Thousands of revelers and recreation seekers came out for the opening of downtown Houston's first park, Discovery Green. The new 12-acre park boasts an interactive water feature, amphitheater, children's playground, dog run, spacious green lawns, public art works and restaurants. All the amenities are meant to draw a diversity of users. That was clearly accomplished on opening day. 

PPS facilitated a series of workshops in 2005 to gather and use community input for the design of the park. The result is a urban oasis with dozens of options for things to do in a city with few open spaces.

Guy Hagstette, Director of Discovery Green, emailed PPS saying:

"It was a picture perfect day, and something over 20,000 people showed up. . . there are so many things to do in the park. It was really a lot of fun. . . we have had scores of parents with toddlers playing on the playground and kids throwing frisbees and sunbathing. Barbara Bush even stopped by."

More information about the park can be found on the Discovery Green website.

Previous posts:
Park Could Be A Great Place [Houston Chronicle]
Houston Downtown Park Groundbreaking [KHOU]
Project Concept Plan [from the PPS Project Experience Files]

 

A 2-acre parcel of land for sale on the Providence waterfront, now the site of a former night club called Shooters, could be an extension of the adjacent India Point Park. Residents want the site to be rezoned to prevent condo development, while the Rhode Island DOT claims it must be sold at market price to the highest bidder based on Federal Highway Administration requirements.  

Ethan Kent, PPS Vice President, recently participated in a community forum about the site and said it could become a regional draw. It'll be up to community members to push for a plan that reflects the personality of the city.

Better access to the waterfront is one of the 7 principles listed in Providence 2020, a long-term vision for the city's growth. The plan calls for continuous waterfront pedestrian access with linkages to parallel streets.

Related Articles:
Residents Ask to Protect Shooters Site [The Providence Journal]
Proposed Rezoning along Waterfront  [Greater City: Providence]

Work is underway to clear the way for Brooklyn's newest waterfront park, which will add acres of green in an area that could use more parkland. So why are some people opposed to the plan? NY1's Roger Clark has the story from Brooklyn Heights.

The New York Times reports on the rising tensions between the community and developers over the plans for Brooklyn Bridge Park.

"For New Yorkers long accustomed to being shut off from miles of waterfront that were abandoned, underused or cut off by highways, lots of green open space on the water seems like a good idea. To Fred Kent, an urban planner who examines parks and plazas the way a doctor scrutinizes X-rays, it is another missed opportunity for life on the waterfront. Mr. Kent, the founder of the Project for Public Spaces, a nonprofit design and planning group, points to cities like Oslo or Stockholm where waterfronts are the backdrop to markets, museums and a range of commerce and culture.

'Putting a bunch of fields on the waterfront in the middle of a pier is not exactly the thing you should be doing on what is essentially your face to the world," he said of the Brooklyn plan, which he has opposed along with several local groups. "If Brooklyn wanted to distinguish itself as a great city, apart from Manhattan, it is the waterfront that could do it.'"

PPS recently facilitated a community visioning workshop for Pier 1, located at the end of Atlantic Avenue. There had never been any public input into the uses for the pier. The current design is for a passive landscaped space. Like many other waterfront projects around NYC and the world, the current vision for Brooklyn Bridge Park, and especially the Pier, is a squandered opportunity in place of what could be a great public asset.

Related Posts: 
Brooklyn Bridge Park Hall of Shame [PPS Archives]
Suburbanization of NYC Waterfronts [Streetsblog]
Waterfront Renaissance Around the World [PPS Newsletter, 2/07]

(photo courtesy of R. Clayton McKee)
Kids playing around "Mist Tree," a donated fountain at the new Discovery Green park.

The preview opening of Discovery Green, a 12-acre park across from the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston, showed local residents that the previously underutilized green space could be a great place to spend time, bump into old friends and hang out with the family. The challenge will be to manage the park with the type of programming that will keep people wanting to come back.

