Our Biggest Placemaking Victories of 2006

In reviewing the success of the past year, PPS is more optimistic than ever about the potential for creating great public spaces.

PPS--working with a wealth of partners in many parts of the world--was able to boost Placemaking to new heights in 2006. As we all embark on numerous challenges for 2007, we hope you find inspiration in these victories for great public spaces over the past twelve months.

Transportation

Streets can be transformed into places that foster public life--if there is community and institutional support for that idea. With guidance from PPS, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) has made just such a commitment to making great places. In 2006, PPS trained NHDOT engineers in a place-oriented approach to road design and helped shape the agency's long-range strategic plan. The plan represents an unprecedented statewide effort to link transportation and land use, with the explicit aim of preserving and enhancing places. It is an exemplary model for other state DOTs as they shift their focus from simply moving traffic to promoting a broad range of public goals.

Contact Andy Wiley-Schwartz for more on PPS's Transportation Program.

Parks

On October 17th, Houston officials broke ground on "Discovery Green," a new flagship public space in the center of downtown. The vision for the park emerged from a series of community workshops PPS held the previous year, capturing the input of people from neighborhoods in the downtown area. Upon completion in 2008, the park will provide something that Houston and many other downtowns desperately need: a central gathering place with a variety of dynamic destinations to attract the public.

PPS's concept plan for Houston's new Downtown Park.

PPS's concept plan for Houston's new Downtown Park.

Contact Phil Myrick for more on PPS's Parks Program.

Campuses

Our new Campuses program made tremendous headway in its first full year of operation. Following a series of workshops and a report from PPS, Harvard University is putting Placemaking front and center in their plans to build a new campus in Allston, Massachusetts. In addition to universities, hospitals are coming to recognize the benefits of enhancing their campuses with active public spaces in order to bring their facility into the heart of community life. One of the leaders in this field, Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois, enlisted PPS expertise in a visionary project to create a world-leading medical campus that uses vital public spaces to foster the kind of human interaction that helps both patients and visitors.

Contact Phil Myrick for more on PPS's Campuses Program.

Mixed-Use Development

PPS teamed up with the Palm Beach Land Trust to help create a mixed-use center that will become one of the great destinations in Orlando. The "Rockefeller Center of Orlando" is the last major undeveloped parcel of land downtown, a six acre site slated for retail, restaurants, offices, a hotel, and a civic plaza. PPS ensured that the plaza and retail spaces will be vibrant, attractive and successful places for broad public use. Known as Orlando Central Plaza, the development is a harbinger for future mixed-use projects, signaling the strong emphasis many developers now place on high-quality public space.

Contact Meg Walker for more on PPS's Mixed-Use Development Program.

Civic Buildings

In Mississauga, Ontario (a city of 700,000 next door to Toronto), PPS's training course and planning recommendations spurred the municipal government to launch a new city department called "Building a City for the 21st Century." The director of this department, Bruce Carr, is implementing Placemaking improvements to the City Centre as outlined by the community. The results were on full display during the summer, when Mississauga's Central Library and City Hall plazas were actively programmed six days a week, hosting an eclectic mix of concerts, ethnic festivals, markets, sports, and other activity.

A crowd gathers for a concert, one of many events held during the

A crowd gathers for a concert, one of many events held during the "My Mississauga" program of events this past summer.

Contact Cynthia Nikitin for more on PPS's Civic Buildings Program.

Public Markets

With support from the Ford and W.K. Kellogg Foundations, PPS awarded more than $1 million in grants to 23 public markets in 2006. The grants are helping markets across the United States fulfill their enormous potential as social gathering places, engines of economic development, and sources of healthy food for the communities they serve. Individual markets, market networks, and market associations were all among the groups whose innovative work received support. Grantees range from a small neighborhood youth market in Denver, Colorado, to a network of markets resuming operations in Gulf Coast areas hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, to a new association of markets in Michigan seeking to expand their impact on communities statewide.

