12 Principles for Making Place and Space Matter
A few years ago, we came to understand “Placemaking” and how it is the process by which we have been engaging in the completion of community projects. In recent years, we have completed several private-public projects that have involved community input and engagement throughout the stages of conceptualization, planning, design, investment, construction, development, and evaluation, ensuring that spaces fully engage their constituents.
These placemaking projects have involved full participation from private investors, volunteers, nonprofits, elected officials, municipal staff members, foundations, healthcare providers, schools, state government funding sources, engineers, urban planners, researchers, developers, and other consultants to bring together all the elements required for success.
The Project for Public Spaces defines “Placemaking” as both an overarching idea and a hands-on approach for improving a neighborhood, city, or region. Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community. Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm to maximize shared value. More than just promoting better urban design, Placemaking facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.”
To achieve this collaborative evolution of space, making it the place where people want to live, we have learned and experienced that the following principles are necessary for successful placemaking.
1. Private-public partnership
Many people make the mistake of expecting municipalities to envision, fund, and drive urban revitalization efforts. The fact is, cities do not have the human and financial capital to develop and fund the $100 million or more investments required for the transformative change needed in most communities. Overall, we have found that private-public partnerships work exceptionally well, particularly in the initial distribution of funding for new revitalization projects, which often comprises 60% private funds, 20% local public funds, and 20% state/federal funds. After the first couple of projects, the market should take over, and investments should be primarily privately funded.
2. Full support from elected officials
Often, public officials representing different districts can be the biggest critics of any one project. It is their interest to ensure that the people they represent are being heard and considered. Important projects involving substantial local private-public investment should not face opposition from elected officials. If there is opposition, you need to stop and address their questions and concerns. The public rightfully looks to their local leaders to gauge support. If you don’t have support, you need to accept that you are doing something wrong -- either you don’t have a compelling story, a clear plan, or a strong financial return. Address this issue before moving forward, as it won’t get any easier as the project progresses. Public turmoil over a project can taint its success for decades to come.
3. A vision for place
Hiring designers and creating pretty renderings may look nice, yet they mean little. We’ve hired top national planners for projects, and their credentials only go so far. The process must start with a vision for what the place will be. What will it offer? Who will live there or visit? Why is it important to the community? What are the activities? How will it feel to be there? The vision as a story, explaining how the place will be relevant to the community’s needs, is a critical connection to make -- and the story or vision cannot be shared throughout the community often enough.
4. Frequent community engagement
Project success is typically equivalent to the degree of community engagement involved throughout the entire process. As taxpayers, the community deserves frequent opportunities to hear plans and have the chance to assist with prioritizing features and provide feedback through comment cards at milestone moments. Everyone wants to feel like they are on the inside track. If the community at large, and especially impacted landowners, are not engaged in the invention process, all momentum can be squandered with bad press and opposing votes that can halt projects.
5. Collaborate with knowledgeable experts and planners
During big projects, everyone tries to be and wants to be the expert. City planners see external planners as not always being relevant to their reality. Yet, their reality can often present opportunities for new solutions that they may not have otherwise considered without outside input. The fact is, no great place is created in a vacuum. The key to success is the project process and role definition. While there will always be those who feel they can arrive at solutions on their own, collaboration is imperative to success. There should not be the option to skip steps in the process or discount roles. The outcome will be compromised. Transferring learning through others’ experiences should be presented and expected to be the team’s standard operating procedure.
6. Economic development is about attracting people and not jobs
Old school economic development, to this day, touts job creation. Yet, with low unemployment rates and a high number of available jobs, it is clear that many communities have job opportunities. Due primarily to population migration to smaller urban areas, many tertiary cities and towns are well-suited to attract people to live in their communities and fill open jobs. This makes quality of place and creating spaces where people want to live as the primary driving force for future economic development. Click here to read more.
7. Walkability requires streets with edges
People stop walking where streets stop being lined with buildings. Parking lots and deep setbacks with no purpose or use create a discontinuity of interest and appeal. Vacantly lined streets can even present to pedestrians a sense of being trapped somewhere remote and not safe. It is a simple rule not to deny – buildings attract people, and with people comes vibrancy. First, line primary urban streets with at least two-story buildings. Then, work out from there. As the market develops, surrounding neighborhoods will emerge.
8. Thriving urban environments start with housing, not retail
One of the first questions raised in many of our projects is which retail sector will be targeted. Franchises and chain retailers do not operate in areas with low population density. If a community lacks concentrated residential housing, especially market-rate apartments, retailers will not invest. The first step to creating a thriving community is attracting rented housing, which is expected to comprise 75% of the U.S. housing stock by 2030. Having this captive residential audience for main street and signature street retailers will provide the stability they need to support their rental rates and operational requirements.
9. Form follows function
Good design follows the necessary and required functions of a space. Not vice versa. For instance, one of the most significant disruptions happening among planners today is the function and placement of parking. Parking in urban areas is purposely hidden and placed behind buildings and along streets. Whereas, in suburban areas, everyone drives and fewer (if any) people walk. Thus, in suburbia, there are vast parking lots surrounding individual retail stores. However, in urban areas, there is less demand for parking and parking garages due to the increased use of public transportation, carpooling, Uber/Lyft, and eventually autonomous vehicles in metropolitan areas. Therefore, programming spaces and understanding how they will be used by the specifically intended users should be the starting point of all design. Many bad investments can result from over- or under-designing space, which later necessitates adapting and aligning it with the intended context of a place.
10. Draw boundaries with phases
Solid revitalization and redevelopment will never end. Therefore, it is necessary for the purpose of responsible resource management to break projects into phases based on available private and public funding and land control. These boundaries set realistic expectations for the pace of development, along with clear opportunities for developers to engage. This maintains interest and activity, driving ongoing development momentum forward.
11. Transparency
All planning documents, financial reports, designs, and public announcements should be readily visible at all times. All projects should have a dedicated website posting all details. Cities and towns should post official decisions and actions from public meetings on their websites. Regular and frequent planning meetings between private and public partners should be held, with a clear agenda and a process in place for tracking actions, budgets, bids, designs, approvals, and appropriations. Open communication and problem-solving are critical to gaining continuous public confidence that community leadership is aligned and working together to improve the community.
12. Learn from the DNA of other communities and define your own
Community redevelopment has been successfully achieved by many cities. Places like Asheville, Greenville, Grand Rapids, Des Moines, Omaha, Nashville, Columbus, Durham and others have made huge strides in reinventing themselves. While each city has its own distinct DNA, which cannot be authentically replicated, there are characteristics of each that can be borrowed and learned from. Don’t recreate the wheel where you don’t have to. In all cases, you will see how the tenants above were represented in the best part of their projects. However, find what is real and distinct about your city, crystallize it, and bring pride to your community as it grows.
Source: Modified content from resources by the Project for Public Spaces