Previous posts:
Houston Downtown Park Groundbreaking [KHOU]
Project Concept Plan [from the PPS Project Experience Files]
 

As part of a project Providence, RI, PPS lead a workshop of over 100 city officials, business owners, residents and representatives of nonprofit groups about potential improvements to the city's central plaza, Kennedy Plaza.

"All over the world, people are coming back to these great squares. Once you've got a great square, the rest of your city is going to fall into place," said Kent. He and PPS envision a Kennedy Plaza that is ringed by shops, full of attractions and serves as the hub for a different kind of transit system, one based on trolleys or trams.

PPS Vice President Ethan Kent was one of the presenters at the Sustainable Tourism Development Forum held in Pawtucket, RI on Thursday, October 25, 2007.

The Providence Journal
By Philip Marcelo

PAWTUCKET— Policymakers, city planners and tourism officials from Rhode Island and neighboring Connecticut and Massachusetts gathered downtown yesterday for a forum on “place-making” sponsored by the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council.

“Place-making is taking a place that you can’t wait to get out of and making it into one that you never want to leave,” explained guest presenter Ethan Kent, vice president of the Project for Public Spaces, a consulting and design firm based in New York.

The half-day of presentations and small-group discussions was geared toward those interested in sustainable tourism, which the tourism council describes as development that enhances a place by using its cultural, natural, historical, human, educational and built resources to differentiate it from other destinations.

Project for Public Spaces Vice President, Ethan Kent, writes about Melbourne's successful new public space development, Federation Square, and a Placemaking training course that he helped lead, which included many city staff, local developers and "place managers."

 

Three urban planners from PPS visited Churchhill County and Fallon, NV, in an effort to inventory and assess local gathering places and destinations around town. 

Phil Myrick, vice president of PPS, and Elena Madison, assistant vice president, presented a list of sites they felt could be better utilized in Fallon. The team, which also included farmers market expert David O'Neil, toured downtown and the county and polled local residents on needed changes or additions to bring people together and to the downtown area.

As cities are building new parks at a rate not seen for 100 years, the debate about what uses and activities to put in them is growing. 

Phil Myrick, a PPS Vice President, comments on how PPS helped create a program of uses for a new park in Houston that will generate buzz in a long-forgotten area of downtown, in this article from the Wall Street Journal.

 

Seattle's Occidental Square is making a comeback!

The square had long been an empty, dreary, underused space.  But recent renovations have brought new pavings, bocce ball courts, and a series of special events that are bringing people back to Occidental Square.

Read more about PPS's involvement in the turnaround.

Photo taken by Dan Gonsiorowski

Seattlest recently visited the square on a sunny afternoon.
 

The City of Greensboro held a ribbon cutting ceremony on December 1, 2006, to celebrate the opening of the new Center City Park, and the park has already been widely accepted by the community, and host to several large events and festivals.

Read more on how PPS worked with the City and community members to create a vision for this new park.

Linda McIntyre, Detroit native and writer for Landscape Architecture, returns home to see whether Campus Martius lives up to its billing.

"If PPS ran television commercials for its philosophy of placemaking, one could be filmed at Campus Martius Park."

"One participant described the “Placemaking Game” with Project for Public Spaces (PPS) as, “one the best events he had ever attended.” Hyperbole? We’re not sure, but one thing is for sure: the enthusiasm, delight in participating, and belief that it’s possible to create a dynamic public riverfront in Memphis was contagious."

Read more about the workshop attended by 134 people on the website of Friends For Our Riverfront.

135 people attended a Placemaking workshop led by PPS at Memphis' riverfront.  The participants suggesting adding amenities to the parks that overlook the Mississippi River, such as public water fountains, more cafes, food and beverage vendors and bicycle racks.

This interview with Fred Kent appeared in the February 2007 issue of Urban Land:

"As an internationally known advocate for public spaces, Fred Kent, founder of the New York-based  Project for Public Spaces (PPS), sees cities - and the people who inhabit them - through the measured senses of an urban provocateur."

