Placemaking 2003: the Year in Review Placemaking 2003: The Year in Review London calling, page 7 The Placemaking Movement 3 Defining the Movement 4 Developing Key Constituencies 5 Expanding the Movement 9 11 Bryant Park, NYC, page 8 The Debate over Design Working with Influential Partners 13 Putting Ideas into Action 14 Placemaking as Community Development 17 Local Economies and Local Food Systems 17 Connecting Technology and Place 19 Promoting Civic Engagement in Eastern Europe 20 Barcelona, page 12 Great Places Underway 23 World Class Institutions, World Class Public Spaces 23 The Return of the Civic Square 25 PPS Staff 27 Board of Directors 27 Partners and Communities 28 The Peninsula Corridor Plan, page 16 Cover: New Gyumri Festival and Placemaking EXPO in Gyumri, Armenia, page 23. 153 Waverly Place New York, NY 10014 PPS T (212) 620-5660 PROJECT for F (212) 620-3821 PUBLIC SPACES www.pps.org Local food systems, page 20 Placemaking: The Year in Review 3 2003 was a pivotal year for PPS spaces through community-driven design. —a year in which our placemaking approach Read on to learn about the growing place- was embraced by the cities where we making movement, the shift within design worked, the professionals we trained, and the professions to emphasize community places people we reached through our expanding over high-profile designs, and the ways place- online resources. making is contributing to community develop- ment. See how our projects are yielding In 2003 our work had tangible impacts from results by creating livelier parks, safer streets, city streets to the hallways of academia, and and revitalized downtowns. we can feel the momentum growing stronger. We hope you find it enlightening, We wanted to share our accomplishments with you, and encourage you to take part in and that you'll join us in our the exciting effort to create great public efforts. About Project for Public Spaces Project for Public Spaces, Inc. (PPS) has an interna- tional reputation for its work on the design and man- agement of public spaces. A nonprofit, PPS was founded in 1975 to continue the pioneering work of writer-sociologist William H. Whyte. Through workshops, training, community planning, design review, research, and other activities, PPS promotes Placemaking, a process that helps empower and engage members of a community to participate in, understand and con- tribute to the evolution of the common spaces that define that community. PPS has helped over 1,000 communities all over the world. Public and private organizations, federal, state and municipal agencies; business improvement districts; the private sector; neighborhood associations, chambers of commerce and other civic groups have all worked with us to create a sense of place in their downtowns and neighborhoods. To find out more about PPS, go to www.pps.org or call us at (212) 620-5660. Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland, Oregon 4 Project for Public Spaces Community-driven design in Littleton, New Hampshire. We call our method "placemaking" to emphasize our belief that cities thrive on well-managed community places, not superficial designs. Placemaking: The Year in Review 5 The Placemaking Movement How PPS is growing the movement to improve public spaces through community-driven design The placemaking movement was born over PPS was founded in 1975, we used their forty years ago, when pioneers like Jane ideas to develop a unique method to help Jacobs and William H. Whyte published their communities make better public spaces. We groundbreaking ideas about Americans and began calling this method "placemaking" to the urban experience. Back then there was emphasize our belief that cities thrive on well- no name for their way of thinking--they simply managed community places, not superficial showed us that cities should be designed for designs. This simple idea--combined with the people, with walkable streets, welcoming pub- work of our predecessors--seeded a movement lic spaces, and lively neighborhoods. When that is just now beginning to bloom in full. Pioneers of the placemaking movement The real heroes of placemaking can be These more renowned individuals - these dynamic personalities as they found in cities and towns across the Jane Jacobs, William H. Whyte, have helped to seed the larger place- US, working hard every day to improve Christopher Alexander, Roberta Brandes making movement. the public spaces in their communities. Gratz, Tony Hiss, Allan Jacobs, James While we would love to feature and Kunstler, Clare Cooper Marcus, Ray Our "Placemaker Profiles" feature is our award each one of them, for now we Oldenburg, and Enrique Penalosa -- effort to highlight some of these lead- are electing to profile some of the writ- have captured our imagination about ers and to bring together their valuable ers and leaders that have most the potential for creating great places stories, key insights and compelling inspired others to take on the struggle in every community. We at PPS have visions. Visit the PPS web site to of creating great places. been heavily influenced by several of browse their profiles. 