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Governing Magazine, April 2005 - Rethinking the Urban Speedway
Governing Magazine, October 2005 - The 20 Best North American Districts, Downtowns, and Neighborhoods
- The World's Best and Worst Parks
- Top 12 Public Squares in the U.S. and Canada
- Best and Worst Public Spaces in the Galaxy
- Placemaker Profile: Enrique Penalosa
- City Commentary:
Barcelona
PPS's Training Programs
Why do people want to get trained in placemaking?
More and more PPS is being asked to train people to look at their public spaces differently. In 2001 we started offering our semi-annual How to Turn a Place Around (HTTAPA) and How to Create Successful Markets training courses; both courses are consistently booked with people who want to learn more about how to improve their public spaces.
Some of the reasons why training has become such an important part of PPS’s work are:
- People are beginning to realize the important role that public spaces play in any community. New central squares are being built in many different cities across the country and people are concerned that these are done well.
- Everyone has experienced a problematic or unused public space in their own community and they know that these spaces can function better.
- People know that there should be a better process for planning public spaces that results in more successful spaces.
- People are looking for skills. For example, public sector employees are looking for the skills to work with local communities and communities need training in how to most effectively bring their ideas into a city’s process.
Who have we trained?
PPS has trained a variety of audiences ranging from community members (both
nationally and internationally), to transportation professionals, managers of
both private and federal properties, landscape architects, urban designers,
and others. We are now being asked to develop training programs for city employees
from different departments and to roll out a program in an entire country (Scotland?).
Our intern requests are also expanding significantly as people express interest
in coming to work at PPS to learn new and different ways of planning and designing
public spaces.
Some of the specific audiences have included: Transit agencies and Departments
of Transportation; Developers; City Employees such as Planning Directors and
City Managers; International NGO’s and Community Development Corporations;
Interns and students; Professors of planning, design, landscape architecture;
and Mayors.
What type of training do we offer?
PPS’s training starts with a basic course designed around the principles of a Placemaking process, the qualities of successful and unsuccessful places and case study examples from around the world. From this basic course we offer more in-depth and broader training on a variety of issues and for particular groups.
- A basic introduction to the “Placemaking Principles and Process” and an introduction to developing a Public Market are offered twice a year at PPS’s offices at the Audubon House in New York.
- More advanced courses for people who have taken the introductory course, have initiated a specific project and who need help dealing with specific issues such as: incorporating the Placemaking process into a city government process; learning more detailed data collection techniques; facilitating community meetings; translating a community’s vision into a workable and successful design; development of a management strategy for a particular place; basic traffic calming techniques for streets around public spaces; and design and operational issues in running successful markets are some of the topics around which specific courses are available. These courses are currently offered upon demand.
- More specialized courses for specific audiences have been developed for both public sector transportation engineers and planners and for transportation consultants who work on public transportation projects. A developer’s roundtable is being planned for innovative developers.
- PPS’s international program is centered around training planners who are working for local non-government planning organizations (NGO’s) to use a community based Placemaking process in their community revitalization projects. We have undertaken this training in the Czech Republic, Serbia, (see Elena or Steve for what is the appropriate list). In Scotland, PPS is currently training Associates of the national organization Greenspace Scotland in using PPS’s Placemaking process in communities throughout the country. These programs are generally multi- year partnerships, during which time the local representatives gain the experience to conduct Placemaking workshops and make improvements to particular places themselves.
- Public sector training to prepare staff of city or state agencies to be more prepared to be responsive to a community based Placemaking approach. Often, a community is ready to implement changes in their community and the public sector is unprepared to work with these communities or to tap into their expertise in an effective manner.
- Training and sharing information among academics. Many
academics are using PPS’s book, How to Turn a Place Around, and other
materials in their classes, and some are interested in developing curriculum
and embarking on research projects that will benefit communities and planners.
PPS is planning a symposium of people from a range of academic institutions
to explore how Placemaking can most effectively be incorporated into design
and planning curriculums and how new research can be conducted and introduced
into the field at large.
