Placemaking Week 2024

There is an agreement today that investing in placemaking and focusing efforts on a public space is the single, most catalytic public investment a community can make. Yet, sometimes communities struggle with building places that are welcoming and open to all. We still see public spaces dominated by underserved people with real needs and neighbors who are hesitant to make basic improvements for fear of these most vulnerable users. Public space managers often feel ill equipped and poorly supported to face such challenges, while municipalities spend millions on ineffective outreach and imperfectly delivered services. What if we can transform public space into the nexus where people in need and the programs that are meant to serve them come together while enhancing everyone’s experience of place? 
This panel will discuss the evolution and lessons learned from pilot work demonstrating that intentional, programmatic, flexible improvements can have substantial, positive, equitable impacts for the most vulnerable of our friends and neighbors. We will look at the trajectory of “pocket social environments,” public space interventions aimed explicitly at connecting people in need with help, and what they can offer to address challenges and improve public spaces for all users.