Public Squares
Bringing Back America’s Town Squares
Digital connection is no substitute for the vitality and community created by open, pleasant public squares and plazas.
Apple Stores to Become 'Town Squares?'
James Vincent finds the claim that Apple stores are on their way to becoming "town squares" laughably pretentious.
Democratizing Urban Design: A Public Square for Downtown Vancouver
Lacking public open space in downtown Vancouver, the city is taking a nonconventional approach and closing one block off to traffic for the summer months to allow for a pedestrian-oriented public square.
Creating Inviting Pedestrian Streets in the Heart of Mexico City
Noah Kazis considers three success stories for public space in Mexico City, taking streets back from both automobiles and – believe it or not – street vendors.
How Egyptian Planning Helped Breed Revolution
Egyptian architects and planners cite the number of large public spaces as a factor in the success of protests in that country leading to the ousting of Hosni Mubarak.
Our Capitol's Lack: A Great Public Square
Critic Philip Kennicott attends a lecture by architect Robert Gatje on great public squares and bemoans the fact that Washington, D.C. has a serious lack of them.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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.
