How To: Design a User-Friendly Museum Exhibition about Planning

John King writes that the "Gallery + Ideas Forum" at the Presidio in San Francisco provides an excellent model for presenting issues and ideas of planning and urban design to the public.

1 minute read

January 10, 2015, 11:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


"If you want to see how the rarefied topic of urban design can be presented in a downright friendly way, check out the Presidio’s current exhibition on its recent competition for a unique park above Crissy Field," writes John King in a recent review for the San Francisco Chronicle.

King takes the occasion of reviewing the success of this exhibition to ask a larger question about exhibitions on the subject of planning, urban design, and other forms of preparing for the future of communities:

"Ask yourself why San Francisco and other cities don’t create their own interactive spaces where regular citizens could immerse themselves in what might or might not happen next."

The review includes a lot more detail about the exhibit and more about how helpful a tool this kind of access can be to cities and the planning profession.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015 in San Francisco Chronicle

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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