Although New York prides itself on its public life, New Yorkers inhabit a public realm that pales beside what it could become. "After working in cities around the world, we've developed a rich understanding of public spaces that begs to be put to use back in our home town," explains PPS President Fred Kent. "New York can benefit from our experience and become an even greater city in the 21st century."

Museum Mile Festival, 5th Avenue 

Read this special issue of PPS's newsletter Making Places, which includes the city commentary, New York great public spaces and hidden gems, and the places that provide the biggest opportunities for improvement.

Listen to Fred Kent discuss what makes a great waterfront on San Diego's KPBS.

At a public meeting in Tempe, AZ, PPS Vice President Phil Myrick recommended that the city create a network of pedestrian walkways to connect the area's destionations.

Image (c) Andrea Bloom / The State Press

PPS staff members Fred Kent, Cynthia Nikitin and Ethan Kent traveled to Dubai to train a group of the city's leading real estate developers in Placemaking.  The largest city in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai has experienced explosive growth in recent years, emerging as the region's financial and cultural capital. Ethan explores the transportation situation in the rapidly growing emirate in this entry on Streetsblog.

Congratulations to the San Jose/Guerrero Coalition to Save Our Streets, co-recipient of the 2006 Grand Award, given by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in San Francisco.

The Coalition of neighborhood activists successfully transformed a dangerous 6-lane arterial into a traffic-calmed street with wide medians, safe pedestrian crossings, and bike lanes. PPS worked with the Coalition to create a Neighborhood Plan, to further redevelop the neighborhood's streets into great public spaces.

Read more about PPS's work with the San Jose/Guerrero Coalition to Save our Streets here.

Less room for cars translates to more room for bicyclists. (Photo: Noah Berger)

The City of Greensboro held a ribbon cutting ceremony on December 1, 2006, to celebrate the opening of the new Center City Park.

In 2003, PPS worked with the City and community members to create a vision for what this new park could be.  PPS facilitated a Placemaking workshop where participants developed a range of both short-term opportunities and a long-term vision plan. The new park was envisioned as an opportunity to revitalize Downtown Greensboro, and to create a community gathering place that will be a destination for residents.

 
Image (c) David Wharton 

Greensboro blogger David Wharton wrote a great description of the new park, comparing it to PPS's list of the ten qualities of a great park.

PPS held a community workshop with 70 residents of Covington, KY, to explore possibilities for a site that is to become a public square.  The participants toured the site, and then brainstormed ideas for activites and programs that could occur there.  PPS Vice President Steve Davies said of the square, "The goal is to create a great place."

Campus Martius, a new downtown square in Detroit MI, and Wade Oval, a recently revitalized park in Cleveland OH, appear in "Top Ten Urban Parks," an article that appears in the October 2006 issue of Urban Land.  As with the other places that appear on the list, these two projects show how "parks can play a role in fostering interaction, stimulating development, increasing tourism, and attracting businesses and residents."

Project for Public Spaces developed the vision plans for both Campus Martius and Wade Oval.

Attentive management -- not major redesign -- is what's needed to help Downtown's beleaguered Market Square develop into a place where people want to spend time.

That was the consensus that the Project for Public Spaces presented at the Harris Theater on Tuesday, after six weeks of soliciting input from Pittsburghers and studying the historic, single-acre site sandwiched between PPG Place and the west end of Forbes Avenue.

"Ninety percent of success in public spaces is about management," said Fred Kent, President of the New York-based group. "Lots of cities create spaces but don't manage them."

Photo (c) Jasmine Gehris/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

 

Cynthia Nikitin, Vice President of Project for Public Spaces and Director of the Civic Centers Program, discusses the importance of involving the community in revitalizing cities and neighborhoods, on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The Houston Downtown Park Conservancy held a Groundbreaking Ceremony and name announcement for Houston's new Downtown Park on October 17, 2006.  The project will transform an area that is currently underused green space and parking lots into an oasis for Downtown Houston.  PPS worked with the Conservancy and the community in 2005 to develop a program of uses for the new park, to ensure that it will become a major attraction for Downtown Houston, and the region.  The Conservancy held a contest to name the new park, and "Discovery Green" was chosen from over 6,000 entries.

