Market Square

Houston, TX

Contributed by Project for Public Spaces

A park with a design that does nothing but keep people away.

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Why It Doesn't Work

Houston is a city where every public space is seen as a design statement not a place for people. Hence, there are no great public spaces in Houston, and there never will be until city leaders get over the idea of “design” as the solution. They need to get back to the more basic idea of “place.” Market Square offers the best opportunity to do just that. It has the history, the location, and the name to draw in all the wonderful cultures of Houston.

Several years ago, PPS developed recommendations to locate an actual public market in Market Square. But we were told that Market Square was a “park”, and as such, no commercial activity could take place there. Decision makers chose a silly design that did nothing but continue to keep people away. It wouldn’t take much to make Market Square great—they should reinvent and put in a great market. The “New Market Square” could open in two months if leaders had the will. Once that domino falls, Houston may be able to free the rest of downtown from the grip of high design and open it up to people.

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User Comments:

06/03/08 frank (pancho) shiell said:
I agree with your intelligent description of a low-intelligence "design".

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