Public Spaces

Martin Pedersen of Metropolis Magazine explains how a city ordinance termed the 'plaza bonus,' lead to the creation of more than five hundred "privately financed, privately owned, but public spaces."

June 26, 2010 - Metropolis

A group of planners and designers recently headed out to audit Petrossian Square in Manhattan, carefully observing how people use the space.

June 2, 2010 - Planning Commissioners Journal

With one of Philadelphia's best-supported public parks in danger of losing the private funding that keeps it maintained, Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron looks at the sad state of the city's parks.

May 27, 2010 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Blair Kamin applauds a new plaza at the Trump International Hotel + Tower, and calls an aging public space nearby 'an eyesore.'

May 7, 2010 - The Chicago Tribune

Boston's Rose Kennedy Greenway is an urban park built over the "Big Dig" highway tunnel, and as Robert Campbell of the Boston Globe puts it, "a design disaster."

May 3, 2010 - Project for Public Spaces blog

The City has reached a deal to take over 172-acres of undeveloped land from the State, and redevelopment possibilities are flooding in - public park, high school, commercial buildings, NYU satellite campus, and more.

April 12, 2010 - New York Times

This piece from Shareable looks at the urban work of Enrique Penalosa and how it emphasizes the importance of happiness in cities.

March 4, 2010 - Shareable

The public library is being re-imagined as an interactive space with multimedia learning labs, coffee shops and government services.

March 3, 2010 - Miller-McCune

The City of Seattle is looking to revive some of its often forgotten and neglected urban spaces: alleys.

February 28, 2010 - The Seattle Times

Blogger and landscape architect Lisa Town gathers a few D.I.Y. tables and chairs designed for creating instant public seating space for street food, including a hydrant tabletop.

January 13, 2010 - Inspiration Wall

Britain is becoming increasingly privatized as urban regeneration projects put entire neighborhoods in the hands of developers. One project spans 34 of Liverpool's streets, putting public space in private control.

December 31, 2009 - The Guardian U.K.

The designers of New York's popular High Line park have a radical new proposal for Cleveland's Public Square that turns the one square into four new ones.

December 23, 2009 - Fast Company

Developer Bart Blatstein reimagined an old brewery in the outskirts of Philadelphia into an adapted Italian piazza. Locals worried it would be be too theme park-y, but community leaders are pleased with the results.

November 5, 2009 - The New York Times

October 29, 2009 - Tim Halbur

In San Francisco, the mid-Market St. area has struggled for decades with blighted conditions. An area property owner thinks that digital billboards could solve the problem, and has put a proposition on the local ballot to get them built.

October 1, 2009 - The San Francisco Chronicle

New parks are popping up with a quickness in San Francisco, where planners have fast-tracked the conversion of street spaces into pedestrian parks.

September 22, 2009 - The Architect's Newspaper

In Malibu, CA, private property extends to the high tide waterline, where public land begins. An unofficial group of "urban rangers" is giving tours and dance performances along that line to explore the absurdity.

August 17, 2009 - The Los Angeles Times

The gush of an uncapped fire hydrant in the summer is a welcome relief for urban dwellers, but the water loss is staggering. Landscape architect Adrienne Cortez decided to find a solution to keeping people cool and similarly activating public space.

July 22, 2009 - Urban Omnibus

Julia Galef takes a look at Secure Cities, a new website that maps the effect of security measures on public space since 9/11.

July 14, 2009 - Metropolis Magazine

The Infrastructurist offers four case studies of cities that have removed highways. The result: less congestion.

July 8, 2009 - The Infrastructurist