Project for Public Spaces » Project Updates

Houston Library Plaza: Building Knowledge, Building Community

Project for Public Spaces — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 17:35:37 +0000

Children play on the central library’s “front porch” during LibroFEST / Photo: Houston Public Library

Library culture in the city of Houston is undergoing an exciting shift as the Houston Public Library reconsiders its public role. Instead of thinking of its programming as needing to remain within the building’s four walls, recent efforts are pulling the activity into outdoor spaces. Building upon the momentum of other successful downtown projects, Director of Libraries, Dr. Rhea Brown Lawson, reached out to PPS to help them realize their new vision.

Earlier this year, PPS’s Cynthia Nikitin and Elena Madison traveled to Houston to train more than 150 people—library staff as well as community partners and stakeholders—on how libraries can maximize the role they are inherently equipped to fill. Libraries are natural hosts of community life. They are recognized as broadly accessible places, intentionally inclusive, and welcoming for everyone seeking knowledge and cultural enrichment. Throughout the workshops, participants explored the potential of libraries to be active centers of public life and creativity, not merely static warehouses for books.

Today, the staff at the Houston Public Library’s central branch is directing their attention toward the plaza out in front of the building. In little time, this space has been transformed from a barren expanse of concrete into a public stage par excellence. Taking the core Placemaking principles to heart, the library has begun implementing a Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper strategy to attract more people to the space through a variety of programming and design improvements. With an eye toward connecting the plaza to what already exists in the surrounding area, particularly the weekly Farmers’ Market that takes place in front of City Hall across the street. The Central Library plaza now provides seating to accommodate spillover from the market, hosts a library card sign-up at the farmers’ market, and organizes book sale events. Lunch-hour readings are also creating an inviting gathering spot for the community of surrounding office and business workers.

It is important to note that much of the new programming is being organized without great additional strain on the library’s resources. For an institution that habitually deals with limited funds and staff capacity, community partnerships have been key in helping to implement the vision for the plaza. The mix of activities that’s taking place in this exciting new downtown destination—from simple events like readings all the way up to major celebrations like the recent LibroFEST, organized with Arte Publico, the Society for the Performing Arts, and Writers in the Schools—directly serves the needs of the business and residential communities that had heretofore stayed off of the streets, preferring to frequent the shops in the climate controlled underground tunnels instead.

Getting ready to perform during LibroFEST / Photo: Houston Public Library

Madison and Nikitin agree that the project has benefited enormously from the fact that Houston has been a forward-thinking city in terms of combining institutions and city services with the aim of creating great places. Strong early partners included the Houston Arts Alliance and Green Houston, and the City of Houston’s sustainability department in charge of the farmers’ market. As the plaza’s transformation has begun, additional partners like the Houston Public Library Foundation, Friends of the Houston Public Library, and a mix of local cultural organizations have helped to generate public and political interest. Collaboration has, from day one, been a critical component of the plaza’s success.

By positioning the plaza as an open and flexible platform, the library is now able to mingle with and integrate itself into the daily rhythm of its corner of downtown. In the long term, this will help to build support for more capital-intensive plans for the plaza, including a resurfacing and the construction of a water wall, an amenity at the top of locals’ list to provide relief from Houston’s hot, muggy summers. And although the new activities taking in plaza have necessarily been focused on the audience of the central branch, the seeds for change have been planted across the city’s network of libraries. It is hoped in the near future that more branches will start building out their own “front porches.”

In the information age, it is important to remember that we gain knowledge not just from the page (digital or print), but also from our interactions with other people. By taking the lead in Houston, the staff of the central library has proven themselves to be indispensable advocates of community life. Their example is one that other libraries would be wise to follow!

Creating Common Ground in a City Divided

Project for Public Spaces — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 19:17:16 +0000

Locals mill about Silanga Field, which will soon become the Silanga Community Centre / Photo: PPS

In Nairobi, Kenya, the contrast between rich and poor neighborhoods is beyond stark. And even though half of the city’s population lives on a mere 1.5% of the total land area, in Nairobi, public space is scarce. Since the creation, by Colonial powers in 1948, of the master plan that led to the formation of the city we now know today, little to no provision has been made for well structured common spaces for much-needed programming, activity, and services. In that same period, the city’s population has ballooned from 120,000 to more than 3.1 million people–and that’s just the official number! Nairobi is home to many informal settlements, where it’s very difficult to take an exact head count.

One of the most well-known of these settlements is Kibera, a massive slum comprised of 13 separate villages where most residents get by on less than a dollar a day. It is here where PPS has joined forces with UN-Habitat, the City Council of Nairobi, and local partners including the Kilimanjaro Initiative, KENSUP (the National Housing branch of the Kenyan Government), Chief of SOWETO (South West Township) in Kibera, and the Undugu Foundation, for one of two pilot projects in the city’s effort to create 60 great public spaces over the next several years.

Earlier this year in Kibera’s Silanga village neighborhood, PPS’s Cynthia Nikitin and Board Member Vanessa September met with community members to conduct a Placemaking workshop to generate ideas and support for the next phase of improvements to a soccer field that serves as an important recreation facility for this long-underserved community. Today residents continue to work toward the transformation of Silanga Field (which contains school facilities, a meeting room, a pottery studio, and other important resources) into what they have agreed, collectively, to re-name the Silanga Community Centre. “I have taken great delight in the confidence that is being displayed by the team in how they have taken ownership of the projects,” wrote PPS board member Vanessa September (who continues to work on the ground with partners) in a recent email. “If they have 58 more spaces to do, then the sooner they take ownership, the better!”

We have written previously on the Placemaking Blog about how dangerous social conditions produce alienating public spaces in developing world cities, especially for women. In Kibera, the desire for a safe and welcoming space for the community very clearly influences recommendations for everything from comfort to accessibility. A variety of Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper improvements are included in an as-yet-unpublished report detailing recommendations generated through the Placemaking process, with many of them focused specifically on creating a safe space for people to gather. From using fences to define the perimeter of the site (and designate entrance and exit points), to programming the space, very intentionally, with local security meetings and social programs focused on youth and good parenting, the focus on safety plays a critical role.

“The best way to make a public space safe,” the report suggests, “is by creating positive activities in and enhancing wider citizen ownership of the space.”

We often say that public spaces reflect the communities that surround them; this can be both a good thing, and a bad thing. In Nairobi, the lack of adequate public spaces reflects the stark social divisions across the city and, worse yet, reinforces them. Since Nairobians rarely come into contact with people from different socioeconomic groups, there is little upward mobility for people in places like Kibera—diminishing one of the chief benefits of urban agglomeration. The lack of space communicates to these people that their presence is undesirable. This contributes directly to the sense of isolation and desperation that makes for more dangerous neighborhoods.

In wealthy areas, meanwhile, fear of the violence created by this tension leads to more fortress-like compounds and walled golf courses when what the city really needs are great public spaces, and shared destinations where people from different neighborhoods and backgrounds can take part in the formation of a shared civic identity. Spaces like the Silanga Community Centre are steps toward a stronger Nairobi.

Presently, the UN-Habitat is working with local partners to accurately survey the site, and prepare for the RFP process in order to push forward on Silanga Field’s reconstruction. The newly appointed City Planning Director, Mrs. Rose Muema, recently presented on progress at the site both at the World Urban Forum in Naples Italy and more recently to major donors from Norway, Sweden, and Spain, “[stressing] the importance of participatory approaches to development.”

