The Trends that Defined the Pandemic | Placemaking Weekly

Posted May 23, 2021 - 08:47

This newsletter 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.

The Placemaking & Active Transportation Trends that Defined the Pandemic

Health equity and access, street adaptation, connecting advocacy to policy—these are some of the trends that have defined the past year of pandemic response and recovery.

In case you missed it, in this recent blog post we took a look at six placemaking and active transportation trends that emerged from Walk/Bike/Places breakout session proposals this year. Read more.

More from the Blog

Social Alchemy: Jim Walker on Placemaking as Utopian Experiment
May 12, 2021 • by Jim Walker

Place Governance Roundup: Three Ways NYC Could Better Care for Its Streets
April 17, 2021 • by Jackson Chabot

The Joy of Being In: Dr. Mindy Fullilove on Trauma, Healing, and Main Street
April 2, 2021 • by Nate Storring

Events & Opportunities

Walk/Bike/Places 2021

While in-person for our upcoming Walk/Bike/Places conference is now closed, it's not too late to register to attend virtually on June 15-18, 2021!

If you're still trying to decide whether to join us, take a look at the full program on our website. It includes session titles and speakers for all of our general and breakout sessions—which will all be available online for up to six months after the event. Learn more and register.

More Events & Opportunities

May 28, 2021 • Webinar: Placemake Earth 2021 Summary of Projects, Placemaking US

May 14-June 25, 2021 • Grant: Canada Healthy Communities Initiative, Community Foundations of Canada

ASAP • Job: Business Development Associate, Patronicity

ASAP • Job: Project Coach, Patronicity

ASAP • Job: Social Media Coordinator, Patronicity

Ongoing • Grant: Community Heart & Soul Seed Grants (for towns under 30,000), Community Heart & Soul

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

Public Space News

Monterrey Makes Remarkable Turnaround. Just a few years ago, the effects of a sprawling development had left central Monterrey depopulated and with significant public safety and economic challenges. Creative community engagement and work of local and international partners—including Project for Public Spaces in 2017—has led to dramatic improvements in quality of life while also decreasing the city's environmental impacts. Monterrey was recently selected as one of five finalists for the Ross Prize for Cities. (CleanTechnica)

Is Blue Space the New Green Space? The positive impacts of green space on human health and communities are well-documented. The forthcoming issue of Science posits that access to bodies of water is also key to wellbeing. Efforts are now underway to restore access to urban waterways, many of which were previously used for industrial purposes. (Science)

Cities Missing Out on Homelessness Funds. Cities across the U.S. have yet to take advantage of FEMA funding that is available to support their unhoused populations. According to a report by Grist, applications have only been received from 23 jurisdictions, with major urban areas such as San Francisco and New York absent from the list.

The report blamed poor coordination and relationships between cities and the federal government for the low reimbursement rates. The program expires with other pandemic relief measures at the end of September. (Next City)

Police Reform Won't Make Deadline. While negotiations continue, it is now unlikely that Congress will meet President Biden's May 25 deadline to produce a compromise bill reforming policing nationwide. While there are areas of agreement, the crux of the debate centers on qualified immunity for officers and police departments. The date marks one year since the murder of George Floyd, which catalyzed protests across the U.S. (WaPo)

Commercial Districts Face Uncertain Future. While tourists and residents are beginning to return to many urban areas, central business districts are still well below capacity. Even in cities that are nearly fully reopened, around half of office workers have yet to return. Urbanist Richard Florida writes about the impact on the service workers who support these neighborhoods, as well as how commercial areas might be transformed. (Bloomberg)

Placemaking Playbook

As always, here is a roundup of 10 inspiring placemaking ideas from the week:

The assumptions behind place-based programs that can hinder their success (Shelterforce)
These artists finding opportunities to work with developers to soften the impacts of gentrification (Next City)
A look at the incremental growth of resilient cities in the past (Strong Towns)
This program prioritizing low-income neighborhoods for tree planting (The Daily Climate)
A microfarm in a single LA front yard that can provide food to 50 families (Planetizen)
This look at the ways many cities let down pedestrians (Strong Towns)
A closer look at how to help small towns and businesses recover from the pandemic (Main Street America)
These examples of tactical urbanism engaging with young people in Calgary (Park People)
A call for greater availability of public toilets (Strong Towns)
A town in Germany that is designed to support its aging citizens (SoJo Exchange)