How Public Markets Scale Up: Coming Out Of Your Shell

While every city now has examples of warehouses that have been converted to artist uses and creative industries, and more and more luxury condos, what do they do with old buildings whose spaces are too vast or quirky for conventional uses? With the right economics and history, a public market could be the answer. We highlighted five projects that exemplify the symbiotic relationship between scaling up and the adaptive reuse of old buildings. Read more.

More from Project for Public Spaces

• Black History Month: As Black History Month comes to a close, we found ourselves revisiting this powerful article on efforts to embed Black history in the public spaces of DC’s Barry Farm public housing complex (Brookings). Our partners at Main Street America also released a series about four thriving African American business districts across the country (Main Street America). Yet, a recent study tells us it isn’t easy for these “Black Wall Streets.” It found that highly rated businesses in majority-Black neighborhoods—as measured by Yelp ratings—experience slower revenue growth than highly rated businesses in otherwise similar neighborhoods (Next City).
   
• Market Cities: At WUF10 in Abu Dhabi this month, our co-founder Steve Davies presented alongside Slow Food International and Healthbridge Foundation of Canada on why cities need an overall strategy to support their public market ecosystem (Slow Food). Traditional markets around the world are under threat, even though many acknowledge their many social, economic, and health benefits (Next City). As the novel coronavirus spreads, this has only become more apparent as wet markets face the increasing threat of closure (Place).
   
• The Infrastructure of Democracy: Our Senior Director of Projects & Programs Nidhi Gulati speaks to how public spaces support democracy by acting as stages for communities to organize, empathize, and recover (Bay Area Monitor). However, this critical political infrastructure is always under threat of privatization, whether through the top-down placemaking of governments in Dubai (The Conversation) or the subtle encroachment of businesses in Denver’s Union Station (Denverite).
   
• When Engagement Isn’t Engaging: Public meetings are not always reflective of all of the citizens in a community (Curbed). Raleigh, North Carolina, is leading the charge to improve engagement by taking an unexpected step: abolishing its citizen advisory councils, and rebuilding its public consultation processes from the ground up (CityLab). 
   
• The Dream of a 15-Minute City: In her reelection campaign, Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo recently pledged to create a city where every Parisian is able to meet their essential needs within a short walk or bike ride (CityLab). Our founder Fred Kent took a look at how well Paris is doing so far in comparison to his home of New York City—spoiler: Paris is winning (The Social Life Project). Ultimately, as Deputy Director of Transportation Laura Torchio recently told an audience of transportation officials in New Jersey, the way to make our cities more walkable and bikeable starts with going back to the basics of what makes a great place (NJTOD).
   
• New Models of Transformative Placemaking: Our partners at the Brookings' Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking recently developed an economic mapping tool to help cities align their infrastructure, economic development, and land-use policies (The Avenue). In a new entry in the Placemaking Postcards series, our own Philip Winn highlighted how San Francisco’s Civic Center Initiative has introduced an inclusive management strategy that empowers vulnerable residents—including the previously incarcerated—to become stewards of the space (Placemaking Postcards). And another entry tells the story of Teachers Village in Newark, NJ, a mixed-use development that includes affordable housing for teachers, local businesses, and three schools as the anchor tenant (Placemaking Postcards). 
   
• Places in the News: Finally, here's a roundup of a few innovative placemaking projects making headlines this month: "IKEA, but for parks" (NextCity); a “vehicle” to deliver true, equitable mobility and access to health to vulnerable communities (State of Place); a project to map the inadequate number of public bathrooms in New York City (Urban Omnibus); a placemaking approach to hosting refugees (The Journal of Public Space); and lastly, Project for Public Spaces is excited to be working with the City of Charlotte to create the city’s first new publicly-owned public space in over 25 years (Knight Foundation).

“The public realm is where you see 'the other.' Even smaller interactions with someone who might be sitting on a park bench makes it possible for you to see someone who might come from a totally different walk of life than your own. That is the power of the public space. How do we expect people to know each other, stand for a community, and understand our differences if we never see them?” 

— Nidhi Gulati, 
Senior Director of Programs & Projects
Project for Public Spaces
 

• PPS Survey: Market Cities Initiative. Help us create a global database of market systems!
• PPS Training: How to Create Successful Markets (May 29-30)
• PPS Open Call: Placemaking Speaker Series
• PPS Event: Neighborhood Empowerment Project: A Framework for Local Placemaking, Placemaking Speaker Series (Mar. 19)

• Internship: Public Design Intern, Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, Biloxi, MS (Mar. 1)
• Award: Urban Open Space Awards, Urban Land Institute (Mar 6)
• Conference: 74th Annual National Association of Produce Market Managers Conference, New Orleans, LA, USA (March 23-26)
• Grant: Community Challenge, AARP (Apr. 1)
• International Competition: Reimagining Brooklyn Bridge, Van Alen Institute & New York City Council (Apr. 5)
• Grant: Challenge America, National Endowment for the Arts (Apr. 9)
• Conference: Main Street Now, National Main Street Center, Dallas, TX (May 18-20)
• Newsletter: Makeshift Mobility, PPS Board Member Benjamin de la Pena
• Job: Vice President/Community and National Initiatives, Knight Foundation, Miami, FL
• Publication: Rural Livability Workshop Report, AARP (Pre-Order)
• Publication: El-Space Toolkit: Strategies for Reclaiming Sites Beneath Elevated Transportation Infrastructure, Design Trust for Public Space
• Publication: The Hidden Wealth of Cities: Creating, Financing, and Managing Public Spaces, The World Bank
• Publication: A Guide for Creating a Playable City, The Urban Conga

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