A Revolution in Placemaking

Project for Public Spaces — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 19:24:32 +0000

Since the Project for Public Spaces was founded in 1975,we have worked in thousands of communities around the world to help people shape their public spaces to create great Places, where locals feel a sense of ownership, and visitors don’t want to leave. Still, for as much fun as we’ve had, something feels different lately. There is a sense, in the cities that we visit and in what we hear from friends and colleagues from all points, that we are reaching a tipping point. We believe that we are at the beginning of a revolution in Placemaking.

Here in the US, we are part of several new partnerships and programs that will have us working in all 50 states, from big cities to small towns. The formation of major partnerships like Livability Solutions and CommunityMatters; PPS’s absorption of the National Center for Bicycling and Walking and the re-focusing of its Pro Walk/Pro Bike conference on the theme “Pro Place”; new work with federal and state agencies, including the EPA, NEA, and DOTs in multiple states–all of these events indicate a shift in the way that people are approaching their work, as they come to understand how focusing on place changes everything.

We are also working with the Ax:son Johnson Foundation and UN-Habitat to convene an international group of Placemaking leaders in Stockholm, Sweden, next summer. This event will be structured around the transformative agendas at the heart of our work, and will be the first of three major conferences leading up to Habitat III in 2016. We’re also bringing together the best and brightest place-centered minds for a Placemaking Leadership Council, which will meet for the first time at the end of the year, and will be instrumental in shaping our work as the Placemaking movement continues to grow.

These initiatives are the culmination of our work up to this point. We look forward to collaborating with our new partners on re-centering the discussion about sustainable, prosperous cities on Place, and to creating a “Town Square of Placemaking.” Below, we’ve rounded up photos from some of the most exciting work that we’re doing right now. There will be many opportunities in the coming months to plug into the growing global network of Placemakers. We’re looking forward to connecting with you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out!

We traveled to Nairobi this spring as part of Transforming Cities through Placemaking & Public Spaces, our joint program with UN-Habitat. We continue to work closely with our friends there, and are looking forward to bringing Placemaking to a global audience at the World Urban Forum in Naples, Italy, this September. (Photo: PPS)

Just last week, we announced the exciting news that PPS will be leading the National Endowment for the Arts' Citizens' Institute on Rural Design as part of our work with the Orton Family Foundation and its new CommunityMatters partnership. We're looking forward to putting lessons learned from recent work in rural communities, like the above-pictured plan for the future of Windham, NH's Village Center, to good use! (Photo: PPS)

We’ve had the pleasure of working on some of the most treasured places in Detroit, including Eastern Market, the largest public markets in the country, where we developed a comprehensive outreach program to foster closer links between the market and the community. Michiganders have taken to championing Placemaking, as well, from the grassroots to the real estate community the governor's office. (Photo: PPS)

You’ll be able to learn from farmers markets and public markets around the world at the 8 th International Public Markets Conference, which will take place in Cleveland, OH, this September 21-23. It will be a great opportunity to explore how “market cities” are revitalizing their neighborhoods by focusing on creating healthy places. (Photo: PPS)

Inspired by PPS’s work, Philadelphia’s University City District has created “The Porch,” a Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper public plaza at a major transportation hub downtown. Philly is one of ten communities to receive free technical assistance from the Livability Solutions partnership on major Placemaking projects thanks to an EPA Technical Assistance Sustainable Communities Grant. (Photo: PlanPhilly via Flickr)

We’re looking forward to traveling to one of our very favorite places, Vancouver’s Granville Island, with a group of civic leaders from Salt Lake City to help Utah’s capital develop a leadership agenda around key destinations. We’ll also be hosting another round of Placemaking trainings at our office in New York City this fall—dates coming soon! (Photo: PPS)

Our team of transportation experts has been very busy working with cities and towns around the world. You can meet and chat with them at this year's Pro Walk/Pro Bike: Pro Place conference in Long Beach (Sept. 10-13, 2012), which will put a fresh spin on North America's premier event for bike/ped advocates and enthusiasts by focusing the conversation on how transportation can help create great places. (Photo: PPS)

San Antonio’s appetite for Placemaking has made turned it into what we like to call a “popping city.” We’ve recently worked on recommendations for Alamo Plaza (pictured above during the Luminaria festival), participated in the Downtown Transportation Study, worked with Rackspace on a public space plan for their headquarters, and participated in planning for the revamp of HemisFair Park—all within the past few months! (Photo: PPS)

We’ve been working on the Perth Cultural Centre in Australia, helping the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority to re-think the campus as a true cultural hub by focusing on Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper tactics (like the concert pictured above), busting silos and bringing art out into the streets. The results have been astounding! (Photo: MRA)

The Cure for Planning Fatigue is Action

Project for Public Spaces — Wed, 30 May 2012 19:16:19 +0000

The Peaches & Greens market played host to a Placemaking-themed Harvest Festival last fall / Photo: PPS

Detroit has become a media darling in recent years, as the story of its rapid de-industrialization and population loss has given way to a new narrative: one of entrepreneurial arts groups, neighborhood farmers markets, and corporate investment downtown by the likes of Quicken Loans and Compuware, catalyzed in part by the new public square at Campus Martius. America loves a good underdog story, and after seeing Motown emptied out, and staring at so many decadently macabre “ruin porn” photos of the city’s deteriorating train station and empty Deco office towers, Detroit is an underdog par excellence.

The green shoots of renewal have generated so much interest that we’ve heard that many Detroiters are beginning to develop a sort of “planning fatigue” as a rush of independent efforts launched to help turn their city around have left some wondering when the analyses, studies, and public input forums will produce some real results. “This is where PPS’s Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper approach comes in,” according to PPS’s Elena Madison. “There are a lot of great initiatives going in the city, but it is hard to connect them to a larger vision. The fact that farmers markets are often temporary and flexible means that they can spark immediate improvements and build local confidence today, while also informing strategies for long-term change at both the site and neighborhood levels.”

Last year, with the support of the Kresge Foundation, Madison and a team of PPS Placemakers (including Senior VP Steve Davies and Senior Director of Markets David O’Neill, both of whom previously worked on developing the plan to revamp the city’s iconic Eastern Market) traveled to Detroit to work on food markets in two very different neighborhoods. One market, sited in a church parking lot in the Grandmont-Rosedale neighborhood on the city’s northwest side, was located in a relatively stable, middle-class area. The second site was around Peaches & Greens, a non-profit produce market in Central Detroit, an area with high rates of vacancy, unemployment, and a population in greater need.

As Davies explains, “Markets often arise to address existing food deserts—in Detroit, a lot of the markets are citizen-driven: they sprang up because people were responding to a local need. But another major issue that we’re addressing is that many Detroit neighborhoods are also Place deserts. These are communities where there’s just nowhere to go; you have all of these people living near each other, you have schools, churches, and social services, but there’s little public civic life to speak of.”

In Grandmont-Rosedale, market vendors and the neighborhood association (which owns North Rosedale community park) came to realize how Triangulation could lead to a more symbiotic relationship: the park can galvanize support for its new capital campaign by incorporating site preparations for the market into its plans, while the market vendors will benefit greatly from relocating to a multi-use site with a strong sense of Place. Over in Central Detroit, meanwhile, people were more than ready for a change. “They basically said to us, ‘Anything we can do to create a stronger sense of place, we are willing to try,’” Madison recalls. The PPS team wound up organizing a Harvest Festival with local partner Central Detroit Christian CDC, which runs Peaches & Greens, in order to test out different uses and develop a strategy for how the market’s building, a once-abandoned storefront, can become the heart of a “mini Main Street” with a variety of services, parks and gardens on vacant land, and even traffic calming measures.