Hargreaves Associates led the design effort - the final design is pictured above.

For more on PPS' work with the new Downtown Park, visit our project experience page.

PPS is seeking a Transportation and Placemaking Project Manager in its transportation line of business. Candidates should have experience in several of the following areas: transportation and land use planning and/or policy, TOD,  transportation facility design, public participation and facilitation, community development, redevelopment and real estate development  market analysis. The selected candidate will report to the Vice President for Transportation and work with other VPs, project associates and interns on a range of planning, research, and marketing projects, including land and community development projects and general and specific plans for communities, cities and counties.

Read more about this position at: http://www.pps.org/info/aboutpps/jobopenings

In 2005, PPS began working with the City of Mississauga to help grow a lively downtown that appeals to a growing downtown population.  Even before the ink was dry on our final report and concepts, the city had formed a new department, Building a City for the 21^st Century. The department has been busy implementing recommendations, empowering residents to become leaders in City projects, and organizing the "My Mississauga" program of outdoor events. Activities and events range from Farmers markets to Vintage Car Club Thursdays.

Mississauga's immense effort in its downtown has even convinced us to remove it from the PPS Hall of Shame!

Some photos from this summer's "My Mississauga" events:

 

 

For more information on PPS's work in Mississauga, see the Placemaking in Mississauga project experience. 

As buildings inch upward and outward in Tempe, AZ, Project for Public Spaces, is devising a way for the city to preserve the areas in between - making sure there are pockets of shade and places to linger for residents, tourists and employees.

 

PPS held a community workshop to kick-off a process to revitalize Pittsburgh's Downtown Market Square.

"After months of public consultation, the City of Mississauga is unveiling its vision for the revitalization of public spaces in and around downtown Mississauga, with particular focus on new parks and public spaces in the City Centre.

The City has been working with Project for Public Spaces (PPS) -- a non-profit organization which specializes in working with cities to create and sustain lively public places -- to draft a concept plan that will see the City Centre develop into a vital community destination with programs, people-friendly settings, and social and economic rejuvenation. The plan is built on the principles of "Placemaking" - creating successful public spaces through access, activities, comfort and sociability."

 

In an era when cities and towns are changing rapidly, public spaces are the key to reviving civic engagement.  Fred Kent and Benjamin Fried look at how one city is making it happen, in the September 2006 issue of Municipal World.

 

"What makes or breaks an urban park like Downtown's Republic Square Park is how well it's used by people."

PPS will be involved in the programming and design for Republic Square, to help ensure that this historic downtown park is a place for people.

 

Crystal Crawford, mayor of Del Mar, CA, attended a presentation given by Fred Kent, President of Project for Public Spaces, and writes this of the experience:

"I was totally impressed by his presentation and struck by the possibilities for Del Mar.  I sat captivated by Mr. Kent’s description of what creates wonderful public spaces while seeing his photographs from around the world demonstrating those very concepts.  I could not help but think about how we could apply these very concepts to the revitalization of Del Mar’s business district and, by doing so, further the principles of our Community Plan."

An interview with Fred Kent, President and founder of PPS, on what it means to create a great place and why the concept of Placemaking has gone international.

"Toronto is a city of great diversity, great civic pride and social life, but that's not apparent when you look at the waterfront," says Ethan Kent, vice-president of Project for Public Spaces.  

Mr. Kent, who runs the organization's Great Cities Initiative, criticized the "narrow approach to planning and the commercial development that has not taken the opportunity to create special public spaces" on Toronto's waterfront.

View the Toronto waterfront Hall of Shame listing here.

Depending on who you ask, the new Tanner Springs Park in Portland, OR, is a boon for the neighborhood, or a bust. According to Fred Kent, President of Project for Public Spaces, the park's entire concept represents landscape designers putting their egos ahead of public need.

