Creating Events with a Sense of Place | Placemaking Weekly

This newsletter from the Project for Public Spaces connects people who share a passion for public spaces to ideas and issues, news, quotes, places, and events from the placemaking movement.

Creating Online & In-Person Events with a Sense of Place

Many placemaking organizations that host events had to transition their work online during the pandemic. But as the United States contemplates recovery, some may be considering how to safely shift back to in-person events. 

With early registration now open for Walk/Bike/Places 2021, which will return as a hybrid in-person and virtual event this June, PPS Director of Events Juliet Kahne knows all about this conundrum first hand.

In this new interview, Juliet talks about what she learned from 2020, how she plans to bring together in-person and virtual experiences in 2021, and what she sees for the future of events at large. Read more.
 

More from the Blog


How to Nurture Flourishing Cultural and Creative Hubs: Lessons from the Netherlands
March 4, 2021 • by Rinske Brand

How a Library is Reimagining Public Wi-Fi During COVID-19
February 7, 2021 • by Aaron Greiner


Our Top 10 Articles of 2020
December 17, 2020 • by Nate Storring

Registration is now open for Walk/Bike/Places in Indianapolis and online, June 15-18, 2021. Early rate ends March 29th.

Events & Opportunities

Missed last week's webinar with our friends at AARP Livable Communities? You can still learn all about their Community Challenge grant program and how your community can apply by tuning into the recording. Watch now.

June 15-18, 2021 Conference: Walk/Bike/Places
North America's premier conference for walking, biking and placemaking professionals is back! Our early bird registration rate ends March 29, 2021. Register now.
 

More Events & Opportunities


Mar. 15-18, 2021Conference: InTents: The Farmers Market Conference 2021, featuring PPS's Kelly Verel and Kurt Wheeler on creating local conditions to build better markets

Mar. 19, 2021 • Conference Session: Streets for People: How a Pandemic and Advanced Mobility Are Changing Our Relationship to the Street, Urbanism Next Virtual Forum 2021 featuring PPS's Alessandra Galletti

Mar. 22, 2021
Publication Launch: Engaging Black People and Power, Jay Pitter, York University & the Canadian Urban Institute

April 12-14 • Conference: Main Street Now, Main Street America

April 18-25, 2021Global Event: Placemake Earth Challenge, PlacemakingUS (orientation is March 12)

Apr. 30, 2021Grant: Asphalt Art Initiative, Bloomberg Philanthropies

May 19-21, 2021 • Conference: CNU 29. Design for Change, Congress for the New Urbanism
 

Public Space News

A STAR Is Born. In most of the U.S., a 911 call brings the police, regardless of the reason for the call. But thanks to Denver's six-month-old STAR program, if you dial 911 in that city, you might be greeted instead by a mental-health clinician and a paramedic driving a customized van equipped with food, water, and blankets. (Curbed)

After the Monument Comes Down. Amid calls for racial justice, at least 160 Confederate symbols were removed from U.S. cities last year. But how can a public space promote healing, as well as end the pain? The transformation of the River Garden (formerly Jefferson Davis Park) in Memphis, Tennessee, offers some lessons. (Next City)

Public Parking Is Public Space, Too. Wired magazine reports on the many urban designers and placemakers that have long sought to reduce the portion of the public realm that is dedicated to cars, and how the pandemic gave them a chance to do so. (Wired)

America's Sorriest Bus Stop. StreetsBlog wants to hear your nominations for the sorriest bus stops in the United States. We've written before about how a good bus stop can anchor an entire neighborhood, but the sad truth is that few fulfill that potential. (StreetsBlog)

The Mental Health Pandemic. The coronavirus has not been the only public health crisis during the pandemic. Anxiety, drug overdoses have both increased significantly. But social infrastructure and local leadership can make a big difference. (CItyLab)

The Return of Mass Tourism? In his new book, The World in a Selfie: An Inquiry Into the Tourist Age, Marco D'Eramo explores the impact tourism has had on our politics, our planet, and our selves. (Critical Mass)

Repairing the Urban Fabric. With the U.S. Senate considering a $10 billion pilot program to tear down urban highways, Kinder Institute for Urban Research director William Fulton considers several past and present efforts to knit back together midcentury transportation scars around the country. (Common Edge)
 

Placemaking Playbook

Here is a roundup of 10 inspiring placemaking ideas from the week:
  1. A report on parks as infrastructure for our health, economy and environment (City Parks Alliance
  2. The vicious cycle between unsafe streets and unfair policing in marginalized communities (Transportation for America)
  3. The legal battle over a carpenter's efforts to build tiny shelters for people experiencing homeless in Toronto, Ontario (Azure)
  4. An alley transformation in Ripley, Mississippi, celebrating the blues (Main Street America)
  5. A new book on planning cities from the perspective of a child, 95cm off the ground (Planetizen
  6. The tiny makeshift roadblocks made from bricks invented by Hong Kong protestors (Dezeen)
  7. A COVID-friendly program to connect storytelling and public space (Main Street America)
  8. A guide to measuring the impact of placemaking projects (Placemaking Europe)
  9. The places built for active transportation—but not accessibility (Places Journal)
  10. A roundup of PPS Co-Founder Kathy Madden's four favorite play sculptures (The Social Life Project)

 

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