The Urban Land Institute recently awarded Campus Martius Park in Detroit the 2010 Urban Open Space Award for helping to rejuvenate the historic city center.
Since the park opened in late 2004 as a part of Detroit 300, a group celebrating the city's 300th anniversary, investments of around $500 million have poured into the area surrounding the urban park, including two high-rise office buildings and several residential developments and restaurants.
Bill McGraw contends:
"Urban parks can return focus to a downtown. To develop a vision, Detroit 300 turned to the Project for Public Spaces (PPS), a New York City–based nonprofit organization that emphasizes a place-making process drawing on extensive consultations with a wide variety of local people rather than professional planners. PPS, Gregory, and a task force also examined successful urban spaces from New York City to London and came up with a list of 25 must-have features, including year-round activity, a water focus, a café, gardens, stages, and an emphasis on showing off the best of Detroit culture. "
FULL STORY: http://urbanland.uli.org/Articles/2011/Jan/McGrawCampus
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