Project for Public Spaces » Public Spaces

Detroit Leads the Way on Place-Centered Revitalization

Project for Public Spaces — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 19:29:00 +0000

Future plans for Cadillac Square call for a lively marketplace / Image: PPS

You may have heard about downtown Detroit’s big comeback story. Campus Martius has become one of America’s great urban squares. Demand for housing has outstripped supply for months. Major tech firms like Twitter are opening up offices in refurbished historic buildings. The Motor City’s historic core is ascendant.

Yesterday, at an event hosted by Dan Gilbert of Rock Ventures LLC, downtown Detroit became the Rust Belt comeback kid to watch. Gilbert, who moved thousands of employees downtown from his company Quicken Loans’ former headquarters in the suburbs, has bought more than a dozen downtown properties in recent years and is deeply invested in the revitalization of the district. He is a new kind of visionary who understands the fundamental value of great places, and the need to work with his fellow citizens to shape the city’s future together, rather than imposing a singular vision from the top down. The movement that he has built is about turning everything in Detroit up-side down and reorienting the role of each player, from pedestrian to CEO, to maximize their contribution to the shared experience of the city.

The Woodward Avenue corridor will be defined by its key public spaces / Image: PPS

Our own involvement in that movement began last September, when PPS joined Terremark Partners, Shook Kelley, and Gibbs Planning Group for a charrette organized by Rock Ventures. “We proposed developing a Placemaking vision for the major public spaces, and refining the plan through the Power of 10 concept,” says Meg Walker, a Vice President at PPS who worked on the project. “That’s been a key factor from the start. A lot of developers aren’t as enlightened as Dan Gilbert…they wouldn’t necessarily think about the glue that’s holding this all together.”

The Power of 10 framework suggests that a great city needs at least ten great districts, each with at least ten great places, which in turn each have at least ten things to do. Great public spaces produce an energy and enthusiasm that spills over into surrounding areas. By being conscious of this and planning for it from the start, Placemakers can speed up the process of revitalization by making sure that the key places within their district complement each other and great a major regional destination. That is the promise of the Placemaking vision for downtown Detroit. It is a grand experiment made up of many small, human-scaled parts: the largest full-scale Power of 10 exercise undertaken yet.

And of course, the citizens of Detroit have played a fundamental role in shaping the plan and identifying the attractions and uses that they want to see in their downtown. “The people in Detroit love their city so passionately,” says PPS president Fred Kent, who presented the public space plans at Rock’s unveiling event yesterday. “It’s unlike any other city I’ve ever been to. When people love Detroit, they really love it. That’s what makes it such an ideal place to try something like this. Dan’s vision has been to get everyone involved, and tap into that love that Detroiters have for their city. Revitalizing cities around place is all about the community organizing, and his passion for that, and understanding of it, is truly revolutionary.”

That passion was channeled via a slew of engagement activities over the past several months. This included a series of Placemaking workshops last November and December, and an interactive pop-up “Placemaking hut” at the annual holiday tree lighting ceremony in Campus Martius. This activity was bolstered by interviews and focus groups, input from which was used to create a stunning, detailed report in February that was used by Rock to create the vision plan for downtown, which is available online as a PDF here. (Really, don’t miss it!) “We knew that we need public input,” says Walker. “You can’t just come up with this kind of plan in a vacuum.

Grand Circus Park will be the northern anchor for the downtown plan / Image: PPS

Now, with so much momentum behind the project, the real thrill will be watching the plan take off in just a couple of months. Rock will begin implementing the Placemaking vision this summer via a large-scale Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper strategy that will include installations, pop-ups, and other activities in key public spaces like Cadillac Square, Capitol Park, and Grand Circus Park. This experimental approach will inform the long-term transformation of downtown’s public realm. The focus is on re-orienting downtown around the pedestrian experience and making walking a joy. The Motor City, the focus has long been on the streets—and turning Detroit around will require a total re-thinking of critical arteries like Woodward Avenue as streets for people, rather than cars.

Or, as Fred put it in his presentation, “We want to create a city where you don’t drive through the center, you drive to it.”

