IDEAS

“Health is a means to a good life. Everyone has a right to enjoy life – no matter who you are or where you come from.”

DESIGN BUILDINGS TO SUPPORT PLACES (taken from various source material)

In many cities new buildings are going up at an unprecedented pace. Massive gated communities are being built for the middle class, exacerbating the gulf between rich and poor. Traditional neighborhoods are being replaced by towering skyscrapers and civic institutions like schools and libraries often end up looking like fortresses. This trend has spread around the globe and it is damaging the fabric of cities everywhere.

This is why the involvement of all residents is vital for creating great places. Placemaking offers a unique opportunity to bring people of different backgrounds together to work collaboratively on a common goal: a shared public space. When local officials, developers, or any other siloed group prescribe improvements to a place without working with the community, no matter how noble those groups’ intentions may be, it often alienates locals, provokes fears of gentrification, and increases the feeling and experience of exclusion. This kind of project-led or design-led development ignores the primary function of Placemaking–human connection.

The Right to the City is a right to create, to participate, to be represented–it is the right to see oneself reflected in the place they live. It is a right that people understand intuitively, even (or especially) when they live in places where this right has been restricted. We see this in the graffiti that has been painted on the walls of cities in conflict, we hear it at so many of the protests that have spilled out of public squares in recent years. Acts of civil disobedience are demands for the right to the city; they show that people want to be involved in the decisions that impact their communities. And this right to participate has been shown to be directly related to human happiness and well-being.

“I think if we love the places we live, we’ll make better decisions about them. Even in communities that are lacking, we can at least love the way the morning light hits the trees or any little thing. And with a little space for love to grow, we can transform our own expectations, inspire others to do the same, and over time, make real changes to improve the world around us.” — Ryan Gravel, founder of Sixpitch and the originator of the Atlanta Beltline

RESTRUCTURE GOVERNMENT TO SUPPORT PUBLIC SPACES

Unfortunately, government is generally not set up to support public spaces and Placemaking. In fact, the structure of departments and the processes they require sometimes impede the creation of successful public spaces. Transportation departments view their mission as moving traffic; parks departments are there to create and manage green space; community development agencies are focused on development of projects, not the spaces in between them.

RESOURCES

The Influence of Green Space on Mental Health & Well-being: http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Green-Space-Scoping-Review-of-Reviews.pdf

What are Trees Worth to Cities? https://www.citylab.com/solutions/2016/04/what-are-trees-worth-to-cities/478809/

What is Placemaking? https://www.pps.org/reference/what_is_placemaking/

What makes a space great? https://i1.wp.com/www.pps.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/diagrams-03232015-08.png

Shaping space for civic life: Can better design help engage citizens?https://www.curbed.com/2017/6/22/15854608/urban-planning-community-engagement-litter

NYC’s High Line: https://www.curbed.com/2017/6/22/15847062/high-line-urban-linear-park

Placemaking booklet: https://www.pps.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Oct-2016-placemaking-booklet.pdf

Fears of gentrification: https://www.pps.org/reference/equity-placemaking-gentrification/

Design is the Foundation for Healthy, Equitable Cities: https://newcities.org/perspectives-design-is-the-foundation-for-healthy-equitable-cities

101 small ways you can improve your city: https://www.curbed.com/2016/9/22/13019420/urban-design-community-building-placemaking

Toward Urban Ecology Landscape Architecture: https://www.amazon.ca/Toward-Urban-Ecology-Landscape-Architecture/dp/1580934366?tag=ca-skim1x143586-20

http://www.street-plans.com/the-latest/

Project for Public Spaces: Waterfront transformations: https://www.pps.org/reference/issuewaterfronts/

Eleven Principles for Creating Great Community Places: https://www.pps.org/reference/11steps/

Ten Strategies for Transforming Cities and Public Spaces through Placemaking: https://www.pps.org/reference/ten-strategies-for-transforming-cities-through-placemaking-public-spaces/

Centre for Active Design: https://centerforactivedesign.org/

Mayors’ Guide: https://mayorsguide.gehlinstitute.org/

Tactical Urbanism: https://islandpress.org/book/tactical-urbanism and http://tacticalurbanismguide.com/

Sidewalk Labs: https://sidewalklabs.com/

What Americans Think About Urban Design: https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/survey-what-americans-think-about-urban-design

The People’s Design Library is a digital library maintained by buildingcommunityWORKSHOP for anyone looking for help in improving their community. The three collections – guides, inspiration, and [bc] publications – provide practical advice and examples of the wide range of resources out there for citizens doing community work. http://www.peoplesdesignlibrary.com/

GEHL Institute: Gehl Institute’s mission is to transform the way cities are shaped by making public life an intentional driver for design, policy, and governance: https://gehlinstitute.org/

Science is proving why urban design matters more than ever: https://www.fastcodesign.com/90131075/science-is-proving-why-urban-design-matters-more-than-ever

Green Spaces: An Invaluable Resource for Delivering Sustainable Urban Health: https://unchronicle.un.org/article/green-spaces-invaluable-resource-delivering-sustainable-urban-health