PPS staff members Steve Davies, Ethan Kent, and Elena Madison traveled to Flint MI for two days of meetings with city officials, community leaders and stakeholders, and tours of potential sites that could be transformed into vibrant destinations.

PPS will return to Flint for public workshops that will focus on Riverbank Park, and the Flint Farmers' Market, which will take place on July 25 and 26.
 

Watch Fred Kent, President of Project for Public Spaces, give his presentation "Creating a Sense of Place", given in San Diego on March 14, 2006

This presentation and other streaming video programs are available online on UCSD-TV's web site at www.ucsd.tv.

The City Council supported a plan for the revitalization of the historic Main Square in San Antonio.  Project for Public Spaces held a public workshop in March, eliciting such ideas from community members as "creating cafe-like environments, pedestrian-oriented spaces and opportunities for vending or sitting and people watching."

Concerned with the "suburbanization of the city," Fred Kent is concerned that the new park will become a private backyard for several proposed 20- to 30-story luxury apartment towers.  "Towers in parks is an old idea that was tried and failed in the 50s and 60s, and now it's coming back, unfortunately," said Fred.

The NYC Streets Renaissance exhibit, Livable Streets: A New Vision for New York, has moved from the Municipal Arts Society to the lobby of 4 Times Square, the Conde Nast Building.

The exhibit will focus on a vision for Broadway as a grand boulevard containing more than 20 unique destinations, with Times Square as the most iconic. The exhibit will also examine some of the "Best Practice" models already being employed by the Times Square Alliance to transform Times Square into one of the finest public spaces in the world.

Please join the Streets Renaissance team - PPS, Transportation Alternatives, and the Open Planning Project - and the Durst Organization for an opening reception on Thursday, May 25th, 6-8 pm. Enter the lobby of 4 Times Square on the north side of 42nd Street, near Broadway.

Please RSVP to streets@transalt.org.

PPS to work on city-wide initiative that includes Riverbank Park and Flint Farmers' Market.

With the conceptualizing stage for an overhaul of North Beach's oceanfront parks coming to a close, the budding project seems ready to proceed to the next step: finding a "world-class" designer to create a compelling master plan.

Last December, Project for Public Spaces conducted a two-day workshop to glean input from residents. The improvement plan recommends that North Beach's greenspaces be refashioned into a system of connected yet distinct parks, and have so far received support from the Miami Beach Planning Board.

Fred Kent and Ethan Kent met with community leaders in Midland, MI, to discuss how to create a city of well-connected, well-planned destinations that are engaging to people of all ages.

A follow-up article in the Toronto Star finds broad support from residents and experts alike for the Placemaking approach to revitalization taken in Mississauga, Canada's 6th largest city. For related story, see "Making a square dance in Mississauga."

PPS is nearing completion on an effort to help the city of Mississauga, Canada, activate its empty city plazas and streets. PPS staff Cynthia Nikitin and Phil Myrick worked with Fred Kent to develop a program for revitalizing the public spaces in and around downtown, including concepts for a new park and as well as existing plazas. The program was envisioned as an integrated campaign that involved training for city staff, placemaking workshops, concept development for downtown spaces, and actions the city could take in the short term. Only six months after the project started, the city has created a new department that will oversee Placemaking citywide and initiate an ambitious program of events all year, beginning this summer.

Project for Public Spaces was engaged by Harvard University to apply its expertise in Placemaking to the problem of how to achieve a sense of place and an attractive, active environment at Harvard's Allston campus. Cooper Robertson & Partners is leading the Allston Initiative Master Plan, with Gehry Partners, the Olin Partnership, and Chan, Kreiger Associates.

The Placemaking program will specifically focus on places where there will be a clear benefit for both University and community stakeholders, and considers many improvements that can enhance the neighborhood at the same time as providing a better campus setting. PPS met with community stakeholders and facilitated a public workshop and is using that and other information to develop concepts for shared public spaces, especially around Barry's Corner in the short, medium and long term.