Project for Public Spaces, Inc. (PPS) offers a series of customized workshops to help communities develop improvement agendas that encourage collaboration and provide a head start toward positive change. Structured around a participatory process in which issues of concern are identified and solutions from other communities are demonstrated and discussed, these workshops provide a forum for the public and private sectors to work together cooperatively on creating useful programs and setting up a groundwork for effective implementation.

PPS has conducted special custom-designed community-based workshops for over 23 years throughout the United States and abroad and has found them to be successful in bringing diverse interests together to share their ideas and concerns, in producing high quality, workable recommendations and in leading to action and results.

PPS customarily includes the following components as part of a community workshop:

• Review of Existing Plans and Materials. Prior to the visit, PPS reviews all relevant background information, for example, existing planning reports, historic data, previous streetscape plans, graphic materials, other local studies and recent newspaper articles. Major points of discussion are outlined in preparation for the workshop.

• On-Site Tour. As part of the visit, PPS conducts on-site observations and discussions of the area of concern with business and civic leaders, as well as other key community people, to become familiar with the environs and observe current uses and activity.

• Meetings. To further clarify salient issues, PPS meets with and interviews various members of the public and private sectors. Depending on the nature of the project, the meetings and interviews may include public officials, city staff, property owners, retailers, other local business people, residents and representatives from cultural and other institutions. These people are contacted and meetings are set up by the group that has arranged for PPS to conduct the workshop.

• Community Workshop. The actual workshop is conducted as an open public forum for interested members of the larger community (residents, business interests, employees, property owners, merchants, visitors, civic leaders, etc.). Issues are pinpointed and then discussed more extensively in small focussed groups. Within the small focussed groups, problems are further defined, and ideas for potential improvements and programs are "brainstormed" and discussed. Particular emphasis is given to projects that can be accomplished in the short term as part of longer range objectives. Strategies are discussed concerning how to implement these projects and the structure that would be needed for their accomplishment.

• To facilitate this process, PPS gives a slide presentation illustrating examples of what other cities and towns have done in similar situations that might have an application to the area of concern. The presentation of actual visual examples that relate to community issues furnishes a point of reference that stimulates discussion and kindles ideas.

• "Place Performance Evaluation." PPS has devised a special "place performance evaluation" exercise that has been used in several PPS workshops. This performance exercise incorporates PPS observation, interview and analysis techniques in the format of a game that involves community participants in evaluating sites and enables them to gain insights and develop different ideas by looking at the sites from a user-oriented point of view.

• Short Report. Following up the workshop visit, PPS further reviews and analyzes the information collected from on-site tour observations, interviews, meetings and the public forum and prepares a memo summarizing problems, opportunities and recommendations for an overall direction and implementation strategy, based on community comments and conclusions.

PPS community workshops focus on improvements to a wide variety of public spaces, including downtown streets and sidewalks, parks, squares, waterfronts, vacant lots and transit facilities. Among the topics addressed are:

• opportunities for small-scale design changes and special amenities
• activities and events
• retail improvements, including storefronts, signage, window displays
• building facade improvements
• signage and information
• community entrepreneurial opportunities, including public markets and farmers markets
• land use mix, particularly absent uses
• traffic, parking and pedestrian circulation
• enhancement of transit facilities and the areas around them
• tourist attractions
• preservation and reinforcement of historical character
• community oriented implementation strategies
• security