By Benjamin Fried

You can't create great places without getting people involved from the bottom up, but it certainly helps to have friends at the top. In the UK, people at the highest levels of government have demonstrated a strong desire to improve public spaces, and they have recently delivered major results. In London, for instance, Mayor Ken Livingstone's successful experiment in congestion charging has reduced traffic and invigorated the pedestrian experience. The congestion charges are the first major sign of a sea change in the way government approaches public spaces in the UK.

Take this bold proclamation from Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in a recent report titled "Living Places: Cleaner, Safer, Greener."

Improving our public space is not about creating a sanitized, sterile, shrink-wrapped world. It is about creating living, sustainable and inclusive communities – communities where people feel they have a stake in their future.

That sounds just short of revolutionary coming from a public official. But more and more, this sensitivity to the complex needs of people and public spaces is the norm rather than the exception.

The government is now taking concrete steps to put its words into practice, and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) is leading the way. It recently launched the Sustainable Communities Plan, which specifically targets the quality of public spaces as part of a holistic effort to address housing needs and rural preservation. Overall the ODPM will invest more than £2 billion in public spaces and neighborhood renewal.

"This is about offering local authorities the assistance they need to make parks and green spaces something for all the community to enjoy."

A big component of the ODPM's strategy is CABE Space, an agency established earlier this year that aims to "ensure that every person in England has easy access to well designed and well looked after public space." A part of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, CABE Space is just setting out on its mission; one of their first initiatives is the Strategic Enabling Scheme, which provides over 60 towns with expert guidance on how to better manage and maintain their parks and public spaces.

According to Tony McNulty, the Regeneration Minister, the Strategic Enabling Scheme "is about offering local authorities the assistance they need to make parks and green spaces something for all the community to enjoy."

By entrusting the decision-making to local bodies, this approach helps tailor solutions that will be sensitive to place. At the same time, the influence of the national government ensures that certain towns and cities do not get left behind as others make improvements.

The political relevance of public spaces is just as striking in London, where the national agenda has coincided with Mayor Livingstone's enthusiastic advocacy of walking, bicycling, and public transit. Congestion charging, a gutsy political venture to which Livingstone staked his reputation, went into effect in February amidst much controversy and skepticism. Motorists who enter central London on weekdays between 7am and 6:30pm now pay a £5 fee, and all revenues from the charges go towards improving public transportation. Six months after taking effect, the charges have reduced traffic by 40 percent, exceeding expectations.

"Creating and managing high quality public spaces is essential to delivering an urban renaissance in London."

Naysayers predicted everything from decreased retail business in central London to a logjam of non-payment cases in local courts. But the pessimistic forecasts have not come to pass: In a recent survey conducted by the business group London First, 84 percent of local businesses said the congestion charges had a neutral or positive effect on their bottom line.

The congestion charges were sold as a way to get London traffic moving again, but they also fit into a broader plan to make the city more walkable and improve its public spaces. "Creating and managing high quality public spaces is essential to delivering an urban renaissance in London," Livingstone says in his introduction to a new public space plan. As Mayor, Livingstone serves as chair of the Greater London Authority, whose Architecture and Urbanism Unit (A+UU) has pledged to create or improve 100 public spaces in London over the next five years.

The efforts of local and national government have been complemented by the emergence of major nonprofit organizations dedicated to placemaking and improving public spaces. GreenSpace, formerly the Urban Parks Forum, advocates for better parks, gardens and greenspaces. Their "community network project" aims to unite local community-based organizations under an umbrella group that will share best practices and strategies for creating thriving parks and gardens.

GreenSpace has been a crucial government partner, helping to develop CABE Space and collaborating in the management of the Living Spaces program, which provides direct grants to community groups seeking to improve their local environments.

Success may spur other car-centric cities—not just those in the UK—to put people and the public realm first.

The Prince's Foundation, another key organization working together with groups at the local level, emphasizes "a return of human values to architecture, the building arts, urban design and regeneration." Established by Prince Charles, the Foundation uses a community-based approach to preserve historic sites and create high-density urban developments that fit with the existing fabric. Its projects extend to urban and rural areas all over the UK, and its recent collaboration with PPS yielded London's first placemaking training course for professionals.

Together, these government and non-profit agencies have raised the profile of public spaces and the quality of the civic debate surrounding them. This can only be a good sign for the future of cities and towns in the UK. While it is too early to say whether the current climate of support for public spaces will effect widespread, lasting change, the building blocks are now in place thanks to visionary leadership and grassroots support.

All eyes were on London when congestion charging took effect, and its success may spur other car-centric cities—not just those in the UK—to put people and the public realm first. Likewise, if government programs such as CABE Space raise the bar for public spaces, placemakers everywhere may soon have many more friends at the top.