Capitol Park will become a hub for arts and creativity / Image: PPS

We’ll be keeping you updated on progress as Rock moves forward with the implementation of the Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper plan this summer. The process won’t only be exciting for Detroiters, but for anyone who sees the potential in a struggling downtown and is looking for a way to transform a whole district. By focusing on creating great public destinations with residents rather than building trophy buildings or designing spaces as showpieces without involving the people who will use them, Detroit has the potential not just to change its own narrative, but to change how cities around the world take on urban revitalization. We’ll also be in Detroit in two weeks for the first meeting of the Placemaking Leadership Council, and will have plenty of exciting new info to share with Placemakers afterward. More to come soon!

For more reactions to yesterday’s unveiling, check out some reportage from around the web:

Dan Gilbert (left) and Fred Kent (right) at the unveiling of Detroit’s new downtown plan / Photo: @OpportunityDET via Twitter

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!

“Smackdown” with Frank Gehry

Craig Raphael — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:08:13 +0000

The popular real estate and urbanism blog Curbed created this image to describe the ongoing debate (Photo credit: Curbed LA)

This year’ Aspen Ideas Festival lived up to its name with a lively exchange about Placemaking vs. the iconic architecture of Frank Gehry and other “starchitects”. But not in the way anyone expected.

When PPS president Fred Kent, a speaker at the Festival two years ago, posed a question to Gehry in the Q-and-A following Gehry’s presentation, the world-famous architect refused to answer.

When Kent repeated the question about why iconic architecture so often fails to create good public places, Gehry called him “pompous” and waved his hand in a gesture that eminent political journalist James Fallows described as “a dismissive gesture, much as Louis XIV might have used to wave away some offending underling.” Fallows described the scene in his influential blog for The Atlantic.

And Fallows’ blog became the place where ideas about what constitutes great architecture were debated. This was because Gehry refused to engage in discussion about his work, even at an event billed as a Festival of Ideas.

Frank Gehry brushing aside Fred Kent and his question, as moderator Tom Pritzker (responsible for the Pritzker Prize) looks on.

Gehry responded first in the blog, explaining that he didn’t really want to be at the Festival and that at age 80, he gets “freaked out by petty annoyances.” He also charged that Kent (who remained unnamed in Fallows’ first two blogs and Gehry’s response) was “intent on getting himself a pulpit” and “marketing himself at everyone’s expenses.”

Kent responded in Fallows blog on Friday, writing, “That Gehry was dismissive of the subject itself and so self important in his response shows just how far removed he and other proponents of ‘iconic-for-iconic-sake’ architecture are from the reality of urban life today.

“Around the world citizens are defining their future by focusing on their city’s civic assets, authentic qualities and compelling destinations,” Kent continued, “not on blindly following the latest international fads conjured by starchitects.”

But what’s most interesting here is not the heated exchange of opinions following a controversial appearance by the most famous architect of our time. It is the wide scope of debate that has been stirred.

David Sucher took up the issue in several postings on his City Comforts blog.

Frank Gehry has been quoted saying "I do not do context", amounting to barren public spaces and a limited scope of responsibility for the architecture profession.

And Fallows himself—probably as famous in news journalism circles as Gehry is in architectural ones—seems fascinated by all the energy sparked by this question about how to create great public places.

On Friday he began his blog with a sense of amazement, “I used to think that a topic like — oh, let’s see, US-China friction — was controversial, or climate change, or Google-v-Microsoft, or McNamara-v-Rumsfeld. That was before I innocently stepped into the crossfire concerning the effect of “star-chitects” like Frank Gehry on the urban landscape.”

Whatever else comes out of this lively discussion, I think it shows that discussions about how we create congenial public places where people can come together is a major issue of our times.

Public space is not just an aesthetic detail, or minor sideshow for the design community. It’s central to the fabric of lives and future of our society. Which is why it’s no surprise that opinions on the subject are so strong.

The public space on the waterfront of Bilbao in front of Gehry's building is a site of frequent muggings as a result of the limited reasons for people to be there.

PPS Commentary–Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Curbed LA–Frank Gehry Smackdown: Iconic Architecture vs. Public Space

Apsen Ideas Festival–Full Video of Gehry Talk (Kent/Gehry conversation at approx. 54 minute mark)

Seeking the Most Romantic Public Spaces!

