A Walk/Bike/Places to Remember

More Events & Opportunities

August 23, 2020: HartBeat of Main Street Grant proposals due, Main Street America

Missed any of our webinars on COVID-19 and public space? Watch the videos on our Events page.
 

More from the Blog

Essential Places: Warren Logan on Open Streets Beyond Brunch and Bike Lanes
June 26, 2020 • an interview with Warren Logan by Nate Storring

Equitable Development During and After COVID-19: Five Takeaways
June 12, 2020 • by Nate Storring

Black Lives Matter
June 1, 2020

A Placemaker's Perspective from Wuhan
May 29, 2020 • an interview with Zheng Yue (郑玥) 
 

City Planners Call on APA to Support Defunding the Police: This week, over 650 city planners sent a letter to their national professional organization, the American Planning Association (APA), calling on them to support efforts to defund the police (CityLab). The letter lays out the way that past and present planning decisions have laid the ground for higher rates of police brutality and incarceration in Black and brown communities, arguing that the organization cannot ethically sit on the sidelines of current national debates.

The letter echoes many of the issues discussed during "Does Planning Care about Black Lives?" one of the plenary sessions at Walk/Bike/Places this past week. In the session, anthropologist-planner Dr. Destiny Thomas raised the possibility of abolishing the profession of city planning altogether to Mitchell Silver, former president of the APA and president-elect of the American Institute of Certified Planners. "This is a great moment to imagine the 'what ifs' that we have never imagined before," said Thomas. Silver made the case for using the tools of planning to undo past injustices, but also acknowledged that every voice should be heard on the matter. Olatunji Oboi Reed, founder of Equiticity and and co-founder of Slow Roll Chicago, deferred to the two planners on the panel, but he added, "I am not of the opinion that institutions that harm us have the right to exist."

Winter Is Coming: "Throughout the pandemic, one lodestar of public-health advice has come down to three words: Do things outside," writes Joe Pinsker. "Later this year, that precious space will become far less welcoming in much of the U.S." (The Atlantic).

As cold and snowy weather comes to many parts of North America later this year, cities will once again have to find new ways to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic. The cities that succeed in this challenge will likely combine a wide range of strategies, but one key ingredient should be to start planning now for how an equitable approach to winter placemaking can help extend the outdoor season as long as possible.

Grocery Stores as Community Anchors: If you attended Walk/Bike/Places this week, you probably heard a lot about Cleo's Bodega from our co-hosts in Indianapolis, IN. This shop is not only the only grocery store on the majority-Black, near northwest side of the city, it is also an important gathering place, with a café and free wifi (Next City). The Bodega's ability to adapt and continue serving its community during the coronavirus pandemic is a testament to generations of tenacious place stewardship by Flanner House, a nonprofit that was founded in 1898 by formerly enslaved persons.

Other neighborhoods have also considered the idea of a small-scale community-driven grocery store as an anchor for the community. For example, with support from the Kresge Foundation, Project for Public Spaces had the privilege of working with Peaches & Greens in Detroit, MI, to expand a storefront produce stand into a robust grocery store and community space. Likewise, a planned community campus in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, IL, led by the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, will begin with the Go Green Fresh Market (CityLab).

Public Transit Can Be Safe: It seems counter-intuitive, but growing research has confirmed that subways, buses, and streetcars can be made safe during the coronavirus pandemic (World Bank). As Arturo Ardila-Gomez writes, the key is for transit providers to "adapt their operations to minimize the overlap of the three Cs: Closed and Crowded spaces, and Close contact situations."

Unfortunately, a nosedive in demand at the beginning of the pandemic has left many transit agencies in a dire financial situation, and to adapt successfully will require investing in increased service, as well as cleaning and design interventions. A safe recovery for all cannot happen without these investments.

Placemaking Playbook: Finally, here's a roundup of 13 recent innovative placemaking ideas and projects making headlines:

1. Just in time for National Farmers Market Week, a story of how Essex Market in Brooklyn, NY is adapting to COVID-19 (Brookings)
2. A new guide to the intersection of lighting and smart cities (International Nighttime Design Initiative)
3. A virtual tour of the Bronx from pre-colonialism to the present with an ecologist and an architecture critic (New York Times)
4. A woven public space sculpture to honor the Civil Rights Movement by Janet Echelman in St. Petersburg, FL (Dezeen)
5. Dog parks—high demand, highly controversial (Park People)
6. A collection of makeshift pandemic efforts to move activities outdoors (New York Times) 
7. Al fresco dining along a freeway median in Los Angeles, CA (The Onion)
8. The give and take of authentic community engagement (Park People)
9. The revival of wine windows, an plague-era tradition (New York Post)
10. An app to save trees in Europe's greenest city, Berlin (Next City)
11. An urban farm in Central Park to remember the Black village displaced for its creation (Fast Company)
12. The dangers and nuisances of outdoor dining (CityLab)
13. Tactical urbanism for plants, animals, and insects (Park People)