Markets often arise when residents living in a food desert take action to get more healthy food into their neighborhoods / Photo: PPS

Today, both markets are working to implement their Placemaking visions. Peaches & Greens will soon begin cleaning up vacant sites and next year construction will start on a small addition to accommodate more programming and a commercial-grade community kitchen, where it will offer community dinners, cooking classes, and job skills training. At North Rosedale Park, plans call for moving the farmers market to its new home as early as mid-summer. Madison attributes progress being made at both sites to the fact that Placemaking is a process that produces projects that communities can really act on: “We’re not talking with people abstractly about how to ‘improve their food system.’ We’re working with them to implement very specific, concrete improvements.”

Recently, PPS began working with another group of markets in Detroit, this time in partnership with the Kellogg Foundation. The three sites involved are all part of the nascent network known as the Detroit Community Markets, with smaller markets learning from each-other and receiving support from Detroit’s spectacularly successful Eastern Market. Two of the markets are currently located on hot and unattractive parking lots, but this summer will open with new “Place Makeovers” featuring new tents, seating areas, and greenery that were planned during recent Placemaking workshops with local residents. One of Kellogg’s goals is for this new initiative to plan strategically for including markets into Detroit’s long-term planning efforts–meaning that markets could play an integral role in the city’s turnaround not only as places for commerce and healthy food for families and children, but as anchors and destinations for their surrounding neighborhoods.

In a city like Detroit, where needs far outstrip resources, public markets offer a lot of bang for the buck. Markets need people, and plenty of them–vendors, customers, volunteers–meaning that they offer plenty of easy ways for people to interact and take part in changing the way that their public space is used. “The people we worked with in Central Detroit kept saying, ‘We want more places to get together, to just be together,’” says Madison, echoing Davies’ observation about the importance of addressing Place deserts. “They’ve been really responsive and productive; what’s happening at that site is a great example of how people can help themselves.”

Through our work on markets across Detroit, we’ve also witnessed all the ways that Detroiters are working rebuild their public spaces from the bottom up–creating farms and gardens, walking and biking paths, and restoring community parks. And since the only cure for planning fatigue is action, that’s the best news we’ve heard about the city yet.

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Big thanks to all of our partners in Detroit, who are making amazing things happen on the ground every day: The Kresge Foundation, CDCCDC, Grandmont-Rosedale Development Corp, North Rosedale Park Civic Association, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Eastern Market Corp, Warren/Conner Development Coalition, CHASS, Joy-Southfield Development Corp, and. last but not least, the Detroit Community Markets.

Finding a Context Sensitive Solution in Denver

Project for Public Spaces — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:01:47 +0000

A street can be much more than just a route from Point A to Point B; indeed, streets can be truly great places when a variety of needs, uses, and modes are planned for. Fortunately, the Federal Highway Association (FHWA) has recognized that wider, straighter, faster planning strategies do not work for every road, leading to the creation of the Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) program, which aims to create thoroughfares that are more responsive to local needs.

From the FHWA’s website:

As citizens’ expectations for transportation projects have risen, so too has awareness of community needs among transportation planners and roadway designers. The question now becomes, “how do we create projects that are broadly supported and meet a range of needs?” The collaborative Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) approach is an answer to that question. With the CSS approach, interdisciplinary teams work with public and agency stakeholders to tailor solutions to the setting; preserve scenic, aesthetic, historic, and environmental resources; and maintain safety and mobility. The goal of FHWA’s CSS program is to deliver a program of transportation projects that is responsive to the unique character of the communities it serves. In short, CSS supports livable communities and sustainable transportation.

A team including our own Gary Toth and Aurash Khawarzad recently led a CSS team in re-thinking Denver’s Brighton Boulevard, which was chosen as one of four pilot sites in the CSS Champions program. Brighton Boulevard currently serves as a busy arterial connection between downtown Denver and its eastern suburbs. The road is surrounded mostly by industrial properties, and tensions have arisen as the city moves forward with plans to redevelop the corridor into a more walkable, livable area.

As the desire to create more multi-use neighborhoods becomes increasingly pervasive, more and more cities will be facing the same kinds of challenges that Denver is facing on Brighton Boulevard. Above is a new video, produced for PPS by Khawarzad, that illustrates how the CSS process works directly with local stakeholders to reconcile conflicting needs. If you think that your community could benefit from this approach, email gtoth@pps.org.

In Nairobi, Re-Framing Mundane Spaces as Exciting Places

Cynthia Nikitin — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:35:21 +0000

Ideas about what constitutes public space can shift quite a bit depending on what city you’re standing in. I was reminded of this during a recent trip to Nairobi, where the City Council has committed to creating 60 great public spaces by 2017.

Cynthia leads a workshop in Kibera. Photo: Ulrik Nielsen, Gehl Architects

Over the course of a week, I led a series of placemaking trainings with 40 staff people from seven city council departments, the Kilimanjaro Initiative, UN-Habitat, and several local organizations working on the ground in the Kenyan capital, as part of an ongoing partnership. When talking about expanding public space within the city, I kept bumping up against this assumption from the Nairobi staff that this meant they had to buy big chunks of land and even clear people out of existing neighborhoods to make room for new parks. The idea that schoolyards and sidewalks, streets, plazas, and fire stations could be meaningful places within the city’s public realm was new to them. There’s a division, for many in Nairobi, between “Public Spaces” and spaces that merely happen to be public.

Reasons for this division aren’t hard to figure out. We worked at two specific sites during the trip, in very different neighborhoods. The first was an athletic field in the Silanga section of Kibera, purportedly the largest informal settlement in Africa. Our project was to re-think the field as a multi-use community destination, but just walking through the surrounding neighborhood was so eye-opening. Kibera’s buildings are built mostly out of sheets of corrugated metal, and its streets are packed dirt. The main (and only) thoroughfare here, Kibera Road, is a pretty amazing place. It has an intense mix of activity, all right out there on the street: a huge variety of vendors, people getting their hair braided, people cooking, socializing, reading the paper, kids doing their homework. But the infrastructure is terrible. It’s a clear-cut example of how Nairobi has so much public space that people don’t even recognize as public space.

Shops along Kibera Road. Photo: Ulrik Nielsen, Gehl Architects

Another issue in this city is one I’ve written about before, and something that many developing world cities deal with (or, too often, don’t): the reality that public spaces play host to frequent sexual harassment and assault, which can make them fearful places for women. Leaving home after dark to go to a public latrine can be life-threatening for women in Kibera; many people have to use plastic bags, creating some pretty unsanitary conditions. This has led to innovative programs like Pee Poople and Ekotoilets–but while these are clever stopgaps, creating safer, more welcoming public streets would be a critical improvement not just for sanitation and public health, but for the less tangible aspects of quality of life throughout Kibera and neighborhoods all over Nairobi.

Back in the center of the city, our second site was a very formal English garden donated to the city by the Jeevanjee family. I visited the site with several members of the family and the city council who had recently been to New York. They’d seen successful public spaces all over the city, and when we visited the garden, I said ‘Think of this as the Bryant Park of Nairobi!’ The space had been kept very pristine, and they didn’t have an idea of how it could evolve. Once we started talking about it with Bryant Park as a reference point, they got really excited. The idea that this could still be a lovely green place that was also full of activity was something that sunk in very quickly.