Robin Lester — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:00:04 +0000

Romance blossoms in NYC's Bryant Park

Chances are, you’ve played out some part of your romantic life on the stage that is public space. Meeting, courting, kissing, dancing, dining — love happens where people are free to enjoy the company of others!

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, PPS is partnering with Romantic Ribbons to collect entries on the most romantic public spaces in the US. Romantic Ribbons, a UK-based organization run by Rethinking Cities, organizes walking tours that focus on romantic locales in downtown areas.

How To Contribute:

Visit www.romanticribbons.net starting Saturday, February 14, 2009 to nominate a romantic place. Entries are created in the form of postcards written as though the entrant was writing from the nominated locale.

The nominations will be featured in an exhibit at the 2009 Walk 21 Conference, to be held October 7-9 in New York City.

Places in the News: January 12, 2009

Brian Geraghty — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:28:09 +0000

The latest in urban planning, placemaking and citizen action:

A new deal for neighborhoods. [AARP Bulletin Today]

More bike lanes, more public transit, less driving. [NRDC Switchboard]

Portland is recognized by the American Planning Association for its innovative survey techniques to engage the public in planning for public spaces. [Daily Journal of Commerce]

If you’ve been lazy about getting rid of your Christmas tree, just remember, it’s still not trash so don’t just put it on the sidewalk! [Earth911.com]

A new website catering to Upstate New York’s Adirondack Region locavore population aims to connect producers, consumers, research-based publications about North Country local foods. [Adirondack Almanac, Northern New York Agricultural Development Program]

Rotterdam installs the first electric vehicle charging station in public space. [CSSEY]

On the importance of social interaction. [guardian.co.uk]

Join Us in Support of T4America Tomorrow, October 15!

Robin Lester — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:02:27 +0000

PPS partner Transportation For America is a growing and diverse coalition focused on creating a national transportation program that will take America into the 21st century by building a modernized infrastructure to support healthy communities where people can live, work and play. This effort is centered primarily on influencing Congress’ reauthorization of federal transportation legislation in 2009.

On October 15, T4America will stage press events all around the country to coincide with the economic focus of the final Obama-McCain debate. The coalition will call for the candidates to address the fact that our economy is suffering from falling home values, rising gas prices and economic fallout on Main Street, and that strategic investments in public transportation will immediately create jobs and spur economic development, as well as provide more affordable transportation options. Like PPS, T4America believes that we need fundamental change in how America builds its communities, and a transportation system that will support and enhance them.

T4America asserts that:

Our future security, economic success, and personal as well as planetary health require us to reduce our dependence on oil

Everyone living in America — whether in its urban centers or rural heartland — deserves to have ample and affordable options for living and commuting

Families and individuals want to live in accessible, fair, and environmentally sustainable communities

Our government — federal, state and local — should spend our money in a way that addresses the needs of all citizens

Achievement of these critical goals relates directly to PPS’s Building Community through Transportation campaign, which aims to transform transportation policy, practice and design to support Placemaking and the creation of walkable, healthy and sustainable communities.

These press events will outline how new approaches to transportation investment can help build an America that provides us with a sustainable future. We urge you all to tune into and support these events.

The New York City event will take place at 1pm outside of Grand Central Terminal at Vanderbilt. Speakers will include Congressman Jerrald Nadler, MTA CEO and Executive Director Lee Sander, NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and developer Jonathan Rose.

Please view T4A’s press release here for more information!

Portland’s Light Rail system

Places in the News: October 13, 2008

Robin Lester — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:05:08 +0000

The latest in placemaking, urban planning and civic action…

Retrofitting the suburbs of DC [Switchboard]
Long-term planning in the Middle East will mean better cities, streets, transportation and parks [The National]
APA names best streets, neighborhoods and public spaces [American Planning Association]
Kansas City program helps train immigrant women to sell ethnic produce at farmers markets [KansasCity.com]
Maine focuses on “Quality of Place” to boost tourism [The Times Record]

Food and Fitness Offers Free NYC Tour and Dinner!

Robin Lester — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:33:41 +0000

The NYC Food and Fitness Partnership is running some interesting bus tours of community gardens, parks, playgrounds, trails, and greenways In Harlem, the South Bronx and Brooklyn on Saturday, October 18. There’ll be a tasty meal at the end on Randall’s Island and the whole thing is free! RSVP at www.nycfoodandfitness.org.

