The Metropolitan Planning Commission administered a short online survey for Chatham County residents in order to collect public feedback in preparation for the forum on creating and sustaining public places to build communities. The forum will take place at the Coastal Georgia Center.
In Chicago, PPS recently teamed up with the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) to provide training to both local officials and community leaders focusing on community-led Placemaking initiatives, and to assist them in setting up a Placemaking campaign for the city. The partnership includes the recently-published Guide to Placemaking in Chicago, which provides basic training on Placemaking at a local level and highlights specific examples of citizen-led Placemaking in the city that has already led to sweeping improvements on local streets and in neighborhoods. The book also guides communities in evaluating their public spaces and provides a framework to engage local businesses and government in helping implement improvements.
The partnership also included two days of training, for both city officials and community activists alike.
For more information on the Chicago campaign and to download a free copy of A Guide to Placemaking Chicago, visit www.placemakingchicago.com
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Fred will speak at the annual City of Bergen conference around the concept of “The Future City” and issues related to how cities will be envisioned and should be planned in the future.
Gary will participate in a discussion as a part of the National Center for Bicycling and Walking’s Active Living Resource Center. The purpose of the meeting is to create a roadmap to both encourage communities to become more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly, and provide them the technical assistance to do so.
The Roadmap will hopefully create a guide to using and implementing the wide range of active living tools, projects and programs that put communities on the path toward fashioning themselves as active living environments.
PPS has just begun a collaboration with the town of Charlotte, NC to develop open space and parks in the town’s Uptown Cultural District. They are not only open to suggestions but actively soliciting feedback from residents.
Recent suggestions include a large park for concerts and festivals, incorporating bike and pedestrian friendly transit, and building a connector to compensate for the I-277 barrier.
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Fred travels to Turin, Italy to participate in the conference “Destination Italy: Scenarios, Trends, and Strategies to enhance Italian Tourism” presented by Fondazione Rosselli and Confturismo. As a panelist for the session “Friendly Urban Contexts: Ways of living / visiting cities, Fred will discuss urban quality, urban public spaces and accessibility with architect and Harvard professor, Reem Koolhaas.
Renee presents at the annual meeting of the Oyster Bay Main Street Association about PPS and placemaking and how this is relevant to opportunities and challenges faced in Oyster Bay. Attending the meeting is a broad and diverse cross-section of interests from community residents to business, non-profit, and political leaders.
Cynthia Nikitin travels to Seoul Korea to speak at The Hope Institute’s 4th Public Design Exhibition and Seminar. The topic is Design Imagination for Better Community.
She will also speak on the recent translation of How to Turn a Place Around into Korean!
The latest in urban planning, citizen action and placemaking…
Elena Madison is an urban planner with a focus on park and square planning, neighborhood planning and organizing, and pedestrian enhancements. Since joining PPS in 2001, Elena has managed and contributed to a number of PPS’ projects in park and plaza planning, transportation, neighborhood development, and international training and technical assistance.
These projects include a placemaking and visioning effort with NJDOT for an area along a state highway in Newark; a pedestrian crossing study for Ohio State University in Columbus, OH; a plan for a new park and downtown square in a new mixed-use development in Ontario, CA; a downtown square redevelopment plan in Krusevac, Serbia. Currently, she is managing a collaborative effort with the local Community Development Corporation on a façade improvement and streetscape enhancement study and guidelines for a neighborhood in Newark.
Elena has experience working on park and open space plans, downtown squares and street enhancement plans, pedestrian access studies and user analysis. She has managed large team initiatives, as well as smaller projects, and has conducted numerous placemaking initiatives, workshops and trainings.
City University of New York, Hunter College, Master of Urban Planning, 2001
College of Mount St. Vincent, Bachelor of Arts, 1997
American Planning Association
American Planning Association Robert C. Weinberg student award for outstanding achievement 2001
Bulgarian
French
Russian