Placemaking!

Placemaking is the multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces. It involves looking at, listening to and asking questions of the people who live, work and play in a particular area. This is to discover their needs and aspirations. It forms a sense of connection between the communities and the spaces around them. This concept was originally constructed by William H. Whyte who largely pioneered the concept in New York back in the 1970s. It was the beginning of the ‘bottom-up’ approach, where people were the instigators of their own planning initiatives in their communities.

Placemaking is not just the act of building or fixing up a space, but rather a whole process that creates the kind of places where people want to be. Community input is the fundamental factor in the placemaking concept as the success of a public place is determined by the amount of use that the space gets from the local community, therefore if the community has been the fundamental contributor to the project then they have a sense of ownership and therefore are more likely to use it.

Three examples of placemaking in New Zealand are that of the Queen Street revitalisation, the Wellington Waterfront project and the Piopio conversion of empty buildings. Although all of these projects are on different scales they have all been successful in using the bottom-up approach where the community is at the heart of the project and is fully engaged through the design, implementation and monitoring.



Wellington waterfront (imaged sourced from placemaking.org.nz)



Placemaking New Zealand have come up with six principles which they believe are important when developing a placemaking project in your community, they are as follows;

1.       The locals are the experts

·         Get out and meet the locals

·         Valuable history of place and functions

·         Gives community sense of ownership

2.       Create a place not a design

·         Work with communities to identify what they want, and actually implement it

3.       The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

·         Offer multiple options for the community

4.       Start with the small stuff

·         Experiment with small, short term improvements that can be tested and refined over time

·         Elements such as seating, public art, community gardens and murals

5.       It’s not about the money

·         Don’t need a multimillion dollar budget to create great places

·         The more involved the community, the greater the benefit you will see

6.       You are never finished

·         Successful public spaces respond to the needs, opinions and on-going changes in the community

·         Being open to the need for change and having the flexibility to create change will build great public spaces

Placemaking New Zealand considers everyone to be a placemaker, they even have two categories in which people fit into, and the diagram below illustrates these:




Everyones a placemaker (imaged sourced from placemaking.org.nz)

 

Placemaking starts at the bottom and works its way up so if you live in a place you want to see get turned into a great place with lots of public space and just a neat place to live, work and play don’t hesitate to be a placemaker, as every little bit counts to making our places better.

Markets, A Viable Land Use in Public Space

William H Whyte believes that the biggest attractor of people is people themselves. This concept got me thinking about the idea of attractions in public spaces. Is it a good idea to place a land use such as retail within a public space? It became apparent that local markets are best fit to occupy public space as they do not encompass all of the space itself due to the stall like nature of its set up therefore people can still enjoy the outdoors without feeling confined to a artificial man made environment such as a mall or a supermarket.

Earlier on in this blog it was illustrated the importance of having sociability within a public space, studies have shown that people strike up four to ten times as many conversations in farmers markets than supermarkets. I believe this helps to create a strong sense of community spirit and sense of place due to the connections formed with other people.

As well as linking to the social aspect, markets provide an activity within the space in which draws people into the area as there is an activity to attract people’s interests.  Food is a big part of everyone’s, everyday lives, and the development of a market provides access to fresh, healthy food as well as supporting the local farmers. Food brings people together and in many cultures is considered the main feature in social environments therefore markets stimulate this as people will be brought together by food.

The spin off benefits of markets are numerous, from increasing access to healthy food to providing important revenue streams, markets positively impact local businesses, governments and residents. But perhaps the most important is the way markets serve as public gathering places for people from different ethnic, cultural and socio-economic communities. Markets are identified as one of the few places where people comfortably gather and meet. We must remember that markets are our original civic centres and originated back in the Roman and Greek time. But in those days markets were considered a place of gathering, for conversation and social aspects of society but were only for the use of men a somewhat different society then we have today. In a way markets have simply evolved as they still promote conversation and gathering of people within a community, it is just initiated through the means of local produce.

Roman Market- meeting place only for men. (photo sourced from google images)

Within New Zealand farmers markets are traditional especially in historically farming towns such as Hamilton although these farmers markets have declined over the many decades and now take place in areas which do not encourage civic engagement with the rest of the city centre. The Hamilton farmers market is located in a car park on the fringe of the city centre, limiting peoples experience to simply the market and no other engagement with local businesses and public space. An ideal placement of this market would be the newly developed Garden Place in which has been discussed earlier on in this blog. Garden place would be perfect for this market due to its placement in the city and the availability of space. This placement would capture other people who are in town as currently you have to be going to the market to experience it but many passers-by may be drawn in to the vibrant public space.

