Years of public forums and planning exercises aimed at reviving Detroit have left residents craving results. Recent work by the Project for Public Spaces with farmers markets in the city may reveal a replicable avenue for action.
Attractive for their relative ease of implementation due to their temporary and flexible nature, PPS worked with food markets in two very different areas of the city - the stable, middle-class Grandmont-Rosedale neighborhood and in depressed Central Detroit - to create more robust community gathering places. According to PPS's Elena Madison, the advantage of focusing placemaking efforts on food markets is their ability to, "spark immediate improvements and build local confidence today, while also informing strategies for long-term change at both the site and neighborhood levels."
In many neighborhoods, markets provide a necessary resource that goes beyond food. As PPS's Steve Davies explains, "Markets often arise to address existing food deserts-in Detroit, a lot of the markets are citizen-driven: they sprang up because people were responding to a local need. But another major issue that we're addressing is that many Detroit neighborhoods are also Place deserts. These are communities where there's just nowhere to go; you have all of these people living near each other, you have schools, churches, and social services, but there's little public civic life to speak of."
"In a city like Detroit, where needs far outstrip resources, public markets offer a lot of bang for the buck. Markets need people, and plenty of them–vendors, customers, volunteers–meaning that they offer plenty of easy ways for people to interact and take part in changing the way that their public space is used."
FULL STORY: The Cure for Planning Fatigue is Action

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking
Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?

Florida Seniors Face Rising Homelessness Risk
High housing costs are pushing more seniors, many of them on a fixed income, into homelessness.

Massachusetts Budget Helps Close MBTA Budget Gap
The budget signed by Gov. Maura Healey includes $470 million in MBTA funding for the next fiscal year.

Milwaukee Launches Vision Zero Plan
Seven years after the city signed its Complete Streets Policy, the city is doubling down on its efforts to eliminate traffic deaths.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont