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Chris Heitmann

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Chris joined Project for Public Spaces in January of 2002. Since then, he has quickly gained experience in the field of public markets and community revitalization while managing PPS’s public markets programs.

Building on his background in youth programming and education, Chris’ initial work at PPS involved helping develop and market “Community Builders,” a website focused on youth-led efforts to improve public spaces. He then conducted two research products which have helped lay the groundwork for PPS’s national public markets initiative. The first study, conducted for the Ford Foundation, looked into the impact of public markets on social integration and upward mobility in low-income communities. The second study, sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation, investigated the role public markets can play in building local food systems. These efforts have helped inform a $1,000,00 public market regranting initiative that Chris has managed for PPS on behalf of the Ford Foundation for the past year.

Chris has also helped plan and coordinate three international conferences for PPS, including the Fifth International Public Markets Conference in 2002 and two Great Parks/Great Cities conferences, one in New York City (2003), and another in London (2004). He is currently helping to plan the 6th International Public Markets Conference to be held in Washington DC this October. In addition, he coordinates PPS’ popular “How to Create Successful Markets” training courses.

Besides his work on the markets initiative, Chris has worked on a number of community revitalization projects, including: a reinvestment plan for Eastern Market in Detroit, MI; a commercial corridor redevelopment plan in Minneapolis, MN; a comprehensive neighborhood plan in Newark, NJ; a visioning and redesign process for a plaza in Des Moines, IA; a public market/welcome center in Hyde Park, NY; and a revitalization plan for Northeast Market in Baltimore, MD.

Prior to his work at PPS, Chris taught elementary and middle-schoolers in a number of settings. He is a co-founder of Bike Works, a youth bicycle-education and redistribution program in Southeast Seattle, and developed and managed the programs there for four years. During that time, he opened and ran a retail bicycle shop that helped to serve (along with the fledgling farmers market around the corner) as a catalyst for neighborhood change. Chris has also worked as a bicycle messenger and road and mountain bike tour guide around the US and Canada.

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