Public Spaces
Reimagining the Social Value of Public Spaces
While they're often treated as mere assets to be maintained or abandoned for other uses, public spaces can be an active part of cities' plans for equitable revitalization.
A 'Curious' New Report on Pedestrian Behavior in Public Spaces
The Seattle Department of Transportation recently released its first-ever public life study.
Making Privately Owned Public Spaces in New York City More Accessible by Mapping Them
A new map shows where privately owned public spaces are located to encourage more public use.
‘Social Infrastructure’ and the Interactions That Bond Us
Richard Florida talks with sociologist Eric Klinenberg about his new book and the places and organizations that help hold society together.
APA-Texas Acknowledges the Great Places of the Lone Star State
There are a lot of great places to celebrate in Texas, and the state chapter of the American Planning Association is in the second year of a program that calls attention to the role of planners in making them happen.
Apple Stores to Become 'Town Squares?'
James Vincent finds the claim that Apple stores are on their way to becoming "town squares" laughably pretentious.
Great Places: What Every Urban Enthusiast Should Know
Melissa Hege, AICP, shares her thoughts on what every urban enthusiast should know about good streets and great places.
What Would Delivery Robots Mean for Public Space?
If companies like Startship and Marble get their way, sidewalks will play host to hundreds of rolling delivery bots. It's one solution to "last-mile" logistics, but are pedestrians prepared to give way?
The Wisdom of Engaging Nervous Cyclists
It was clear to the City of Toronto that engaging less confident cyclists that make up 60% of the population, yet seldom come to community meetings, might be the key to dramatic mode shifts in the city. Here's how it happened.
Review: Seeing the City
Hoping to shake city folks out of our everyday stupor, Charles Wolfe has written a book on observing the city.
Gainesville Turns Abandoned Industrial Hub Into Innovative Park
Gainesville turns contaminated land into a contemporary public greenspace to serve as the city's “Central Park."
In Pictures: Havana's Public Spaces
The recent thaw in U.S. relations with Cuba, as well as President Obama's visit last month, have spurred conversations about Havana's future. Its public spaces are worn, but they're busy and well-designed.
Los Angeles to Redesign Its 'Worst Public Space'
Josh Stephens reports on the Pershing Square Renew Design Challenge, an effort to redo one of the "world's worst squares and plazas." The new Pershing Square may hearken back to the years before its misguided 1992 redesign.
Landscape Architecture Unites Impact and Design
In a field that seems divided between aesthetes and the activists, landscape architects may be closest to reconciling the two trends.
Street Harassment: An Issue for Planners?
Women and men experience public spaces differently. It is all too common for women to experience street harassment when in public spaces. Nina Flores explores the ways that this issue is being combatted in the online public realm.
Pavement Parks: a Better Parklet Alternative
Too often, street-side parklets become little more than semi-private patios for the businesses that sponsor them. Pavement parks, replacing dangerous intersections, may be a more worthwhile option.
One Developer's Appreciation of Landscape Architecture
A planner and developer waxes poetic, and keeps it pragmatic too, about the importance of landscape architecture.
Games Are for Kids (and Planners Too)
Minecraft has players across the globe busy building future cities. Cities recognize the potential of MineCraft as a tool for engaging the public in imagining the future of their city.
Making Public Spaces Actually Public
Developers get a lot of milage from building privately owned public spaces—but the public often doesn't. Planners in San Francisco are now requiring buildings to make hidden POPS known, so that the public can actually use them.
Op-Ed Criticizes Dog Owners' Use of Public Spaces in Chicago
A scathing op-ed by Joanne Cleaver provides a laundry list of public spaces and parks in Chicago spoiled, in her opinion, by heavy use from the canine companions of residents.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