"Think of this as the Bryant Park of Nairobi!" Photo: Ulrik Nielsen, Gehl Architects

Promoting the idea that existing spaces could become really wonderful pieces of public life was so important on this trip. The idea that you can do many small things instead of a few big things–that placemaking doesn’t have to be capital-intensive–is critical in a city like Nairobi, where so much economic activity is still informal. Public spaces there have to provide a way for people to earn a living. Vendors, hawkers, performers: these are people whose livelihoods depend on active public spaces. Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper interventions that change things right now are what’s going to raise the quality of life in Nairobi; not big new parks on the edge of town that take years to build.

And the LQC mindset isn’t a stretch for people in Nairobi. Traffic there is utter chaos: stoplights are more of suggestion than a command, there are a bazillion roundabouts that nobody really knows how to drive through, and two-lane roads are regularly packed four-cars wide. At major intersections you see a kind of behavior from motorists that’s more common with pedestrians back in New York, called platooning: cars bunch together and sort of push their way out into the intersection, and that’s how the direction of traffic flow changes! It makes for some hellish commutes, but that platooning behavior exemplifies a willingness to work within the existing constraints of dysfunctional systems to make things happen.

Children play at the Silanga athletic field next to a sign advertising coming infrastructural improvement. Photo: Ulrik Nielsen, Gehl Architects

At one point, I showed a slideshow of possible examples for how the athletic field in Silanga could be made into a more vibrant hub for the community, and the group had already come up with a lot of the same ideas on their own. It’s one thing to suggest to people what they could do; it’s an entirely different thing to show them, ‘This is what they did in a slum in Rio; this what they did in a slum in Colombia, where the neighborhood used to be completely run by gangs,’ and to have them see that what they’ve envisioned is totally possible. When a few dedicated people take ownership of a place and band together to push through existing misconceptions about what public space “should” look like and how it can function for the people that want to use it–that’s where placemaking starts.

Work on the two pilot sites will continue, spearheaded by the Nairobi City Council and supported by UN-Habitat (whose international headquarters are located in the nearby Girgiri neighborhood) with PPS providing technical support. Two down, 58 more to go!

Boston’s Public Market To Be a Hub for Local Food

Project for Public Spaces — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:35:09 +0000

PPS’ public markets team has just returned from Boston and is excited to announce that it has begun creating an implementation plan for the first floor of Parcel 7, a MassDOT-owned building that is slated to house a public market. Both local residents and vendors are energized by the decision to re-purpose Parcel 7 into a marketplace that will promote regional food, support the New England economy and foster social integration.

The Rose Kennedy Greenway borders Parcel 7, which can be seen to in the background on the right.

The process for creating this indoor market began over a decade ago, and in 2008 PPS conducted a feasibility study to determine if there could be an expanded market district in the section of Boston adjacent to the Haymarket and City Hall. Now that MassDOT and the Department of Agricultural Resources (DAR) are moving forward with the development of Parcel 7, PPS has been selected to create a conceptual guide for the market.

While in Boston last week, the PPS team held a focus group to begin assessing consumers’ needs and preferences. Attendees were asked about their shopping habits and were shown a number of photos of existing markets around the world to gauge their responses. PPS will likely hold public meetings during future site visits in order to receive additional input, which will help make the public market a vibrant destination that balances the needs of downtown residents and workers with those of tourists and people living in nearby neighborhoods and surrounding towns.

Now that the public market project is officially underway, PPS will begin constructing a framework for its management, design and product offerings. Among other tasks, the markets team will:

Propose an operational and governance structure suited to the market’s distinct needs
Plan the physical design of the market, incorporating gathering spaces into the layout
Interview local producers and vendors to better understand their operational needs and plan for the market’s possible product mix.

A number of key factors position the Boston Public Market to be an anchor destination (much needed) along the Rose Kennedy Greenway, such as its proximity to Faneuil Hall, the Haymarket, and multiple subway stops. Although the project has just begun, PPS is optimistic that it will further enliven an already popular district by strengthening the social and economic capital of the surrounding area.

Pittsburgh’s Market Square Opens This Week

Megan MacIver — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:30:31 +0000

Earlier this week, a Grand Re-Opening Ceremony for Pittsburgh’s Market Square kicked off a new, exciting chapter of the city’s downtown history. The ceremony, attended by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and other public officials, marked the culmination of years of public process and $5 million investment in the area; guided and initiated by PPS’ 2007 community-based vision and plan for the Square. “Today our vision for this public space became a reality,” said Mayor Ravenstahl, making reference to the closure of the roads that ran through the historic space, widened sidewalks, tree plantings and outdoor seating.

The Market in Pittsburgh's Market Square draws visitors from around the region to wander its colorful stalls each Thursday

The Market in Pittsburgh Market Square is a large part of what makes it a vibrant destination. Managed by the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, the market runs from 10AM to 2PM each Thursday through November 18 and features over 50 varieties of local produce, flower bouquets, and fresh pies.

With recent changes now complete, visitors say the Square “seems more friendly.” Pittsburgh’s downtown has enjoyed a recent renaissance: as Pittsburgh’s Mayor Ravenstahl says, “neighborhoods throughout the City are experiencing record growth, and Downtown is at the forefront. Market Square is at the center of much of this development and investing in this asset is critical to Downtown’s continued growth.” Pittsburgh’s Market Square is yet another example of the power of park and plaza projects to spur downtown revitalization.

Click to see KDKA's Coverage of the Grand Reopening Ceremony

Check out what the local press has to say about Pittsburgh’s new town square!

Market Square Opening

Farewell Orange Cones and Caution Tape

Mayor Unveils Plans for Market Square

Market Square Re-Opens; Businesses Eager for Patrons

Update as of May 2011

In this new article, “Market Square Regains its Historic Luster,” the Pittsburgh Tribune interviews Nick Nicholas, the third generation to run the Nicholas Coffee Co. at Pittsburgh’s Market square, who says he has seen a number of changes to Market Square over the years. “I think they finally got it right this time. They closed the traffic to the buses. It’s more people-friendly now, having one big plaza instead of four quadrants.”

PPS Park Projects Spur Downtown Development in Houston and Detroit

Megan MacIver — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:44:40 +0000

A recent Washington Post article by JoAnne Greco of The City Traveller focuses on the power of parks to spur economic growth for an entire city- and uses two PPS projects, Houston’s Discovery Green and Detroit’s Campus Martius, as benchmarks for success.

Park features like this fountain at Discovery Green keep visitors of all ages coming back year-round to Houston's once quiet downtown core. Flickr photo by AlphaTangoBravo/Adam Baker

Often, downtowns hard-hit by disinvestment turn to sports arenas or performing arts venues for an economic boost. Yet as this article shows, parks, not stadiums, are responsible for invigorating depressed cores. Alive with year-round programming and activities, these thriving Public Multi-Use Destinations are treasured by the local community and generate millions of dollars of investment, proving there can be an Upside of a Down Economy, as PPS President Fred Kent explains in this Urban Land Institute article.

The Washington Post is not the first major newspaper to highlight the potential for parks like Campus Martius to generate true prosperity over the long-haul: just last fall The Boston Globe wrote about how Discovery Green has drawn over a million visitors to downtown Houston while Boston’s new Rose Kennedy Greenway still seems “placeless” and deserted.

From our experience working in more than 2,500 communities around the world, PPS has known for years that the missing ingredient in many discussions about economic revitalization, job creation, and sustainability is the fact that secure jobs are tied to a place.