Places in the News: October 6, 2008

Robin Lester — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 01:29:28 +0000

The latest news in placemaking, urban planning and citizen action.

Duluth looks to waterfront revitalization to boost local economy [Duluth News Tribune]
New public spaces in Asia offer creativity and a variety of activities [The Age]
DC’s southwest waterfront will be home to a new mixed-use development that will include more than 2 million square feet of public parks and plazas [Washington Business Journal]

Places in the News: September 29, 2008

Robin Lester — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:04:49 +0000

The Future of Urban Waterfronts Conference to be held in Toronto [Strategy Institute]
Attention turns to waterfront revitalization in Poland [Warsaw Business Journal]
Campuses turn to Placemaking for expanding and improving campuses [Chronicle for Higher Education]
What would public spaces look like if they were designed with women in mind? [Taipei Times]

Freeways to Boulevards

Robin Lester — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:00:45 +0000

The Congress for the New Urbanism has just published a list of the top ten aging elevated highways that are ripe for removal and redesign. The removal of these highways could lead to revitalization movements in the cities and regions they currently occupy.

A large percentage of these highways are located in the northeast.

CNU, like PPS, advocates for replacing elevated highways with surface streets that connect destinations and promote walkability.

The top ten opportinities listed are:

1. Alaskan Way Viaduct, Seattle, WA

2. Sheridan Expressway, Bronx, NY

3. The Skyway and Route 5, Buffalo, NY

4. Route 34, New Haven, CT

5. Claiborne Expressway, New Orleans, LA

6. Interstate 81, Syracuse, NY

7. Interstate 64, Louisville, KY

8. Route 29, Trenton, NJ

9. Gardiner Expressway, Toronto, ON

10. 11th Street Bridges and the Southeast Freeway, Washington D.C.

More Information:

Buffalo Waterfront [PPS]
Freeways Without Futures [Congress for the New Urbanism]

Places in the News: September 22, 2008

Robin Lester — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:49:49 +0000

Guerilla Gardening takes off in New Orleans [The Times Picayune]
The Olympic and Paralympic Games in Bejing have increased public space access to those with disabilities [China View]
Buskers add value to farmers markets in Tacoma [The News Tribune]
Old trams become new public parks in Portugal [Oeiras and Environs Daily Photo]
A Ventura City Manager reflects on the concept of Placemaking [City of Ventura]
The Billboard industry calls for tree-cutting, while some in Florida provide small resistance [On the Commons]

PPS Does Parking Day!

Robin Lester — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:54:15 +0000

Park(ing) Day is an international event that reclaims over 200 parking spots in 50 cities around the world and transforms them into engaging public spaces for one day a year. In NYC, this event creates small, temporary public spaces that provide a breath of relief from the auto-clogged reality of the city. For more info on the event, visit http://parkingdaynyc.org/

The PPS Parking Day Spot this year will be on Broadway and Great Jones St, one block from the PPS offices! We should be up and running by 10am and plan to stay until around 4pm. The theme of our spot is Mini Bryant Park; we will be providing reading material, movable seating, games, and lemonade. Please stop by anytime and bring your friends!

Places in the News: September 22, 2008

Robin Lester — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:53:24 +0000

A Ventura City Manager reflects on the concept of Placemaking [City of Ventura]
The Billboard industry calls for tree-cutting, while some in Florida provide small resistance [On the Commons]

Placemaking at Monument Circle

Robin Lester — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:08:58 +0000

PPS is working with the grantees and partners of Inspiring Places Initiative of the Central Indiana Community Foundation to build capacity for Placemaking in the Indianapolis region. One focus of this effort has been on Monument Circle, one of the city’s most iconic public spaces. The Circle, which hosts numerous events throughout the year, has the potential to become an even better destination for downtown activity.

PPS provided a report outlining a process for improvements, which included a management plan, additional amenities and flexible activities.

“From a European perspective, this could be one of the great public spaces in America, it seems to me,” said Simon Crookall, president of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, which performs at Hilbert Circle Theatre. “It has enormous potential.”

