Public Space
In Praise of the Endangered ‘Third Space’
The public spaces where people can spend time among strangers without buying something are crucial to healthy cities—and are quickly disappearing.
Placemaking on the Halifax Waterfront
How small, incremental changes can create vibrant places.
Architecture and the Housing Crisis
A new book brings architects into the housing discussion.
Denver Plans to Make Some Open Streets Permanent
The city is moving to institutionalize segments of streets that were successfully pedestrianized during the pandemic.
Op-Ed: How to Make Over Pennsylvania Avenue
The Washington, D.C. street briefly regained its former vibrancy during the pandemic. A proposed redesign could bring it back once again.
Decatur Approves New Food Cart Program
Mobile food vendors can now apply for permits to operate in several of the city’s public spaces.
NYC Announces $30M for Open Streets Projects
The funding is designed to support open streets and public space projects in underresourced neighborhoods.
Reshaping Cities for Present-Day Populations
The demographic changes of the last few years give city planners and urban designers an opportunity to reimagine how public spaces can most effectively promote public health, wellbeing, and equity.
New York Hires ‘Public Space Czar’
The public space officer will be in charge of making the city’s sidewalks more pedestrian-friendly while keeping streets clean and accessible.
Where Open Streets Are Succeeding
The cities that are making their pandemic-era car-free experiments permanent.
Predictions for San Francisco’s Public Spaces
In 2023, will the city’s public spaces be reclaimed by cars, or will pandemic-era interventions lead to permanent change?
Where Have All the Third Spaces Gone?
As businesses shortened their hours during the pandemic, Philadelphia residents found themselves with fewer options for places to spend their evenings.
Austin’s Texas Mall Opens to the Public
The new plaza, part of the Capitol Complex Project, offers a glimpse of the potential of pedestrianized space in the Texas capital.
New York Announces New Bike Lanes and Public Space Improvements
As part of its commitment to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists, the city identified several major projects for 2023 that include protected bike lanes and public plazas.
Detroit Opens Segment of Joe Lewis Greenway
The newly opened segment, which features playground equipment and public lawns, is part of a 27.5 mile greenway that will loop through four cities.
A New Vision for Dallas’ Dealey Plaza
After decades of neglect, a team of designers reimagines the infamous plaza as a safe, vibrant, multimodal public space.
Winners of the 2022 American Society of Landscape Architects
The Society’s annual awards highlight projects focused on reconnecting communities to the landscape and creating healthy community spaces.
Placemaking: Building on the ‘Soul’ of a Place
Placemaking is often mistaken for a form of manufacturing. Every place already has a story to tell—placemaking just brings that story forward.
Opinion: Support Citizen-Led Public Space Projects
A public space advocate outlines how Philadelphia’s city leaders could support the parklets, plazas, and other public space conversions that proliferated during the pandemic.
Bringing Back America’s Town Squares
Digital connection is no substitute for the vitality and community created by open, pleasant public squares and plazas.
San Joaquin County
University of New Mexico - School of Architecture & Planning
Placer County
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Arizona State University, Ten Across
Park City Municipal Corporation
National Capital Planning Commission
City of Santa Fe, New Mexico
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.