To learn more about models for sustainable success, join us in Norway at PPS’ upcoming Conference on Sustainability and Placemaking next month where PPS and “out of the box” Placemakers from around the world will share their secrets to creating great destinations.

Creating Safe Community Gathering Spaces in South Africa

Craig Raphael — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:03:39 +0000

One of the most important elements of any public space is safety. When spaces are physically unsafe or perceived to be so, they do not draw the people necessary to make them vibrant and successful. But by embracing community engagement in the planning process, public spaces can best accommodate the needs and concerns of their users, thereby creating an environment that is most likely to succeed.

Creating safe public spaces in poor and disadvantaged communities is a special challenge, but their power to revitalize communities is no less great. This is one of the primary goals of PPS Vice President C ynthia Nikitin’s upcoming trip to South Africa, where she has been invited by the UN Habitat: Safer Cities program to participate in various workshops and forums related to public spaces and safety.

Youth playing soccer in South Africa. Photo credit: Development Works Photos, Flickr

Cynthia will travel to Johannesburg to participate in an Expert Group Meeting, convened by UN-HABITAT’s program in Youth Empowerment and Safer Cities, that will evaluate sports as a tool for youth development and safety. Thereafter, she will facilitate a workshop for fifty learners from poor communities in Johannesburg who will share their experience of sports, sporting events and unsafety in their communities, with the goal of proposing ways to integrate sports for safety and urban upgrading.

For more information on Cynthia’s trip, please do not hesitate to contact her.

Where is PPS Working Today?

Craig Raphael — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:39:34 +0000

Every year, PPS travels all over the world in our mission to help communities improve their public spaces. In the last few weeks alone, we have been in Norway, Abu Dhabi, Hawaii, Vancouver, Alabama, Italy and Texas, among other places.

Interested in connecting with a PPS staff member in your city or town? Here’s a list of where a handful of our staff will be travelling in the coming weeks.

Fred Kent + Kathy Madden

Corpus Christi, TX: August 27-29

Waterfronts Synopsis Conference–Stavanger, Norway: September 15-17

Ethan Kent

Las Vegas, NV: July 20-22

Baltimore, MD: August 2-6

Aurash Khawarzad

ITE (Institute of Transportation Engineers) Conference–Vancouver, Canada: August 8-11

Cynthia Nikitin

Pretoria and South Africa in general: July 25 to 31

Baltimore, MD: August 2-4

Moscow: August 6-20

Portland Oregon: Week of September 13

Edmonton Alberta, Alberta Museum Association conference: September 25

Gary Toth

Hunterdon County Rural Transit Awards Breakfast–Clinton, NJ: July 29th

CDC PHHS Block Grant Coordinators’ Summit–San Francisco, CA: August 16-18

In Northern Italy, Placemaking to Revitalize a Small Town

Craig Raphael — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:37:19 +0000

Originally a Roman settlement dating back to 143 BC and later the site of famous battle during the Napoleonic Wars, Romano Canavese is a picturesque small town approximately 25 miles northeast of Torino (Turin), Italy. Many of the town’s historic buildings are being restored with their original paint colors, and the natural beauty of the surrounding countryside is breathtaking. Yet for all its assets, the town has struggled to attract people and businesses in recent years, particularly after the demise of a nearby Olivetti plant. As a result, the streets are empty during the day and the few remaining stores are often closed.

A panoramic photo of the town.

In spite of these challenges, Romano Canavese has great potential to become a more lively place that people want to live in and a destination in its own right. A luxury hotel and a nearby golf course already draw visitors to the area, and the town is eager to provide more activities to attract people during their trip. As part of this effort, the mayor of the town attended a two-day placemaking training conducted by PPS staff Elena Madison and Alessandra Galletti in Torino on June 21-22. The course was organized by TCM Italia, with the support of the Torino Chamber of Commerce, Ascom Torino, Confesercenti of Torino and the province. It was attended by planners, architects, downtown managers, economic development professionals and officials from a number of other municipalities, small and large.

An historic building at the center of town could serve as a gathering place for more activity.

At the training course, participants discussed how a placemaking process could bring new vitality to their respective towns and neighborhoods. Romano Canavese was identified by its mayor as a potential pilot project, which would be used as an example for all training participants of how placemaking could be applied on a small town scale. The PPS team visited the town, and together with local residents and municipal representatives identified several focal points–an historic church, a small park, a clock tower–that could become placemaking destinations and nodes for greater activity. Pending funding, a pilot project using the Power of Ten, and focusing on several specific locations for improvement, will be initiated in the village this coming fall.

This small park atop a hill is one potential focal point.

Below is a recap of the event from the Italian newspaper La Repubblica (English translation appears first, followed by the original Italian.)

Bryant Park an Inspiration for San Salvario

The area around Porta Nuova will be redesigned using New York’s Bryant Park as a model.

On June 20, a team of U.S. experts undertook a preliminary study of the streets that surround the station. The next day, the American team from Project for Public Spaces, as part of a workshop organized by Confesercenti, Ascom, and the Chamber of Commerce, unveiled a plan to re-envision the axis of via Nizza. Porta Nuova has a variety of similarities with Bryant Park, including what some would call “high risk” urban spaces as well as a variety of socio-economic and cultural challenges. The American team emphasized, however, that “these difficulties can be analyzed and resolved, just as Bryant Park was transformed from a dangerous, abandoned park into a beautiful part of the city.”

The American team is made up of two organizations: Project for Public Spaces (PPS), the pioneers of a technique called “Placemaking” in Europe, and TCM Italia, an organization for Town Center Management. Using concrete examples like Bryant Park, the team has developed a “field-work” style of study to compliment theoretical approaches. The objective? To transform public spaces based of the desires of the community which uses them, a more holistic approach than traditional urban redevelopment techniques. The two-day workshop gathered prominent public officials, managers, designers, and other professionals concerned with the urban environment. The area around Via Nizza will be transformed after the completion of the subway line construction. Local shopkeepers and business owners will be invited to share their vision for the new site with the hopes that this small area at the heart of Torino becomes completely human scaled. As the organizers explained, “Torino, following New York’s example, can become a case study for the application of new techniques for urban transformation; techniques which could be exported not only to the regional level but also to a national and European scale.”

A San Salvario il replay di Bryant Park

http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2010/06/21/san-salvario-il-replay-di-bryant.html

LA ZONA di Porta Nuova si ridisegna sul modello del Bryant Park di New York. Già ieri l’ équipe di tecnici sbarcati dagli Stati Uniti ha fatto un primo sopralluogo nelle strade che circondano la stazione. Oggi il team americano, in occasione del workshop organizzato da Confesercenti, Ascom e Camera di Commercio, «Project for public spaces», illustrerà il suo piano per riqualificare in particolare l’ asse di via Nizza. L’ esedra di Porta Nuova ha diversi aspetti in comune con il lontano Bryant Park. Entrambi sono spazi urbani a forte «rischio», con non indifferenti problemi di carattere socio-economico e culturale. «Ma – sottolinea il team americano – questi aspetti possono essere analizzati e risolti. Così com’ è avvenuto per il Bryant Park trasformato negli anni da luogo problematico, mal frequentato e pericoloso in area fortemente attrattiva». L’ équipe statunitense è formata dai newyorkesi del «Project for Public Spaces» (PPS), pioniere in Europa dell’ approccio “Placemaking”, e di “Tcm Italia”, società che si occupa di «Town Centre Management». Attraverso il caso del Bryant Park, e di altri esempi concreti, si svilupperà lo studio “sul campo”, accanto naturalmente a quello teorico e di dibattito. L’ obiettivo? Trasformare gli spazi pubblici in base alla comunità che ci vive, in un’ ottica più ampia di riqualificazione urbana. Oggi e domani il workshop radunerà in primisi funzionari pubblici, come amministratori, urbanisti e designer. «Torino, dopo New York – concludono gli organizzatori – diventerà così un caso pilota su cui testare metodologie urbanistiche, esportabili non solo a livello regionale, ma anche nazionale ed europeo». – ERICA DI BLASI

