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Public Parks are Landing Private Operators Across U.S.

By ksalay@pps.org on Feb 12, 2007 | Add Comment

Survival of parkland is becoming more and more dependent on private funding. But critics warn that if you demand that parks pay for themselves, less-affluent areas will suffer from wavering public support.

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Rockefeller Foundation Announces Award to Honor Jane Jacobs

By ksalay@pps.org on Feb 9, 2007 | Add Comment

The Rockefeller Foundation announced the creation of the Jane Jacobs Medal, an award that will recognize individuals whose creative vision for the urban environment has significantly contributed to the vibrancy and variety of New York City.

The medal will be given annually to two people: one who has made a lifetime contribution and another [...]

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Rural Colleges Seek New Edge and Urbanize

By ksalay@pps.org on Feb 7, 2007 | Add Comment

For decades, colleges in rural areas of the country embraced a pastoral ideal, presenting themselves as oases of scholarship surrounded by nothing more distracting than lush farmland and rolling hills. But many officials at such institutions have decided that students today want something completely different: urban buzz.

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Making Downtown Atlanta More Pedestrian-Friendly

By ksalay@pps.org on Feb 6, 2007 | Add Comment

$3.1 million will be spent over the next two years on an effort to improve streets in Downtown Atlanta and make the city’s heart more pedestrian friendly. Projects include in-ground sidewalk planters along curbs to dissuade walkers from crossing in the middle of streets, more mid-block traffic signals that can be activated by pedestrians, realigning [...]

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Is New York Still the Pedestrian Capital of America?

By ksalay@pps.org on Feb 1, 2007 | Add Comment

“Lately, though, as far as pedestrian issues go, New York is acting more like the rest of America, and the rest of America is acting more like the once-inspiring New York.

…One reason New York is losing its New York edge may be that the city’s revival is partly based on a strange reversal: [...]

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Paris Plans to Stop Invasion of Megastores on the Champs-Elysees

By ksalay@pps.org on Feb 1, 2007 | Add Comment

The Paris city government has begun to push back against the proliferation of megastores, promising a plan aimed at stopping the “banalization” of the Champs-Elysees. The question is whether it is too late.

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Private Partnerships Help Fund Public Parks

By ksalay@pps.org on Jan 29, 2007 | Add Comment

Public-private partnerships are a key source of funding for parks, even in cities with generous park budgets.  “No matter how well funded a city’s parks are, they still need some help,” said Andy Wiley-Schwartz, vice president at Project for Public Spaces. “Having community stewards is priceless, and every city knows that, whether they fund [...]

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A More Sensitive Approach to Street Planning

By ksalay@pps.org on Jan 26, 2007 | Add Comment

“Move more people, not vehicles.

Create better passageways that connect into existing roads rather than increase asphalt lanes.

Develop plans that are sensitive to existing roads, neighborhoods and land uses.

Above all: Include the public in conversations with engineers from the very beginning.

It seems simple enough, but the basic tenets of Context Sensitive Design [...]

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A round peg sometimes does fit in a square hole

By ksalay@pps.org on Jan 24, 2007 | Add Comment

“Inserting a tall building into a neighborhood of mostly two- to six-story buildings is a recipe for conflict. Where some see revitalization and an expanded tax base, others see architectural Armageddon: loss of human scale, more traffic and parking headaches, dark shadows on the streets.

But what if the lanky newcomer is shapely, not [...]

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A New Plaza For Downtown Raleigh

By ksalay@pps.org on Jan 18, 2007 | Add Comment

The central location and the expanse of space to facilitate a variety of different uses are getting people excited about the newly proposed City Plaza in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, despite the fact that it will cut through a well-used street.

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Waterfront Art Park To Open In Seattle

By ksalay@pps.org on Jan 18, 2007 | Add Comment

A public park and art space is set to open next week along Seattle’s waterfront, replacing a former brownfield site. The new Olympic Sculpture Park was created by the Seattle Art Museum, an expansion of which is set to open in May.

Image (c) Paul Warchol

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Farmers’ Markets Embody our Need for Connection and Community

By ksalay@pps.org on Jan 17, 2007 | Add Comment

“Even as our farmland has been devoured by suburban sprawl, Californians have voted with their shopping bags to make farmers’ markets an increasingly ubiquitous element in big cities, small towns and, yes, even those suburbs that pave fields of vegetables. Beyond the showcase pavilion of San Francisco’s Ferry Building — an orgy of organic [...]

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