Last week, our Co-Executive Director Kelly Verel delivered the keynote speech at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Placemaking in Small & Rural Communities Online Conference. In her presentation, Kelly shows how placemaking principles apply in small towns and rural communities with examples from around the country. Watch the presentation.

During this event, the U.S. Department of Agriculture also launched their new Rural America Placemaking Toolkit! This new resource includes guides ranging from how to lead community engagement to a directory of financial assistance providers. Learn more.
 

Recent Blog Posts
Announcing New Co-Executive Directors Kelly Verel & Nate Storring
March 27, 2021

A (Market) Place for Everyone
February 22, 2022 • by Priscilla Posada

Thinking Beyond the Parks Department: A Q&A with Javier Otero Peña
January 14, 2022 • by Priscilla Posada
 

Events & Opportunities
Now through June 19 • Apply to become a Ontario Community Changemaker and activate a public space, Ontario, Canada, Ontario Community Changemakers

Now through June 30 • Apply for the 2023-2025 Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards, Levitt Foundation

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

Public Space News
We recently worked with the nonprofit Fountain House to design a kiosk that provides place-based social service provision, including connecting people with housing, in the Times Square district of New York City. Credit: Ruvi Perumal
One Approach to Homelessness in City Parks. Vancouver is the first Canadian city to appoint a director of urban relations to work with people living in city parks. The role will be responsible for helping people transition to permanent housing while ensuring more comfort and safety at the existing sites. In addition, there will be a $4 million budget reserved for "encampment support." (The Globe and Mail)

Transforming Confederate Monuments. After the removal of Richmond, Virginia's Robert E. Lee's statue, its pedestal organically evolved into a colorful site of protest art. Despite the pedestal's success in becoming an inclusive gathering place, the state's former governor Ralph Northam had it removed. This Op-Ed dives into the need to go beyond taking down hateful monuments to ensure that the spaces left behind can become grassroots-directed places to reflect. (Next City)

Designing Cities for Older Adults. Many countries around the world expect the trend of an aging population to continue for the next fifty or more years. This means cities will have to be designed for people with differing needs and wants. For example, ensuring simple and readable signage could make streets more accommodating for older adults navigating sidewalks. (The Wandering Brain)
 

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

  • A placemaking kit-of-parts will help create pop-up cultural venues in NYC's public spaces (Archinect)
  • How "urban villages" can ensure independent mobility for people of all abilities (Planetizen)
  • Three ways public libraries strengthen community ties (Healthy Places by Design)
  • Five ideas to improve walkability in Manila (Vice)
  • Paris plans to transform a two-lane beltway into a greenway to mitigate pollution (CityLab)

Copyright © 2022 Project for Public Spaces, All rights reserved.

 

 

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