Strong Programming and Management Bring Life to Downtown Rochester

agaidus — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:45:58 +0000

Rochester, Minnesota is perhaps best known as the home of the Mayo Clinic, one of the top-rated hospitals in the U.S. that employs nearly 33,000 people and attracts over one million visitors annually to downtown. As part of a larger effort to guide the growth and vitality of the downtown area and entice visitors and employees to spend time there, city officials have taken great strides to improve the public spaces adjacent to the clinic. In 2005, PPS assisted city staff and community members in creating a vision for a network of vibrant public spaces and people-friendly places centered on Peace Plaza, a large public space at the foot of the clinic (for more information, see our report, A New Vision for First Street Promenade).

The reconstructed Peace Plaza during the summer market and music festival, Thursdays on First and Third. Photo credit: Chad Johnson, Flickr

Since then, Peace Plaza has been rebuilt and is now actively programmed with year-round events under the leadership of the Rochester Downtown Alliance. The weekly summer market, “Thursdays on First & 3rd,” attracts over 130 vendors and live music, dance performances, food, and crafts. Winter events have also been successful, drawing 4,000 people to the plaza despite the frigid Minnesota weather. The German-style Winter Market Festival has caroling, crafts, and entertainment; the February “Social-Ice” event features Minnesota’s largest Ice Bar, as well as ice sculptures, furniture, and live music.

"Social Ice:" A full bar made of ice, withfrozen drinks! Photo credit: Chad Johnson, Flickr

Jon Eckhoff, head of the Rochester Downtown Alliance, sees the activities and events at Peace Plaza as something that can continue to progress and work off of the large-scale goals of the Downtown Rochester Master Plan. With expected growth at the Mayo Clinic and expansion of the University of Minnesota, great opportunities exist to continue shaping the growth and vitality of the downtown. Strong management and programming at Peace Plaza will help it continue to grow as a vibrant public space that the community can identify and engage with.

A collection of photos from Thursdays on First and Third. Photo credit: Chad Johnson, Flickr

City Plaza Brings New Life to Downtown Raleigh

Craig Raphael — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:00:59 +0000

City Plaza on opening day. Photo credit: Jonathan Hawkins

Raleigh, North Carolina is one of the fastest growing cities in the south, but until recently, its downtown was largely deserted after 5pm. Now, local leaders are making bold strides to bring new life to the historic city center. At the center of this effort is Fayetteville Street, the once failed pedestrian mall that is now home to a growing number of restaurants, shops and residential buildings.

One of the street’s newest attractions is Raleigh City Plaza, the “public living room” of the city. The plaza features interactive fountains, four LED light towers, retail pavilions and events including ice skating in the winter, a farmers market in the spring, and the annual Raleigh Wide Open festival. PPS was involved in a visioning process for the City Plaza in 2006, when we encouraged stakeholders to plan for a mix of uses that would draw people into the site and encourage them to stay.

Fayetteville Street and City Plaza during Raleigh Winterfest. Photo credit: Jonathan Hawkins

Following the opening of the plaza last fall, we asked a local placemaker to evaluate the site using our Great Public Spaces tool. His initial report is encouraging—the site is well used during the day and draws large crowds during special events. Nightime uses are still limited and contingent on strong programming, as well as greater numbers of residents living downtown. Going forward, the success of City Plaza hinges on strong management to continually reevaluate the space and program it with diverse uses and activities. With the help of committed local stakeholders and a growing number of full-time residents, there is no doubt it will grow and evolve in the future.

To learn more about other happenings in downtown Raleigh, check out local blog The Raleigh Connoisseur.

New Designs for the Ever-Evolving Heart of Pittsburgh: Market Square

Craig Raphael — Tue, 04 May 2010 21:57:05 +0000

The 1784 plan of Pittsburgh, with Market Square clearly visible at the center. Photo Credit: Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership

Market Square is a unique jewel situated at the center of the business and cultural districts in downtown Pittsburgh. The square has played a central role in Pittsburgh’s history, once housing the Alleghany County Courthouse and the “Diamond Market,” the largest city market to which Pittsburgh residents came to shop, eat, and even roller skate on the top floor, until it was demolished in 1961. But in recent years, largely because of minimal uses throughout the day and a virtual shutdown after 5pm, the square has become a haven for criminal activity. With the goal of recapturing the square’s potential to once again become a vibrant gathering place, in 2007 PPS worked with the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership and several local agencies to facilitate a community process to develop a vision and activation plan for the square.

A diagram of short-term uses for Market Square, now under construction

The downtown partnership has made impressive strides since then, drawing on substantial support from public, private and non-profit agencies, as well as developers and local foundations. After securing initial funding to test design and programming recommendations developed by PPS, the partnership conducted a series of short-term experiments to inform the physical reconstruction and ensure that permanent changes would be well-received by the public. These experiments included eliminating bus traffic, expanding space for sidewalk cafes and constructing seasonal plantings. Three designs for reconstruction were then generated and made available for public comment. The final design (pictured below, night configuration) is a blend of the two most popular options. It references the history of the space, incorporates both green and hardscape elements and creates one continuous elevation, generating the feel of a piazza.

Construction is currently underway, and in the meantime, the partnership is conducting focus groups to determine what types of programming local citizens want for their square. On the whole, the redesign process provides an excellent model of how to successfully create a vibrant place through ongoing, meaningful engagement with the surrounding community. We look forward to Market Square’s reopening and are eager to see how the square evolves in the future.

Austin Republic Square Becomes a Great Place through Partnerships

Craig Raphael — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:14:56 +0000

The recently relocated Austin Farmers Market draws a large crowd to Republic Square

Republic Square in Austin, Texas has a long and storied history. The first city blocks were auctioned there under live oak trees in the summer of 1839; patriotic Mexican celebrations were staged during the First World War; cars were invited to park in the 1950s, only to be sent away twenty-seven years later when the space was reclaimed as a park.

In the last few years, citizens and officials working under public- private partnerships have taken bold strides to make the square a more dynamic gathering space and center for downtown life. Most recently, working with the Downtown Austin Alliance, Local Federal Court, the GSA, local property owners and residents, and the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, the Austin Parks Foundation has taken steps to restore the health of those now 300 year old Auction Oaks by removing berms that choked off root growth (270 truckloads of soil), built a sensitively designed deck under one of those oaks with movable tables and chairs, planted 1600 native plants in the Auction Oak grove, planted 10 large trees, and restored irrigation and turf.

Relaxing on the new deck underneath the historic "Auction Oaks"

A vision map of Republic Square Park reflected ideas from the PPS-led workshop

But it all started with a GSA Good Neighbor Program sponsored Project for Public Spaces workshop in December 2006, which resulted in the top priorities that have been implemented in this first phase. A total of $450,000 has raised by the Austin Parks Foundation, including $30,000 from the GSA for tree planting. Now, the Austin Farmers Market, Yoga in the park, outdoor movies and art events are utilizing the deck and square.

