Weekly Placemaking Round-Up | May 8 - 14, 2017 - Project for Public Spaces

Posted May 15, 2017 - 11:21

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: May 8 - 14, 2017

Remember Pokémon Go!, last year’s gaming app that everyone seemed to have an opinion about, but which inarguably got people off their couches and into public spaces? Creators of the app have teamed up with the Knight Foundation in a multi-year project to promote civic engagement in communities, and their first city-organized event took place last week as part of an Open Streets program in Charlotte, NC.

Topics: Digital Placemaking
As part of an ongoing transportation experiment in Denver, CO—a city grappling with a surging population, intensifying traffic, and high demand for driving alternatives—street space in busy commuter corridors is being divvied up to accommodate transit and bike lanes, thus “ending the decades of supremacy enjoyed by cars."

Topics: Streets as Places
And across the pond, new plans for a key intersection in Dublin’s city center will help turn College Green—a beautiful but poorly-planned public space—into a welcoming square. Construction will begin in 2018 to transform this auto-centric zone into a space for pedestrians, bikes, and a new streetcar.

Topics: Streets and Transit, Squares
Just as you can't pick up and move the entire ecosystem of a rainforest, relocation can also upset the complex social and economic fabric that makes up a place. In Nigeria, plans to relocate “Computer Village”—a huge, informal tech market in the heart of Lagos—to an industrial park in the city’s outskirts, has sparked public outcry. Many fear that the effort to ease area congestion will devastate local business and alienate those who can’t afford to travel far or buy tech products online.

Topics: Placemaking and Local Economie s

More Placemaking Stories & Ideas

5 Big Ideas to Better Integrate Nature into Cities (Citiscope)
Is Placemaking Another Urban Fad or a Tool for Change? 5 Questions You Need to Ask (LinkedIn)
Great Places: What Every Urban Enthusiast Should Know (Modern Cities)
How to Fix Climate Change: Put Cities, Not Countries, in Charge (The Guardian)
Creative Hubs Can Be Drivers of Innovation for All Society (HuffPostCanada)

Events and Opportunities

Job: Chief Operating Officer, Project for Public Spaces (Position open until filled)
Event: Van Alen's "Person Place Thing: Justin Davidson" Live Radio Show (NYC, May 15, 2017)
Grant: Transportation for America's Cultural Corridor Consortium to support Creative Placemaking (Deadline: June 2, 2017)
Training: "How to Create Successful Markets," at PPS's office in NYC (June 2017)
Conference: Placemaking Week 2017 in Amsterdam (October 11-14, 2017)

Instagram of the Week

Paris, France
Casual café seating on the Seine. 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 | May 8 - 14, 2017 - Project for Public Spaces