Image Collection

Gallery: 2003: The Year in Pictures

Created by:
Nick Grossman, Feb 20, 2004
2003: The Year in Pictures
2003: The Year in Pictures  

Welcome to "2003: The Year in Pictures," an interactive feature that takes advantage of PPS's online Image Collection, a database of over 11,000 images of great places and placemaking. The images are available to registered users of the Image Database. If the image above appears as a small thumbnail on your screen, please log in to the Image Database before you continue.
San Francisco Federal Plaza
San Francisco Federal Plaza  

It would be hard to imagine a less welcoming entrance than this one to the Federal Building in San Francisco, but it is typical of many of the GSA projects we have worked on over the last four years.
San Francisco Federal Plaza
San Francisco Federal Plaza  

Addressing the integration of a Federal Building into the surrounding neighborhood begins by taking stakeholders out on the sidewalk to evaluate the area and talk to passersby.
San Francisco Federal Plaza
San Francisco Federal Plaza  

PPS Designer Ilaria Salvadori translates participants’ ideas into a graphic action plan as the brainstorming goes on behind her.
Property Managers' Guide
Property Managers' Guide  

We have developed a new handbook for property managers to evaluate and improve the spaces around their buildings...
Property Managers' Guide
Property Managers' Guide  

The process works equally well for any kind of building.
Newark, NJ
Newark, NJ  

We'd rather bury or tear up a waterfront highway, but sometimes the only option is to mitigate its impact. PPS worked with NJDOT and key stakeholders on Newark, New Jersey's Passaic Riverfront to plan for waterfront access and activities.
Newark, NJ
Newark, NJ  

Participants from the city and local groups went out on the site several times, in all kinds of weather, to brainstorm improvements based on placemaking principles.
Newark, NJ
Newark, NJ  

Working closely with NJDOT and engineers, we’ve recommended a landscaped median, wide crosswalks, a park full of activities, and a pedestrian bridge over the highway that is an extension of the institutions it is bridging.
San Mateo County, CA: Redwood City
San Mateo County, CA: Redwood City  

El Camino Real, a street as varied and complex as the towns it passes through, bordered on one side by a rail line and downtowns, and the other by residential neighborhoods.
San Mateo County, CA: Redwood City
San Mateo County, CA: Redwood City  

Extensive visioning and placemaking in seven San Mateo County communities has suggested a new look for El Camino Real, and, more importantly, connections, housing and mobility choices for those living and working along it.
San Mateo County, CA: Daly City
San Mateo County, CA: Daly City  

Downtowns and transit hubs need connections as well, so that traffic calming can be coordinated with better transit service and amenities, promoting ridership and downtown living, like this transit plaza in Daly City, CA.
San Mateo County, CA: Daly City
San Mateo County, CA: Daly City  

PPS worked in seven towns along the El Camino Real Corridor in San Mateo, and developed unique solutions for each one that tied into a coherent vision for planning and development along the entire corridor.
Littleton, NH
Littleton, NH  

Small towns have traffic issues as well, and PPS has been working with Littleton, New Hampshire, as well as NHDOT, on a thorough study and process in that small town (pop 6,000).
Littleton, NH
Littleton, NH  

Ideas include back-in angled parking and curb extensions, to calm traffic, and increase downtown activity.
Littleton, NH
Littleton, NH  

Participants in Littleton came from all ages and backgrounds, sometimes meeting in the local diner.
Littleton, NH
Littleton, NH  

Everything in Littleton is an asset…
Littleton, NH
Littleton, NH  

...including this bridge, which residents envisioned as a pleasant promenade connecting one area to another.
Rijeka, Croatia
Rijeka, Croatia  

In a project funded by the Urban Institute, PPS helped youth in Rijeka, Croatia identify key “places” in their community, and suggest improvements. This empty lot below Soviet “panelak” housing, was one of the sites chosen.
Rijeka, Croatia
Rijeka, Croatia  

The Croatian youths, who ranged from ten to 18-years old, were led through the exercise by mentors trained by PPS staff. The local government has pledged to fund one of the four projects identified by the process.
Gyumri, Armenia
Gyumri, Armenia  

Placemaking is an ideal tool to develop a culture of civic engagement in former Soviet countries like Armenia, where skepticism towards public participation prevails due to decades of heavy-handed Communist rule. This square, devastated by an earthquake over 15 years ago, has finally been cleared of temporary housing and is ready for a makeover.
Gyumri, Armenia
Gyumri, Armenia  

Local planners helped draw up the plans to execute the community's ideas and create the expo.
Gyumri, Armenia
Gyumri, Armenia  

The result was a bustling square full of activities, from roller skating to a public market and cafes. Tens of thousands of Armenians came to enjoy the event.
Bryant Park: Fashion Week
Bryant Park: Fashion Week  

PPS has been a vocal opponent of Bryant Park’s hosting of the semi-annual Seventh on Sixth Fashion Show. In 2003, Bryant Park’s central lawn was closed for a total of over six weeks, in September and February, for the invitation-only fashion show.
Bryant Park
Bryant Park  

By contrast, the Park’s film festival welcomes anyone to the lawn on Monday nights in summertime.
Bryant Park
Bryant Park  

Bryant Park’s excellent public programs and management make this one of our favorite parks in the world…
Bryant Park: Fashion Week
Bryant Park: Fashion Week  

…except during Fashion Week.
London
London  

PPS spent several weeks in London in 2003, looking specifically at that city’s wonderful approach to traffic management and control.
London: Canary Wharf
London: Canary Wharf  

However, while cars are limited on the roadways, they are allowed to park all over the public spaces in Canary Wharf during this car show. The event earned Canary Wharf a place on the Hall of Shame.
London
London  

London’s exciting new pedestrian bridge earned rave reviews in PPS’s London Commentary.
Barcelona: Las Ramblas
Barcelona: Las Ramblas  

As did Barcelona’s famous Ramblas. One of the great streets in the world, in one of our greatest cities.
Barcelona: Parc Diagonal del Mar
Barcelona: Parc Diagonal del Mar  

However, "Barcelona's newer architecture and public spaces are severely compromised by a narrow focus on their "design" value – not their community value," noted Fred Kent in his 2003 City Commentary. This example, Parc Diagonal del Mar, he called "truly awful."
Bilbao, Spain
Bilbao, Spain  

In another Spanish town, Bilbao, we had an equally low opinion of the famous Guggenheim museum. In this picture, a thief finds solace in the continuous blank walls of the Franks Gehry-designed museum. Seconds later, we saw the thief try to swipe a tourist's camera.
Outdoor Cafe
Outdoor Cafe  

In front of our favorite lunch spot, Joe's Pizza in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, a couple shared a meal on a mail box.
Ferrara, Italy
Ferrara, Italy  

With their wives in church on Palm Sunday these Italian men loitered on the church plaza in Ferrara and talked politics with passion.
Paris Plage
Paris Plage  

The beach returned for another summer in front of the city hall in Paris.
Bastille Day on Smith Street
Bastille Day on Smith Street  

And Smith Street in Brooklyn became a playground for French games on Bastille Day.
Bumper Sticker
Bumper Sticker  

We didn't write this bumpersticker, but we like the sentiment!