The next phase of work on the square will aim to create better connections to the surrounding streets and buildings, including a new federal plaza.

Special thanks to Charlie McCabe from the Austin Parks Foundation for his assistance with this post.

Welcome to the New PPS.org!

Craig Raphael — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 22:49:24 +0000

Notice something different? PPS is thrilled to launch our new website.

Our goal in creating a new PPS.org was to provide an easier to use site and better showcase the services and extraordinary resources we have developed to help you in your work to transform your communities.

Our new site now offers major content organized according to our unique program areas prominently at the top. We revamped our Resources section (at left) and curated some of our best articles under the “Placemaking Tools” category. Look no further if you want to know the key attributes of successful public spaces, the core principles of placemaking, or even tips on how to take good photos of public spaces.

The Resources section also has articles concerning specific spaces (i.e. streets, squares, waterfronts), along with Great Public Spaces and the Image Database.

The PPS blog is the place to share and discuss the latest news on placemaking around the globe, see updates on PPS projects, profiles of placemakers, photo essays and more.

Our ongoing vision is to make this digital place the Town Square of Placemaking. Your thoughts are invaluable in this effort, so please leave feedback on the site using the “Feedback” widget on the left side of the screen. We look forward to hearing from you!

Vote on your Favorite Places in Chicago

Robin Lester — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:43:49 +0000

Millennium Park's Crown Fountain engages children in Chicago

What is the best public place in Chicago? Sylvia O. thinks it is a community garden on Chicago’s far South-East Side, Brian S. nominated the Chicago Riverwalk for its “ingenuity and imagination,” and Afshan H. chose Harmony Park, the “go-to place in the Village of Arlington Heights.” The community, of course, is the expert.

The Metropolitan Planning Council, who partnered with PPS to launch a Placemaking Campaign for the city of Chicago last year, has encouraged city residents and visitors alike to participate in their What Makes Your Place Great contest. From June 3 to July 27, dozens of people submitted entries. Now, the organization is asking for votes – more than 2,000 votes have already been cast!

From now until Sep. 14, visit PlacemakingChicago.com to view the entries and vote for your favorite photo and video. The site also features a Google map showing the location of each great place.

Four winners, two photo and two video, will be announced on Sept. 25, 2009. One winner in each category will receive a Grand Prize award, selected by a committee of Placemaking experts; and one winner in each
category will receive a People’s Choice award, selected by public vote. In addition to bragging rights and a great prize package, winners will have the opportunity to showcase their favorite places at an MPC event
on Oct. 28, 2009.

Voters are encouraged to review all of the fantastic entries, which highlight not only some of the regions best public places, but also some truly beautiful and inspiring photography and videography.

Great Streets for San Francisco

Craig Raphael — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:28:51 +0000

Photo Credit: Matthew Roth for Streetsblog San Francisco.

The San Francisco Great Streets Project kicked off last night with a riveting speech from Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogota, Colombia and champion of livable streets reforms. Peñalosa spoke to the benefits of reclaiming valuable street space for pedestrians and emphasized that the amount of space allocated to cars is not fixed, but rather a political decision that can drastically reshape the city. “There is no such thing as a ‘natural’ level of car use in a city,” he said. “The narrower the street, the slower the speeds, the wider the sidewalks, the better you can feel.” For a full recap of the speech visit Streetsblog San Francisco.

Modeled after the New York City Streets Renaissance, which performed several successful demonstration projects throughout New York City around similar issues, San Francisco’s Great Streets Project is poised to work with grassroots, political and business leaders to “test, analyze and institutionalize Placemaking.” PPS initiated this process in April with a breakfast discussion for city leaders and leaders of community benefit districts to explore the potential of implementing new public plazas and creating streets that function as places. The event also examined the myriad benefits of improving the city’s public spaces and explored techniques for gathering diverse stakeholders to accomplish this vital goal. (Video of event presentations is available.) In the same month, PPS also led a “Streets as Places” training course for SFMTA and other agency staff.

PPS has helped to intitiate and lead similar Placemaking campaigns in Chicago and Seattle. We look forward to supporting the SF Great Streets Project and building on the momentum that Enrique Peñalosa generated with his speech.

On a related note, PPS is working in Bogotá this week to explore further ways that the city can lead the world in public space innovations.

More information:

Making Great Streets–San Francisco Bay Guardian

Building Quality Communities Around Transit in the Tappan Zee Bridge Corridor

Craig Raphael — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:51:58 +0000

One of the most vital transportation links in the New York metropolitan region, the Tappan Zee Bridge is due for a major upgrade to satisfy growing travel demands. New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), New York State Thruway Authority and MTA Metro-North Railroad are working together to plan a new bridge that includes exciting possibilities for transit that will better meet the needs of Rockland and Westchester County communities along the I-287/I-87 corridor. Five design alternatives currently being evaluated by NYSDOT range from adding a bus-rapid transit (BRT) link across the bridge (both with and without a designated travel lane) to building a heavy rail link from Suffern to New York City.

A longtime proponent of “Building Communities through Transportation” and “Thinking Beyond the Station,” PPS was hired by NYSDOT, along with the Regional Plan Association and Reconnecting America, to conduct workshops with communities along the corridor to leverage the state’s transit investment and explore opportunities for transit oriented development. The Tappan Zee Bridge project is a terrific opportunity for communities to plan responsibly for future growth around transit and maximize the economic benefits of increased housing and transportation choices, as well as create jobs and improve overall quality of life. Proactive land use planning will also help preserve the state’s investment in new highway capacity.

PPS and its partners will hold two county-wide workshops around these issues this fall, with an open invitation to all interested communities. Specific topics may include creating great places around transit, smart parking, mixed-income housing, regulations and financing for transit-oriented community design, changing roadway design to support livable communities and optimizing transit service. Two-day workshops will then be held in the subsequent year in eight communities (four per county) consisting of in-depth discussion of local issues and local solutions, development of conceptual plans, and presentation of implementation tools. Communities interested in receiving this technical planning assistance must submit an application by July 17^th. This pilot project is also intended for eventual deployment to communities across the state.

For more information, please contact Craig Raphael at craphael@pps.org.

Improving Transit “By Any Means Necessary”

joshkent — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:41:10 +0000

Malcolm X once said that “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” And so we found ourselves in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn at the first annual Bedford-Stuyvesant Malcolm X celebration, as guests of the Malcolm X Merchants Association (MXMA). We were there to educate ourselves about the community’s experience using mass transit in their neighborhood, with the intention of improving the transit service in the community by equipping local stakeholders with tools to influence the transit planning process.

When people think of the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, or Bed-Stuy as it’s better known, transit may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But as with many other urban centers, transit was a key factor in its development, growth, and sustenance.

In 1888, the Fulton Street Elevated line, operated by the Kings County Elevated Railway (KCERy), began operation. It connected the Fulton Ferry with Bed-Stuy. The next large transit infrastructure project was the development of the A subway line, which connected Harlem with Bed-Stuy. The new subway line led to an exodus of African-Americans from overcrowded Harlem to Bed-Stuy. From that point on, the neighborhood has grown into one of the most vibrant in the Brooklyn metropolis.

Bed-Stuy is now served by the A and C subway lines at the Utica Avenue, Kingston-Throop Avenue, and Nostrand Avenue subway stations, the B46 and B25 bus lines, and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). An extensive list of services compared to many other American communities. But is that translating into quality service for the travelers to and from Bed-Stuy?

