People's Choice

These are the places we remember most vividly, the places where serendipitous things happen, the places we tell stories about.

Browse through over 600 public spaces to see what makes places great--and why each one is unique. While you're here, you can nominate your own favorites or add to the Hall of Shame.

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Recent Comments

Here's what people are saying about...

Louisville Waterfront Park:

(03/14/10 by Stuart Noland): Could be a great place but riverfront I-64 ruins this park. The eleveted freeway is ugly and loud as it runs through the park. The current plan to redesign the waterfront expressway will widen this section by over 70 ft and do nothing to improve the hideously ugly section of I-64 west of the great lawn. Louisville's leaders consider the great lawn at waterfront park to be the front lawn for the city. This front lawn has a very ugly and loud waterfront expressway that is sheduled to become the only elevated waterfront expressway to be expanded in the 21st century. I personnaly will not live in this city if the planned expansion occurs. PPS, please consider doing an updated list of worst waterfronts in the country with Louisville listed as #1."
Pershing Square:

(03/10/10 by David Sargent): The surrounding buildings and the life of the place are indeed coming back. We have recently opened a new office in the Pershing Square Building on the northeast corner of the square, in which the owner is investing heavily, including a new restaurant/bar on the roof overlooking the square. He is not alone. Previous commenters have correctly identified the principal deficiencies of the parking structure in the square: the swirl of cars on the ramps that cut it off from the City on every side, and the enclosing walls of the square itself, evidently generated by a lack of understanding - or lack of belief - that the surrounding building fabric could in fact do that job just fine. Ironically, access to the parking structure below - both pedestrian and automobile - is just as disorienting as the access to the square on the lid. Squares raised above pedestrian eye-level are very difficult to design, but can be made to work, e.g. Union Square, where they were working with a steeper site. Cutting Pershing off from pedestrian access and views with walls and cars and suburban landscaping is just an inexcusable error of urban design. I'm sure that it looked cool in aerial perspective and as a model on the table - it even looks interesting from our roof terrace - but urban design must always be experienced and judged by the person on foot. Pershing Square fails that test entirely, leading directly to all the operational problems. It can be fixed, but it will require a lot more than enhanced event programming, as helpful as that is."
Pershing Square:

(02/21/10 by julie talbott): We live in a repurposed Deco building that faces Pershing Square. It is interesting to read the thread of comments posted about this locale because they are targeting a specific issue pertinent to the moment written. Downtown has made a one-eighyt for those of you that haven't been here recently; had someone told me even a year ago that I would be living in the heart of the place, I would have laughed. Some things actually change for the better. Unfortunately the 2000 design by Legoreta is not one of them. How and why he won the competition for this (yes, there was a competition in which a dozen or so submitted their vision for the square.) is baffling. We look at the square every day and attempt to put ourselves in the mind of this designer and are baffled. There is no flow whatsoever to the grid. It is uninviting and stagnant. An obnoxious unused yellow outbuilding in the north quadrant needs to go. The tower is the biggest headache. It is a pointless monolith that serves no apparant purpose, aesthetically or functionally. The place needs to be rethought and redone. But to those of you that feel the place is nothing but a magnet for the homeless, this has changed. There are now concerts at the park on a regular basis, ice skating in the winter, a weekly farmer's market on Wednesday and many, many local residents walking their four-legged family members through the trees and lawn continuously. So there is new life coming into the square. When you look at the old photos of the place from the teens, it was an actual urban gathering spot. Sure, it will always be used as a "shortcut" but walking under trees past the beautiful Biltmore hotel is an evocative step into another era that should be cherished. "
Parc de la Villette:

(02/16/10 by bo sun): I have not been to Parc de la Villette and thus can't judge one way or the other. But I appreciate PPS's criticism especially for its courage considering that all of the trailing commentators are against it. I belong to the type that is generally suspicious of design born of "big ideas" but not ingenuity. Let me use Michelangelo as an example to illustrate what I mean. His work David as many of his other works demonstrated not only his skills as a craftsman, but also his profound dedication to the pursuit of beauty that is intrinsic to human race. In that, he had differentiated himself without being different. I have seen too many designers whose talents are only demonstrated through being different. I am not implying that to Bernard Tschumi the designer of the park. I actually am interested in hearing comments on why the park is a great place other than being unique, thus "not boring"."
Imam Square:

(02/09/10 by sara ameri): as other friends mentioned its name is "naghshe jahan square" or "shah squre" because it was built at the supervision and order of shah abbas at sfavieh period.so i suggest you to turn its title to the main and correct one as" naghshe jahan " square"
Imam Square:

(02/03/10 by suffi misaki): Isfahan “We were glad when they said to us, “Let us go to the naghsh e jahan SQ! Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Isfahan! Isfahan, built as a city which is bound firmly together, to which the fascinating go up, the fascinating of the all Iran, as we decreed for Iran, to give thanks to the name of the Iran”. I have found this reasonable comment abour Esfahan Imam Sq at http://www.irtouring.com "
Washington Square, San Francisco:

(01/21/10 by matt frank): It is a great open space, but almost any open space there would work. I think the park could be better utilized since that area of the city has such a high density. Halprin is great but it is due for a redesign."
Esther Short Park:

(01/14/10 by john robinson): thanks for such a nice article..it is really awesome.. ======================================== albert pinto vancouver flowers"
Roads along the Seine:

(01/14/10 by Rachel Stewart): Too true. Yet to be there in summer for Paris Plage is such a treat. It was in part designed to benefit those who don't or can't leave the city during the annual mass vacation madness, and besides, all those cars are also on vacation. So the quai-side is once again given over to the people for 6 or 7 weeks. More than chaises and sand and umbrellas, there are entertainers, musicians, jugglers, mimes. Although getting cars permanently off the quais is an uphill struggle, the sudden popularity of the rental Velos [bikes] is very promising."
West Side Market:

(12/31/09 by Laura Taxel): I am working on a book about the West Side Market. I'd like to connect with people who have memories of shopping or working there; whose families are part of the place's history; and anyone who has photos taken there that they are willing to share. Please email me: laurataxel@ameritech.net"