More information:

Reshaping the Circle [Indianapolis Business Journal]

Places in the News: September 18, 2008

Robin Lester — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:17:58 +0000

Urban agriculture is a growing industry [The Star]
Ethisphere predicts the most sustainable cities in the year 2020 [Ethisphere]
Londoners lobby for the use of Segways in public spaces [County Times]
A new focus on reviving the US’s urban waterfronts [Kitsap Sun]
Park(ing) Day – September 19, 2008 – allows activists the chance to create temporary public spaces in metered parking spots [PARKing Day]
Abu Dhabi plans for new rail system to meet projected population growth [Khaleej Times]
Technology could increase efficiency of public and shared transportation [Planetizen]

PPS’s Gary Toth participates in PARKing Day 2007

NYC Places: Placemaking on the Upper East Side

Robin Lester — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:00:12 +0000

PPS Founder and President Fred Kent spoke to a group of Upper East Siders Tuesday evening, engaging the uptown community to evaluate their own neighborhood. After a presentation on bold moves in pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly policies around the world, attendees split up into groups to brainstorm simple ways to improve the streets in their neighborhood. Ideas including traffic circles, closing main streets to traffic and enhancing the area’s waterfront amenities were among those generated.

Streetsblog offers a full report.

Placemaking Catalyzes New Life in Providence Square

hmanshel@pps.org — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:56:44 +0000

Several months after a PPS Placemaking Workshop, Providence’s Kennedy Plaza is bustling. There are live Rhythm and Soul concerts every Sunday, a Farmeri’s Market Fridays and a Market Bazaar with food, antique, art and other vendors on Thursdays. Throughout the summer there have been a variety of programmed events including a Street Paining Festival, a Roller Derby, and a Bolivian Festival.

These are the creations of the Greater Kennedy Plaza Working Group inspired by discussion at PPS’ workshop in February. PPS saw Kennedy Plaza as the heart of Providence and invited community members to brainstorm ways to make it more inviting; to truly draw people into the square and make it a vibrant and active downtown center

At the launch of the first Kennedy Plaza summer programs, Mayor David N. Cicilline was full of praise for the Working Group and for the progress that has been made in the square: “Thanks to the hard work and vision of our community partners, this wonderful space is being transformed into a vibrant gathering place that offers something for everyone.” Previously, Kennedy Plaza was used almost exclusively as a bus transfer station but with the help of PPS and the Working Group and the myriad new programs and activities, Kennedy Square has become a veritable destination and a lively public space.

Cuddy Family Midtown Park Opens in Anchorage

hmanshel@pps.org — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:05:04 +0000

Photo Source: Anchorage Parks Foundation

The Master Plan that PPS proposed for Cuddy Family Midtown Park in Anchorage, Alaska in 2004 has been implemented. The Grand Opening ceremony for the park was held on August 23rd, 2008, and included activities such as live music and theater performances, roller ski races, a kayak paddle for kids, and a ribbon cutting ceremony with Senator Ted Stevens, Mayor Mark Begich and the Cuddy Family. The park features the only long track speed skating oval in Alaska, a new pond, a walking track, and an outdoor amphitheater.

The park was established in the 1980s and in 2004 PPS held a Place Performance Evaluation Workshop, subsequently developing a new Master Plan for making the park a physical and symbolic heart in a part of the Anchorage community. PPS recommended improving access to the park to strengthen the connection between the park and the neighborhood, developing internal paths, creating a series of “places” to ensure a variety of activities, and developing a new management and funding strategy. PPS also provided both short-term and long-term recommendations for specific areas of the park, including entranceways and surrounding buildings. A highlight of the master plan was the proposed skating oval, which is now a major attraction of the park.

The Anchorage Parks Foundation and the Anchorage Parks and Recreation department are responsible for the park, and funding came from both public and private sources, including a large donation from the Cuddy Family.

