In a post at Project for Public Spaces, a politician from Spokane, WA is quoted as saying the way municipal governments could spur job growth is by building public spaces where people want to live, work, shop and invest.
From a post by Ethan Kent at PPS.org:
"If job creation can be spurred by municipal government, that phenomenon will be driven by the ability of the city to build public spaces where people want to live, work, shop and invest. This exercise is called placemaking. Previous generations created public spaces with parks, buildings, schools and streets that made for a high quality of life and incented economic development. The city should continue this practice and reinvent our public spaces with the principles of placemaking in mind."
- Spokane Council member Richard Rush
"Few politicians have seen this connection. The attention has been on attracting employers and consumers from other places rather than investing in one's own places and the businesses and people tied to them. This pattern has perpetuated the fragility of local economies, causing them to compete with each other while becoming increasingly placeless – loosing the very reason that people and businesses choose to stay invested (what we call Place Capital). The race to attract jobs has often been a race to the bottom."
FULL STORY: Politician Answers Job Creation Question with Placemaking
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