New Paper Makes the Case for Placemaking's Role in Building Community

With the publication of a new paper, PPS is celebrating "an important occasion in the evolution of the Placemaking movement." Through 10 case studies, the paper argues for "the importance of Placemaking as a vital part of community-building."

1 minute read

October 24, 2013, 5:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


"Authored by Susan Silberberg, along with Katie Lorrah, Rebecca Disbrow, Anna Meussig, and Aaron Naparstek, Places in the Making highlights the importance of people in defining place, a critical aspect that is all too often forgotten by those in architecture, planning, and other related disciplines," writes the Project for Public Spaces (PPS), the prime advocate for placemaking in the U.S.

"It is the making of a place that defines a community," PPS continues. "When the people who use a space are left out of the process of its shaping, everyone suffers." 

“The relationships that grow out of the ‘making’ are equal to, if not more important than, the places that result,” writes the team from MIT that authored the report. “The relationship of places and their communities is not linear, but cyclical, and mutually influential. Places grow out of the needs and actions of their formational communities, and in turn shape the way these communities behave and grow.”

Wednesday, October 23, 2013 in Project For Public Spaces

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