Robert Pierce, Youth Gardening Coordinator at the South Madison Community Farmers Market

Robert Pierce, Youth Gardening Coordinator at the South Madison Community Farmers Market, one of PPS's individual market grantees.

Contact Steve Davies for more on PPS's Public Markets Program.

Waterfronts

A Placemaking workshop led by PPS set the stage for San Diego's waterfront to become a great public destination. In conjunction with the San Diego Port District, PPS worked with 70 stakeholders to envision how this one-time working waterfront could connect to downtown and come back to life as a world-class gathering place. And overseas, PPS president Fred Kent delivered the keynote address at a ULI Asia conference in Hong Kong, afterward conducting an evaluation of the city's underutilized downtown waterfront with local leaders.

Contact Fred Kent for more on PPS's Waterfronts Program.

Great Cities Initiative

More and more visionary leaders in local government are recognizing the need to shape their cities and towns using a place-based approach. PPS's Great Cities Initiative gives them the tools and expertise to do exactly that, enabling public agencies to work across disciplines and improve entire districts place by place. Last year the Initiative reached more cities than ever before, including Flint, Michigan, where PPS trained city officials and community leaders, led public presentations, and conducted Placemaking projects for key waterfront locations. Bellingham, Washington, another forward-thinking city, is taking major steps to transform the way public agencies operate. Seventy-five city leaders attended PPS's training workshops and presentations in 2006. Afterwards, Mayor Mark Asmundson enthusiastically proclaimed that future public space projects in the city would be guided by Placemaking principles.

Contact Ethan Kent for more on PPS's Great Cities Initiative.

Training

Through our well-recognized training programs, PPS spreads the knowledge and skills we've acquired from 32 years of improving public space to a growing corps of planning professionals. We significantly expanded the influence of this program in 2006, exemplified by our nationwide training initiative in Scotland. In partnership with Greenspace Scotland, PPS staff prepared a group of planning professionals to serve as the first-ever certified Placemaking trainers outside of our organization. This contingent of Placemakers will further spread the message through a licensing and mentoring agreement with PPS. The trainers will have access to PPS materials and methodologies, along with the services of PPS staff, to guide them through the Placemaking process as they apply it throughout their home country. An equally groundbreaking program flowered in Serbia, where PPS continued our longstanding involvement in Eastern Europe by training and certifying design professionals and community organizers in Placemaking.

Associates of Greenspace Scotland received Placemaking training from PPS as part of a country-wide program.

Associates of Greenspace Scotland received Placemaking training from PPS as part of a country-wide program.

Contact Kathy Madden for more on PPS's Training Program.

New York City

A change is in the air in our hometown, where PPS and partners are laying the groundwork for exciting improvements to New York's streets and public spaces. Early in the year we designed the Livable Streets Exhibit to kick off the NYC Streets Renaissance Campaign, a joint project with the Open Planning Project and with Transportation Alternatives. The exhibit was displayed at the Municipal Arts Society's Urban Center and at the Condé Nast Building in Times Square. Later in the year we released the New York City Commentary, a bold public space agenda for the city that includes our recommendations for Nine Ways to Transform New York into a City of Great Places. When New York City Department of Transportation commissioner Iris Weinshall announced new "Public Plaza" and "Pedestrianization" programs at an October conference, members of the city agency credited the advocacy, exhibits and photo-simulations produced by PPS and the Streets Renaissance Campaign as a major influence.

Contact Ethan Kent for more on PPS's New York City Program.

Spreading the Word

At PPS we are eager to share ideas and practical advice with fellow Placemakers everywhere. So in 2006 we launched the Making Places Bulletin to deliver timely information and analysis to complement our in-depth coverage in the Making Places Newsletter. We also received a wealth of evidence that Placemaking is gaining widespread credibility and popularity among people who care about their communities. We received a whopping 750 responses to the question "What is Placemaking?," posted on our website in April. These answers showed us how people all over the world share a remarkable passion for creating vital public spaces that foster community.

We hope this passion inspires you in your work and community projects in 2007 and beyond, and that you will continue to use PPS resources to help achieve your goals.