In March, MPC staff traveled to New York City to attend a workshop hosted by the Project for Public Spaces. The two-day workshop, titled “Streets as Places,” focused on reclaiming streets as pedestrian-friendly public spaces through "Placemaking," or designing public spaces around the way people want to use them. MPC will utilize the training to promote and build upon well-used public spaces in Chicagoland.
For more
than 30 years, the internationally renowned Project for Public Spaces
(PPS) has studied the way
people use public places. PPS
has brought this knowledge to life in over 2,000 communities around the world
by advocating for the design of public spaces around the way people want to use
them, an approach they have termed “Placemaking.” In an exciting collaboration, MPC will work with PPS to tailor
Placemaking toChicago.
As part of this project, MPC
staff traveled to New York
City in March to meet with PPS staff and attend a
Placemaking workshop. The workshop,
“Streets as Places,” focused on ways to reclaim streets as pedestrian-friendly
public spaces. Experts on
transportation and community design spoke about the need to design streets for
people, not cars, and the importance of community input. Approximately 40 people from nine states
and three international countries attended the workshop, which featured
presentations and an interactive place audit exercise.
Building on knowledge gained in
the workshop, MPC will work with PPS to create A Guide to Placemaking in Chicago,
a resource for Placemaking in the Chicago region that is due to be released in
October 2008. Also in the fall, PPS
and MPC will host a series of workshops for community groups and city staff and
officials on Placemaking in Chicago, after which MPC and PPS will provide
community technical assistance for Placemaking projects.
For additional information, please
contact Karin Sommer at (312) 863-6044 or ksommer@metroplanning.org or
visit www.placemakingchicago.com
for Placemaking resources and inspiring stories about people making a difference
in their community.