PPS Goes to College
Our new program to bring the power of Placemaking to university campuses starts at Harvard, Stanford, and Duke.
By Phil Myrick
A good public square can make an enormous difference in the vitality of a downtown district or neighborhood, and the same goes for universities campuses. The very idea of a distinct community for learning, with gathering places for students and scholars to exchange, was one of the great inventions of a young American republic. The legendary Lawn laid out by Thomas Jefferson for the University of Virginia is a brilliant and inspiring example.
 PPS worked with Harvard faculty and students to identify opportunities to make North Campus a more successful public space.But today, many campuses lack quality squares, commons, or other places that bring their community together for interaction and fun. Attention and money is lavished on facilities, rather than the critical spaces between buildings. Even in strict financial terms, this approach doesn't make sense when you consider that it is the special places on campus that alumni best remember, and it is very often these places that play a strong role in attracting new students.
PPS is launching a new program to help universities improve their public spaces--and their sense of community--by offering more ways for diverse sets of people to interact. To accomplish this, campuses need to promote a variety of activities that are not specifically academic. It is not enough to build a university around the specialized needs of its academic programs; it also needs a collection of distinct gathering places that foster a greater sense of connection.
On any campus, there should be at least ten interesting, well used public places that attract all kinds of people. This concept is what PPS calls "The Power of Ten." Within each place, there should be at least ten things to do, such as eating, drinking, reading, browsing, playing games, looking at art, and so on. Such places bridge the gap between the distinct and diverse communities within the academic institution; they are the settings for civic gatherings, residential life, academic discussions, and they may possess a variety of public, private, academic, retail and cultural amenities. What's more, they can help build or heal town-gown relations.
Many campuses lack quality squares, commons, or other places that bring their community together.
PPS launched our new campus program with Placemaking projects for Harvard, Stanford, and Duke Universities. Will be working on the campus of the University of British Columbia this week, and we will soon be working with Ohio State University on their pedestrian routes.
At Harvard, we are ensuring that a campus addition offers the best possible setting for social activities--for both the academic and local residential communities--by working at the edge of the new campus where it meets the historic Allston section of Boston. Much in the way PPS worked in New Haven with Yale 20 years ago, we hope to focus the university's investment in a way that revitalizes the public streets around it, creating a new amenity for both communities.
|
