The Place Poll

Special Year-End Edition

In this special edition of "The Place Poll," we invite you to judge all the 2003 nominees from our Great Public Spaces website. Each link below leads to a list of places nominated for each category. Find the places you know and use the "Comments" section to give us your opinion--what you say will help determine which nominees are truly great public spaces. With 126 nominees from 16 countries and 98 cities, you're bound to find a place you love... or loathe. And if by some chance none of these places look familiar, you can always nominate a place you do know.

Streets

If, in the words of William H. Whyte, "The street is the river of life," then which of these streets are the equivalent of the mighty Mississippi or the majestic Nile?

Markets

A great market performs two central roles in the community: lively gathering place and local economic engine. Which of these nominees do you think are qualified on both counts?

Parks

From the Cleveland Cultural Gardens to Imam Square in Isfahan, Iran, more parks get nominated than any other category. So if you're having trouble finding a place you know, try looking here.

Buildings

We wish buildings were always designed to add something to the public spaces around them. But, as this little group of nominees proves, great buildings are hard to come by.

Hall of Shame

A place truly belongs in the Hall of Shame if you can point to it and say, "That's how not to do things." Help us decide which of these seven nominees deserve such lasting ignominy.