MPC continues its partnership with the Project for Public Spaces on an exciting initiative to bring Placemaking to Chicago. Designed around the concept of creating places around the way people want to use them, the project will result in a guidebook and workshops that train community groups and city agencies on placemaking ideals and techniques, as well as an interactive website for people to share their own placemaking stories.
The Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) is partnering with New York City’s Project for Public Spaces (PPS) on an initiative that will provide Chicago residents with the resources they need to make positive changes in their neighborhoods. Designed around the concept of Placemaking, or creating places around the way people want to use them, the project draws on PPS’ Placemaking experience in cities around the world. The collaboration will result in a guidebook and workshops to train community groups and city agencies on placemaking ideas and techniques, as well as an interactive website for people to share their own placemaking stories.
The partnership between PPS and MPC began in March 2007 when PPS President Fred Kent spoke at an event co-sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) and MPC. Kent spoke passionately about the virtues of well-used and active public places, citing examples from around the world and analyzing why some public places are popular while others fail to attract people.
Inspired by Kent’s speech, MPC and CAF hosted a series of roundtables in September 2007 and January 2008, entitled “Neighbors Making a Difference,” which featured community activists in Chicago who, through a series of small steps, made big changes in their neighborhoods. A highlight from the roundtables was Adell Young, a grandmother in Austin, who was fed up with drug and gang activity in her neighborhood. She reached out to neighbors and, through their collective power and the simple act of standing on street corners and handing out bowls of chili, rid her block of the unwanted activity.
In March of this year, MPC staff traveled to New York to attend a PPS Placemaking workshop. At the workshop, MPC staff observed PPS’ presentation of the fundamentals of placemaking -- and how a group of people from diverse careers, backgrounds, and areas of the world, responded. This experience will help MPC work with PPS to tailor placemaking to Chicago in a way that will inspire local residents.
Tailoring of placemaking to Chicago involves the creation of the guidebook intended to be a resource for community groups, civic leaders, and individuals interested in bringing positive change to their neighborhoods. It will cover the key steps in implementing a placemaking vision and methods of ensuring the plan is well-used and actively programmed. The guidebook also will highlight examples of individuals or organizations around Chicago that have been successful in making changes in their neighborhoods.
Coinciding with the release of the guidebook, MPC will host two workshops in October. They will be led by PPS with assistance from MPC, and are aimed at community groups and city agencies. The goal of the workshops will be to train leaders in placemaking techniques, who can then encourage placemaking in their neighborhoods.
To correspond with the workshops, MPC will launch a website for placemaking in Chicago. It will feature tips and resources from the guidebook and serve as a portal for residents interested in sharing and showcasing their work.
Recognizing that creating great places is a job that is never finished, MPC plans to advance its placemaking agenda past the formal collaboration with PPS. A major component of these plans includes providing technical assistance for communities and residents who are interested in creating great places in their own neighborhoods.
Michael Spadafore, Research Assistant, contributed to this article.
To learn more about MPC’s Placemaking project, please contact Karin Sommer, at ksommer@metroplanning.org or 312-863-6044, or visit www.placemakingchicago.com for Placemaking resources and inspiring stories about people in Chicago making a difference in their community.