The Placemaking Round-Up
A biweekly newsletter with public space news, resources, and opportunities.
The Biweekly Bazaar
A curated dispatch on all things public markets plus the latest announcements from the Market Cities Program.
A biweekly newsletter with public space news, resources, and opportunities.
A curated dispatch on all things public markets plus the latest announcements from the Market Cities Program.
Save the date! Registration will open on September 7, 2025.
Date/Time: Thursday, October 23, 2025, 12-1pm ET
Fifty years ago, the founders of Project for Public Spaces invented a new kind of work, driven by the belief that public spaces should be designed by the people who use them every day. Since then, placemaking—the collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm in order to maximize shared value—has grown into a global field of practitioners committed to designing, managing, and activating places that serve everyone.
But as the field of placemaking continues to evolve, how do people get their start and advance in this line of work? And how are emerging leaders shaping the future of our shared places through their own unique paths?
This webinar explores the professional journeys of public space leaders in various stages of their career, as they discuss their path to working in public space, the evolution of placemaking as a field, and what challenges they face in their work today. Whether you’re just beginning your journey in public space or have been at it for years, this conversation offers inspiration and insight into how to translate placemaking from a passion into a profession.
Kona Gray, FASLA, PLA, Principal, EDSA / President, The American Society of Landscape Architects (Fort Lauderdale, FL). Strong leadership and a sense of purpose are part of Kona’s DNA. With experience in 30+ countries, his global management sense has positively shaped the outcomes of many award-winning assignments. He successfully integrates creativity and regional resources into functional environments that invigorate the imagination. With an uncompromising dedication to quality, Kona creates welcoming public places that bring a strong sense of vitality back to neighborhoods. Blending sensitivity with innovative design solutions, he unites a client’s vision with his own vanguard designs to produce programs with purpose and presence.
Carolyn Levine, Senior Manager of Civic Engagement, Downtown Denver Partnership / Creator, This Must Be the Place (Denver, CO). Carolyn Levine is the Senior Manager of Civic Engagement at the Downtown Denver Partnership where she is responsible for developing year-round engagement opportunities that educate, connect, and inspire. She is also the founder of This Must Be The Place, a bi-monthly newsletter that shares placemaking opportunities. Carolyn holds a Master’s degree in Urban Placemaking and Management from Pratt Institute.
Emily Ahn Levy, Interim Academic Director, Urban Placemaking Management & Visiting Assistant Professor, Pratt University (Brooklyn, NY). Emily Ahn Levy 안은옥 (they/them, she/her) is an educator and cultural organizer based in Lenapehoking / New York City for more than 20 years. Their practice is situated at the intersections of community arts and culture, social justice and the public realm. As a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Urban Placemaking & Management graduate program at Pratt Institute, Emily has been awarded the Taconic Fellowship and the inaugural DEI Faculty Fellowship where they created a social justice resource library guide for department faculty. Emily has curated and produced more than 100 public programs, peer exchanges, and place-based events with Arts & Democracy and Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts NY (NOCD-NY). As a member of the American Planning Association New York Metro Area’s Diversity Committee, Emily co-curated and produced the Hindsight Conference, an annual convening focused on equity in planning. Emily is on the Board of Directors of Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership in their neighborhood of Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Kady Yellow, Vice President of Placemaking & Events, Downtown Jacksonville (Jacksonville, FL). Kady comes to Jacksonville from Michigan where she hosted a national conference as part of the global Placemaking Week series. Under her leadership,120 pop-up projects were implemented that prioritized the riverfront, public parks, sidewalks, streets and alleys. Yellow brings almost fifteen years of experience in creative placemaking as part of a global portfolio in New York, Louisiana, Texas, California, Alaska, Portugal, France, Canada, England, and Ireland. Her writing has been featured in FlintBeat and My City Magazine (Michigan), Street Art United States (Boston), CURBED (New Orleans), and she published her first book on the subject matter in 2019. Kady has also received special training in Federal Resources for Creative Community Development, and from City Repair Project, National Endowment for the Arts, and Project for Public Spaces. She earned her master’s degree in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans in 2018 and dual bachelor’s degrees in Graphic Design and Mathematical Sciences from Binghamton University in 2012.
Nate Storring, Co-Executive Director at Project for Public Spaces (Brooklyn, NY). Prior to his current role, Nate led the production of several resources on district revitalization and placemaking, from the second edition of the placemaking handbook How to Turn a Place Around to guides on innovation districts, inclusive placemaking, and balancing transportation and placemaking on main street. He is also the co-editor of two books on participatory city building, Hyperlocal: Place Governance in a Fragmented World and Vital Little Plans: The Short Works of Jane Jacobs.
Historically, placemaking as a profession has only been accessible to a privileged few. To that end, we are offering a sliding scale of registration pricing so that this event can be accessible to individuals and organizations of varying budgets.
The suggested registration rate is $30 USD, however we are also offering registration at the rate of $15 USD and $45 USD. Please pay what you can, and consider contributing more to cover the cost of those who can afford less.
Please contact us at events@pps.org.
Project for Public Spaces is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that brings public spaces to life by planning and designing them with the people who use them every day. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, Project for Public Spaces has spent the past five decades bringing some of the most successful public places in the world to life. Today, we remain committed to putting community participation at the center of everything we do, from placemaking partnerships with corporations and foundations to our workshops, trainings, conferences, and more. Our interdisciplinary team has helped over 3,500 communities in 52 countries create inclusive places that change our society for the better. Together, we can build a world where every public space is community-powered.
Cover Photo: Side A Photo
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
Body Text Body Link
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
Here is some highlighted text from the article.
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