Anchorage Parks Foundation

Places in the News: September 2, 2008

Robin Lester — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:12:16 +0000

In the UK, a giant mechanical elephant prepares to thrill the streets of Liverpool [Guardian]
Bus bans at malls in Illinois are a reminder that true public space is precious and scarce [Illinoize]
An astro-turf-covered square becomes a busy impromptu park in Maryland, despite a designed park nearby! [The Dirt]
Don’t live near a farmers market? Start your own! [Tips from the University of Florida, via Ecollo]
Cities and towns are turning abandoned big box stores into community centers, charter schools and senior centers [USA Today]

Places in the News: August 25, 2008

Robin Lester — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:44:57 +0000

Will NYC’s new zoning rules actually increase traffic in NYC? [Gotham Gazette]
New Hampshire farmers have their best season ever, thanks to interest in farmers markets and eating locally [Fox 44]
In Beijing, sanctioned Olympic “protest parks” sit empty after the Chinese government ignores the 77 protest permit requests filed. Two elderly citizens, filing to protest eminent domain, were arrested and threatened with work camps. [Canada.com]
Canada’s Spacing Toronto magazine announces its “thinkTORONTO” streetscape planning competition for young architects, planners, designers and students [Spacing Toronto]
Food stamp acceptance at farmers markets increases, providing access to fresh, healthy produce [AM NY]
New public sculpture entices crowds, encouraging interactivity and enhancing public space [NY Times]

(The Bean, Chicago. Photo by the New York Times.)

Chattanooga Parks to be Animated by Movable Furniture

hmanshel@pps.org — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:56:48 +0000

Photo: www.chattanooga-charm.com

Chattanooga, Tennessee has taken a PPS recommendation to heart! Inspired by a speech by PPS Founder and President Fred Kent, the Chattanooga Department of Parks and Recreation announced that it will be installing multicolored steel tables and chairs in several of its waterfront parks. The project is called the Park Animation Project, and it intends to increase social interaction in parks and to create a sense of ownership among park users.

Initially, the 130 tables and 21 chairs were to be placed on the waterfront in Coolidge Park this month, but the installation has been delayed based on reports that the existing furniture was too unstable for Coolidge Park’s uneven terrain. Picnic tables with umbrellas will still be added to the portion of the waterfront by Ross’s Landing.

PPS has long been an advocate for free-standing, movable furniture because they help to create “minidestinations” and allow people to customize spaces so they can have a range of different experiences. Coolidge Park is one of the best places to employ this concept as it already contains a notable amenity: according to Fred Kent, the fountain in Coolidge Park is one of the top five in the world.

Places in the News: August 18, 2008

Robin Lester — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:36:47 +0000

For the first time in more than 100 years, a market reopens on the location of Australia’s first public market [Parrametta Sun]
Connecticut yearns for car-free streets and neighbor interaction in public spaces [The Herald]
In London, Ontario, Nestle Water is protesting a ban on the sale of bottled water in government buildings, and promoting recycling education in public spaces [CNW Group]
Los Angeles must reopen its alleyways for public use [blogdowntown]
London’s 100 Public Spaces Project, aiming at creating and improving 100 public spaces in the city, will be completed for the 2012 Olympic Games. The program hopes to highlight the benefits of great public spaces, and illustrate that they can be created and maintained easily and affordably. [Mayor of London]

Places in the News: August 11, 2008

Robin Lester — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:31:19 +0000

This week’s most intriguing stories about urban planning, public spaces and citizen action.

Montreal vendors resist mandated Bud Light sales after business association forms exclusive partnership. PPS Senior Vice President Steve Davies comments! [Globe and Mail]
The Committee for Citizen Involvement in Oregon “is a process-oriented committee, providing resources and opportunities for citizens to participate effectively in Clackamas County’s land use planning and decision-making process.” If you live in the area, check out one of the upcoming meetings! [Clackamas Review]
A local blogger in Windsor, Ontario applied PPS’s Power of 10 waterfront design guidelines to evaluate why his local waterfront remains largely unused by the public [scaledown]
Urban planners believe that high gas prices will finally curb sprawl [Urban Energy]
Unique, modern New Urbanist communities spring up and thrive in and around Denver [Next American City]
Rotating public art encourages civic engagement and discussion in Clearwater [Creative Loafing]
The New Republic defines urban revival as “demographic inversion,” rather than “gentrification” [The New Republic]
In Buffalo, one market thrives while another suffers [Buffalo News]

(Lexington Food Co-op, Buffalo, NY, photo by Artvoice)