6 Project for Public Spaces Defining the Movement movement encompass a broad cross-section of professionals and laypeople: landscape archi- Through our project work in cities and towns tects, traffic engineers, community development across the country, we've met hundreds of experts, government officials, and community community activists and civic officials that are activists, for starters. We know that they come dedicated to placemaking: they know that bet- from all over the world—six continents and 130 ter public spaces are the result of community- countries. In 2003 they viewed our website driven design, and PPS's message resonates over 11 million times (almost triple the 2002 deeply with them. They are the heart of the number), and they came away with resources— placemaking movement. like our place diagrams and image collection —to help them in their local placemaking efforts. The movement also reaches beyond the places Here's a sample of what they are telling us: where PPS is currently working—people every- where are applying the PPS placemaking "We are hoping that with your techniques, we can model to improve their public spaces. We know put the life back in our town parks." from the thousands of queries and emails we receive that the people who comprise the "I am heartened and energized by the work you are doing and look forward to learning all I can!" Placemaking: The Year in Review 7 Developing Key Architects, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the Constituencies Federal Highway Administration, and the National Park Service are spurring entire pro- In 2003, we witnessed a three-fold increase fessions to consider the value of community in visits to our expanding website. As these places over project-driven designs. visits grew, we moved to complement our online resources with presentations and events We are also bringing the movement to design targeted at influential constituencies. Our goal professionals through our training program, is to simultaneously build the movement which continued to grow in 2003. 120 people among grassroots supporters and show key attended our ASLA accredited "How to Turn a decision-makers why they should get on- Place Around" workshops in New York City board. Our presentations to leading national and London. The London workshop, co-host- bodies such as the American Institute of ed by The Prince's Foundation, was espe- People everywhere are applying the PPS placemaking model to improve their public spaces. Significant strides being made in the UK You can't create great places without launched a Sustainable Communities Wales that is yet another key organiza- getting people involved from the bottom Plan that specifically targets the quality tion collaborating with groups at the up, but it certainly helps to have of public spaces as part of a holistic local level. At the invitation of the friends at the top. In the UK, people at effort to address housing needs and Prince's Foundation, PPS held a "How the highest levels of government have rural preservation, and CABE Space, to Turn a Place Around" workshop in demonstrated a strong desire to an agency established earlier this year, London last June. With 40 participants improve public spaces, and they have aims to "ensure that every person in from all over the UK, it showed how to recently delivered major results. England has easy access to well use a community-based approach to designed and well looked after public preserve historic sites and create high- At the local level, the Mayor of London space." density developments that fit with the implemented traffic congestion charges existing urban fabric. that have significantly reduced motor These agencies have set the tone for vehicle use in the central city. the work of non-governmental organiza- Nationally, the Office of the Deputy tions such as The Prince's Foundation, Prime Minister (ODPM) recently a charity established by the Prince of 8 Project for Public Spaces cially significant since it gave us the opportu- was hosted by PPS and the Central Park nity to hone our partnerships with influential Conservancy with New York City Parks & British organizations that share our commit- Recreation and many other local and national ment to better public spaces. Our meetings partners, including the City Parks Alliance. with CABE Space, GreenSpace, and The The conference convened nonprofit leaders, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister were civic officials and community activists from proof positive that the placemaking movement over 12 countries to exchange ideas about is truly international in scope, with significant parks as catalysts of urban revitalization. With strides being made in the UK to make streets over 500 people from 100 cities converging that serve pedestrians and parks that function in New York, it was by far the best-attended as great community places.
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