The statistics tell us that the Utica Ave. subway station, which is at the intersection of Fulton Ave. and Utica Ave., on the A and C lines, carried 4.46 million passengers in 2008, making it the 101st busiest station out of 422 in the City. And although we don’t have a count for how many bus passengers board the B46 at that intersection, we know that the B46 carried 17.3 million riders in 2008, giving it the second highest ridership out of all NYC’s bus lines. While these numbers are impressive, they don’t tell us the full story of transit service in Bed-Stuy. They don’t explain how and why people use transit, and what improvements could be made to accommodate even more users, and perhaps more importantly, to make the community a better place.

Before we get into the survey process and the results of the survey, I should describe the basis of this project. It is part of a Federal Transit Administration research grant intended to develop tools for public participation in transit-dependent communities. PPS has been working in two pilot study sites, one in LA’s Byzantine Latino Quarter and the other in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood. Local stakeholders, community activists and merchants have been meeting over the past few months to try out some of these tools. In Bed-Stuy, PPS has worked with the Malcolm X Merchant’s Association and Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) to hold workshops and focus groups that will pilot our public participation tools and, simultaneously, create a community vision for Malcolm X Boulevard and Utica Avenue Plaza.

We went to the Malcolm X festival to gather the type of qualitative information that traffic reports often lack. We set up a table on Malcolm X Avenue, in between a vendor selling homemade earrings, and another vendor selling very random trinkets, with the hope that a few interested people would stop by. We had with us two tools to understand the community’s interpretation of their transit service — one was a short survey regarding the quality of pedestrian journeys, and the other was a large neighborhood aerial for a Destination and Route Mapping exercise. The survey had basic questions that we used to determine people’s destinations, preferred paths, and thoughts on how transit stops could be improved. The map was used to determine positive and negative areas in the community, as well as the paths people chose to get to or avoid those places and why.

Before we knew it, our table was swarmed with community members. The wealth of nuance that they gave us was tremendous. Many of the participants in our research had been living in the community their whole lives and their family histories go back several generations. That’s no small measure in a city as transient as New York City! They described their streets down to the most minor detail, as if they knew them like the back of their hands. “Don’t go down Stuyvesant between Bainbridge and Chauncy after dark because it’s not lit well enough,” one woman said. Another woman spoke of the well-kept landscaping on Decatur between Malcolm X and Patchen. “What about that wine bar opening up on Lewis?” “I don’t like those drug dealers on Fulton,” “There’s Solomon’s Porch on Stuyvesant!” People were blurting out things left and right. Within a few hours our map was filled with green and red dots, and we had 25 completed surveys in our back pocket.

Many community members are not involved in the transit planning process, and as a result, transit service is not catered to their needs. Instead, it is designed to meet the parochial benchmarks of transportation engineers – “level of service” and so on and so forth. But “level of service” isn’t always the best measure for level of service; it doesn’t consider the café down the block that people might want to walk by in the morning to get coffee, or the fact that a vacant block across the bus stop might attract seedy characters. Our pilot project is intended to understand the reality of a community’s transit needs, and equip them with tools to influence transit service to it adapts to that reality – a bottom-up approach, not a top-down approach that we’ve seen far too often.

During our research the community’s main concern regarding their transit experience was safety. Participants mentioned fear of crime in places where certain infrastructure such as lighting was missing. Nevertheless, there was a clear sense of neighborhood pride that people shared. The community spoke with confidence that the streets were theirs, and there was always a glimmer of confidence in their words that they were restoring their community from an era where it suffered greatly from crime, poverty, and political neglect. With the tools that we are helping to develop for Bed-Stuy, and eventually, other transit-dependent communities, we can play a role in empowering them to improve their journey from point A to point B. We want everyone dancing while they wait for the bus, like this gentleman waiting for the B25 in Utica Plaza.

Chicagoland’s Best Places: Nominate Your Favorite!

Craig Raphael — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:37:17 +0000

The Placemaking Chicago campaign is asking Chicagoans to nominate their favorites places. PPS and Metropolitan Planning Council kicked off the campaign last fall with training courses for municipal and community leaders and publishing PPS’s first handbook for community-based placemaking. The campaign is now seeking to broaden the conversation in Chicago about places and placemaking by asking “What Makes Your Place Great?” The content will allow engaged city residents to take pride in their neighborhoods, and learn about the interesting ways other neighborhoods capitalize on their local assets and sense of place.

From June 3 through July 27, 2009, entrants can e-mail original photos or videos showcasing their favorite public places across Chicagoland, along with a 250-word-or-less description, to placemakingchicago@metroplanning.org. (Complete rules and submission criteria are available at PlacemakingChicago.com. Entrants may feature places in the City of Chicago or in Chicago suburbs located in Boone, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties in Illinois; or in Lake, Porter, and La Porte counties in Indiana; or in Racine and Kenosha counties in Wisconsin.)

“Show and tell us not only why your favorite place is special to you, but also how it contributes to your community,” said MPC Associate Karin Sommer, who manages the Placemaking Chicago project. “Is it somewhere people go to relax or meet up with friends? What are some unique ways people use the space? And what is it about this place that keeps you and your neighbors coming back day after day, and year after year?”

PPS has its own catalog of Great Public Spaces, featuring the best places from around the world. Nominate your favorite here!

More Information:

The Best Places in Chicago [Chicago Journal]

Now is the ideal time to invest in public spaces

Craig Raphael — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:29:35 +0000

Graphic program of just one area of the Tempe downtown proposed in PPS' Urban Open Space framework, which comprised a fabric of more than 30 connected destinations

In 2006, PPS was hired by the city of Tempe to create a comprehensive open space plan for their downtown, which has experienced rapid growth in recent years. The plan proposed improvements for more than 30 places that made up the fabric of the downtown experience in order to create a more lively, pedestrian friendly environment with a great mix of destinations.

With the economic downturn, much of the exciting new mixed-use development being planned for the downtown has been put on hold. But Tempe’s planners understand that now is the time to plan for their public spaces, because it is just these types of spaces that will attract people and companies to downtown Tempe once the recovery takes hold.

From an Op-Ed piece in The Arizona Republic: “City leaders are reviving the [open space] plan, saying it’s even more important during this down time to plan for and invest in public-space projects. They’re right. If these building blocks are securely in place once the economy recovers, Tempe runs much less risk of being blindsided by developments downtown and along light rail.”

Visit our website for more information about the new plans for Tempe’s downtown. On a related subject, check out a recent article from the PPS newsletter, How Your Community Can Thrive–Even in Tough Times.

City Launches Round Two of NYC Plaza Program

Robin Lester — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:35:05 +0000

NYC's new Gansevoort Plaza

The City of New York has announced the first nine recipient sites of its NYC Plaza Program, designed to ensure that every New Yorker is within a 10-minute walk of quality open space. One recipient, the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, worked with PPS in 2007 to evaluate four sites along the Myrtle Avenue corridor in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill. Through the Plaza Program, two blocks of a service road will be transformed, with community input, into a community place to sit and stroll.

Applications for Round Two of the program are now being accepted, and the first informational session will be held:

Monday, May 4 from 3:00-4:00pm
NYC DOT
220 Church, Rm. 814
New York, NY 10013

PPS and the NYC DOT agree that qualities of a successful plaza include:

Accessibility by foot & bike

Surrounded by a mix of uses

Flexible and multipurpose

Food & drink available nearby

Plentiful seating in various forms

Opportunities for art

Sun and shade

Activities & events for all users