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Uses & Activities: How to Create Great Public Spaces | Placemaking Round-Up

Posted June 4, 2023 - 08:49

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.

7 Tips for Creating Multi-Purpose Places
Our signature Place Diagram is an easy-to-use tool for creating great public spaces. In a new blog series, we are diving into each of the four characteristics of successful public spaces, beginning with the fundamental building blocks of placemaking: uses and activities.

Vibrant public spaces serve the various needs and wants of the people using them. Join us as we explore seven principles for cultivating multi-purpose places with examples from around the US and Mexico. Read more.
 

From the Blog
How Toronto’s Public Markets Are Integrating Equity, Inclusion, and Reconciliation
April 27, 2023

Explore Three Emerging Market Trends at the 11th International Public Markets Conference
April 5, 2023

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

11th International Public Markets Conference
If you're joining us at the 11th International Public Markets Conference in Toronto, be sure to share your experience at #publicmarkets23!
 

More Events & Opportunities
June 11-12 • Register for Placemaking Canada's 4th national gathering in Toronto, ON

Now through July 15 • New grants to help small and mid-sized communities repair the damage of divisive infrastructure. Apply and register for the informational webinar on Tuesday, June 6 at 2p ET.

Save the Date: We're excited to share Project for Public Spaces' fall line-up of online training courses:

  • Placemaking: Making it Happen September 5 - 21, 2023. Registration opens late June.
  • How to Create Successful Markets October 31 - November 15, 2023. Registration opens in August.

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

Public Space News
A New Study Finds Americans Are Exploring Their Cities Less. Researchers at MIT set out to study how more than 1 million people from different socioeconomic classes moved about their cities: Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle. The results showed that as early as 2020 when travel restrictions were put in place and even after they were lifted, people became less likely to visit areas where they earn significantly more or less than the general population. This trend is worrying policymakers as a loss in income-diverse encounters can lead cities to feel more polarized. (CityLab)

Preserving a Queer Beach in NYC. Bay 1 at Jacob Riis Park is known locally as the "People's Beach." It is a gathering space for many of NYC's queer and trans community. However, when the Neponsit Hospital complex, a local landmark, was scheduled for demolition, people in these communities, most of whom do not live in the area, but commute in, were not consulted as a critical “constituency.” This means their ideas of what should happen with this public space were not considered. Many hope that moving forward the Parks Department will include more of the people who actually use the space instead of focusing predominantly on local homeowners. (Urban Omnibus)

Cities for People by the People. For all the podcast lovers out there—Perkins&Will has kicked off a new season of their show "Inhabit." In the latest episode, the three co-hosts including a public health expert, an urban designer, and a writer go out on the streets of Toronto to interview people on what they think makes a public space a public space beyond just being "public land." They also interview Zahra Ebrahim, a public interest designer, on creating a context where people can thrive. (Inhabit)
 

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

  • Lessons from Calgary: Increasing the everyday vitality of a city's downtown (Calgary Herald)
  • Designing for slower driving speeds and more kid-safe streets (Strong Towns)
  • NYC puts $30 million toward supporting public spaces including open streets in under-resourced neighborhoods (Streetsblog NYC)
  • Garner inspiration from nature for an ecological approach to placemaking (Phil Myrick LLC)
  • A controversial bus shade prototype in LA draws attention to the city's need for gender equity in public transit (LA Times)

11th International Public Markets Conference Sponsors
We're thrilled to welcome OMAFRA as a Gold Sponsor. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is committed to growing Ontario’s agri-food sector and supporting rural communities, helping to create a stronger economy for the province. Learn more!

Le Ministère de l’Agriculture, de l’Alimentation et des Affaires rurales s'engage à faire croître le secteur agroalimentaire de l’Ontario et soutenir les collectivités rurales pour aider à renforcer l’économie provinciale. Info.
 

P.S. Missed our last newsletter? This was our most popular read—enjoy!

Copyright © 2023 Project for Public Spaces, All rights reserved.

 

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