Planning and Design Services

Improving Public Spaces Through Placemaking

All PPS projects are planned and directed by an interdisciplinary staff who employ a community-driven Placemaking process. This multi-faceted approach to planning and design, which has evolved from our 30 years of experience, is rooted in the communities we serve and the places that are important to them. Building on the techniques pioneered by William H. Whyte's ground-breaking Street Life Project, it involves looking at, listening to and asking questions of the people in a community to discover their needs and aspirations.

We work with communities to create a vision around the places they view as important to their daily experience. Then we help implement their ideas, beginning with small-scale, do-able improvements that can be phased in quickly, bringing immediate benefits.

One key to this process is reaching out to people - including those who might not otherwise participate in an improvement effort - where they live, work and congregate. We often use systematic on-site observations, time-lapse filming, and customized interviews and surveys to gather people's input and document and analyze their activities.

Our process also utilizes Placemaking workshops, facilitated public forums, and other types of meetings and partnerships to give people an opportunity from the outset to identify issues, contribute ideas, and make decisions about improvements that can address their concerns. Using this multi-faceted approach, we help people rebuild their communities as places.

PPS both retrofits public spaces and plans new ones, delivering the following services:

Place Game Workshops
A process for getting input and ideas from stakeholders

Targeted Professional Training
Engages practitioners through specialized curricula

Public Space Analysis
Systematic identification of an area's problems and potential

Conceptual Designs
Plans and sketches of what a space can become

Master Planning/Urban Design Plans
Steps to improve an entire district

Demonstration and Catalyst Projects
Implementation of experiments that build momentum and credibility

Management Programs
How to maintain and activate a space on an ongoing basis

Contact

Email Thor Snilsberg or call (212) 620-5660.

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