A new book bills itself as a do-it-yourself guide for residents looking to strengthen the sense of community it their neighborhood.
"Jay Walljasper sits in a St. Anthony Park coffee shop and ponders what makes a good neighborhood...For one thing, he says, a coffee shop."
"Walljasper, an author and a former editor at Utne Reader, has turned his appreciation for what makes a livable community into a new book, "The Great Neighborhood Book: A Do-it-Yourself Guide to Placemaking."
"His book is a production of the Project for Public Spaces, a New York-based nonprofit that works at helping people develop public spaces in their communities.
The ideas vary from waving to the people you see to adding a park bench to forming a community choir."
"Nick Koch, an architect and associate vice president in the Minneapolis office of Hammel, Green & Abrahamson, an architectural and engineering firm, said placemaking is something city planners - and everyday people - need to pay more attention to.
"I think that our lives as individuals, as neighbors and as broader communities get better when we practice the kind of community-building that Jay espouses," Koch said. "Sometimes, architects and urban designers will focus on placemaking and physical design, to the exclusion of community and people-activity design. It's the coming together of placemaking and urban design, and then the human and community agenda, that is played out there." "
FULL STORY: Do great neighborhoods begin with a coffee shop?
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
Planning for Accessibility: Proximity is More Important than Mobility
Accessibility-based planning minimizes the distance that people must travel to reach desired services and activities. Measured this way, increased density can provide more total benefits than increased speeds.
World's Largest Wildlife Overpass In the Works in Los Angeles County
Caltrans will soon close half of the 101 Freeway in order to continue construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing near Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County.
Eviction Looms for Low-Income Tenants as Rent Debt Rises
Nonprofit housing operators across the country face almost $10 billion in rent debt.
Brightline West Breaks Ground
The high-speed rail line will link Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.
Colorado Bans No-Fault Evictions
In most cases, landlords must provide a just cause for evicting tenants.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.