Weekly Placemaking Round-Up | April 17 - 23, 2017 - Project for Public Spaces

Posted April 24, 2017 - 22:25

Here is the latest issue this new weekly roundup of news, ideas, opportunities, and more - a curated list of content for placemakers by placemakers - from the Project for Public Spaces.

This Week's Highlights: April 17 - 23, 2017

As she wrote her 1961 playbook for the human-scale city, Jane Jacobs fought battle after battle against New York’s “master builder” Robert Moses. In his new film Citizen Jane: Battle For The City, Matt Tyrnauer depicts the Jacobs/Moses feud against the backdrop of the damaging urban planning practices of the time, while showing the ongoing re sonance of Jacobs’ ideas.

Topics: Architecture of Place, Jane Jacobs
Compared to some of our European counterparts—like Copenhagen, Amsterdam, or Oslo—U.S. cities have been a bit behind in creating great bike infrastructure, despite the numerous health, social, and environmental benefits of cycling. But we’re making progress! See the 10 U.S. cities that are leading the way, with the most progressive pro-bike policies and plans.

Topics: Streets as Places, Healthy Places
The 2015 controversy surrounding the Trump Tower lobby exposed some of the issues surrounding privately owned public spaces (POPS). Namely, their non-publicness. In theory, these spaces--which developers promise to make publicly available in exchange for zoning leniencies--add great value to urban life. But in practice, more than half of NYC’s POPs are in violation of these agreements.

Topics: Place Governance
Times Square just completed its 6-year transformation from a traffic trap into a place for people—doubling its amount of public space. Need more evidence on the benefits of placemaking? Since the plaza’s first pedestrian street opened in 2014, pedestrian injuries have decreased by 40%, car accidents by 15%, area crime by 20%, and air pollution has fallen by as much as 60%

Topics: Plazas and Squares, Streets as Places

More Placemaking Stories & Ideas

Vietnam Pavement Wars: No One Spared in Push to Reclaim Public Space (Channel News Asia)
For People of Color, Barriers to Biking Go Far Beyond Infrastructure (StreetsBlog)
Combining Crowdfunding and Placemaking to Help Communities Improve Themselves (FastCo) (Hat tip: Ebrahim Varachia)
The Isolation of Aging in an Auto-Oriented Place (StrongTowns)

Events and Opportunities

Event: AIANY’s “Hesitation and Constraint: Barriers to Social Research in Practice,” (April 24, 2017)
Call for Proposals: 2nd Annual Placemaking Week in Amsterdam (Deadline: April 28, 2017)
Job: Volunteer Member of Ottawa Municipal Services Corporation Board of Directors, to revitalize ByWard and Parkdale Markets (Deadline: May 1, 2017)
Conference: “Making Cities Together: Creating Safe, Inclusive, and Accessible Public Spaces” Nairobi, Kenya (May 3-4, 2017)
Conference: APA's National Planning Conference (May 6-9, 2017)
Job: Part-time Executive Director, Friends of Congress Square Park in Portland, ME (Deadline: May 12, 2017)
Symposium: “Making Sense of Place: Place Theory and Placemaking in Practice” by Pratt Institute and PPS (May 13, 2017)
Training: "How to Create Successful Markets," at PPS's office in NYC (June 2017)

Instagram of the Week

Madrid, Spain
A good example of a more permanent outdoor café. Be sure to check out Fred Kent's Instagram shots at pps_placemaking.

Have something to share? Please send your placemaking stories, news, job openings, grants, awards, calls for proposals, and events to [email protected] today. We'll be sure to give you a tip of the hat.

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Weekly Placemaking Round-Up | April 17 - 23, 2017 - Project for Public Spaces