Farmers markets have long served as a way to increase food access in low-income areas, support small farmers and local businesses, and bolster a strong, locally empowering economy.
Now, with food insecurity heightened, the agricultural food supply chain at risk, and local economies devastated by businesses closures, farmers markets can fill a critical health and economic gap.
But they need federal, state, and local commitment to allow them to remain open and safe as essential services amid the pandemic. Read more.
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March 19, 2020
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Placemaking in the News
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Public Space Champions and Crackdowns: The gap is growing between cities that are opening more spaces for public use and those closing down even their existing public spaces (Planetizen). Some cities like Denver have opened up vast swaths of their street space to public use (Denverite), while New York City bungled the pedestrianization of just a few blocks (New York Magazine).
The way cities manage public spaces during COVID-19 are diverging, too. The City of Vancouver, for example, enlisted city staff as physical distancing "champions" to encourage safe use of public space (CTV News). In Philadelphia, on the other hand, police recently dragged a man off of a SEPTA bus for not wearing a mask, despite poor communication of the rules (Philly Transit Riders Union). The crucial question emerging is this: Who should enforce physical distancing in our public spaces and how?
Reopening Public Places: While recovery still feels like a long way off, that hasn't stopped experts from laying out a roadmap for how we may reopen our gathering places.
Richard Florida and Steven Pedigo have pulled together some of the guidelines necessary to safely reopen our broader public realm of transportation infrastructure, sports and arts facilities, Main Streets, and more (Brookings). Meanwhile, Michael Berkowitz makes the case for why social resilience will be vital in the next phase of recovery, after lockdowns are lifted (CityLab).
Public Life After COVID-19: During times of crisis, temporary measures rarely wind up being all that temporary. So when the pandemic itself has passed, what will be the lasting impact on our public space? Here are a few of the trends we are seeing so far:
- Density: A pandemic was bound to bring the anti-density advocates out of the woodwork (Planetizen), though as our friends at the Congress for New Urbanism point out, their arguments don't hold much water when you look at the data so far (Public Square). Given the many social, civic, and economic benefits of density, we agree that compact urbanism is here to stay (Brookings).
- Retail: More plausible is that a rapidly unfurling recession could make the overhyped "retail apocalypse" into a reality. William Fulton paints a picture of a post-COVID-19 world where Main Streets have more ground-floor residential, more personal care shops, more restaurants, bars and cafes—and less of everything else (Urban Edge). But it's also not too late to save the retail sector (Brookings).
- Surveillance: Surveillance systems have been used by many countries that have successfully recovered from the virus to track movements and social contacts of infected people, but some worry that once implemented, these systems would be hard to roll back (Bloomberg)
- Social Infrastructure: On the bright side, we are seeing signs that the United States may emerge from this moment with a greater appreciation for public spaces and the social and psychological benefits they provide (The Atlantic).
This is particularly true for communities that have been hit hardest by COVID-19 and its economic fallout. A lack of social infrastructure is just one of the many vulnerabilities that made this virus so deadly for some and not for others (Brookings).
Places in the News: Finally, here's a roundup of some recent innovative placemaking projects making headlines:
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Events & Opportunities
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Survey:
How can Project for Public Spaces help you during COVID-19?
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We believe placemakers have a key role to play in both "flattening the curve," and recovering from this crisis. That's why we want to know what kinds of resources would be most useful to you during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
Please take a few minutes to answer this multiple-choice survey, and let us know how we can help you meet the needs of your community.
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