Hamilton Farmers Market. (Photo sourced from google images)

Auckland’s Britomart precinct is home to the City’s Farmers Market where regional produce is on offer as well as a vibrant atmosphere in the centre of Auckland’s downtown located directly next to the Britomart Transport centre which is the hub of all public transport for the CBD. This makes the market available to a wide range of people whilst drawing people into the public spaces of downtown Auckland.



Britomart Farmers Market (Photo sourced from google images)



A movement back towards farmers markets can be seen as a positive move within today’s economy due to the global movement towards a more sustainable future, local authorities need to start thinking locally and establish a market in which local produce can be sold to local communities in which would stimulate economic development, limit transport costs of produce and create a healthier community with stimulated civic engagement through the successful use of public spaces.

What makes a public space successful?

Great public space are where celebrations are held, social and economic exchanges take place, friends run into each other, and cultures mix. They are where we interact with each other and government. When the spaces work well, they serve as a stage for our public lives. Project for public spaces has found successful public spaces have four key qualities, these are accessible, people are engaged in activities there, the space is comfortable and has a good image and finally it is a sociable place, one where people meet each other and take people when they come to visit.

The following diagram is used in judging a place good or bad. It highlights the above four key qualities and expands on the qualitative or intuitive aspects of a place and then the quantitative aspects which can be measured by research and statistics.

Access and Linkage:

The accessibility of a place can be judged by its connections to its surroundings, both visual and physical.  A successful public place is easy to get to and get through.

Comfort and image:

This quality is essential to the success of a space. Comfort includes perceptions about safety, cleanliness and the availability of places to sit. It is important to give people the choice of where to sit as options makes people feel more comfortable than having to conform to what one person’s ideal of comfort is.

Use and Activity:

Having something to do gives people a reason to come to a place. And from experiencing a place with a positive atmosphere once they are likely to return.

Sociability:

This is a difficult quality for a place to achieve, but once attained it becomes an unmistakable feature. When people see friends, meet and greet their neighbors, and feel comfortable interacting with strangers, they tend to feel a stronger sense of place or attachment to their community – and to the place that fosters these types of social activities.

Therefore the incorporation of all these aspects creates a place and space in which people enjoy and fosters a sense of community spirit and gives atmosphere to the area.

Public space and public transport go hand in hand

When enjoying public space in Melbourne I noticed that people need something to look at when enjoying public space such as river, people, vegetation, public artwork. As well as something to look at people also need a purpose for being in those public spaces, due to the busy nature of people’s lives not many people take time out to ‘smell the roses’ as time is a precious commodity. The most common purpose I noticed in Melbourne was that of eating. People like a nice place to sit and eat therefore public spaces need to provide settings for this, such as picnic benches or large bench like seats. The other main activity attributed in public spaces around Melbourne was that of waiting or in transit from public transport. Most public spaces are based within a close vicinity of public transport stops or stations. This got me thinking about the possible connection between people who use public transport and those that use public spaces. I came to the conclusion that those who use public transport are more mobile than those that are bound by a car and therefore can move more freely through the city and enjoy all the spaces and places the local authority has implemented. Therefore a well-served city of both public transport and public space will have a better atmosphere as more people will be on the streets.

This idea of the synergistic link between public space and public transport is shown in Portland’s Pioneer Square where public transport systems utilise all sides of the public space.

Photo sourced from http://www.pps.org/articles/pioneersq/

The light rail system is located on two sides of the square and public buses utilise 3 sides of the square. It has many places for people to sit and shelter whilst waiting for public transport or eating their lunch during the working day. It also houses many festivals and events encouraging people to use this space. It is a great case study and should have been looked at by those who developed Britomart transport centre, where limited inclusion of public space has been given as priority has been given to buses and buildings. Therefore a link has not been established between public space and public transport.

Federation Square in Melbourne is another example of how public transport and public space can be separate but still closely linked as Flinders street station is across the road from Federation Square and a number of tram stops are located on all roads that surround federation square including the city circle free tram. Therefore access to the public space is easy and enables a place for those travelling by public transport to enjoy, along with the rest of the general public.

Public space is also a great way to use up empty spaces surrounding transport corridors or derelict areas under railway lines. For example in Melbourne all surrounding areas of public transport which may not be considered appealing have been transformed into public spaces which may be utilised. This enables all parts of the city to be utilised for economic, environmental and social benefits. For example under the railway that stretches parallel to the Yarra River  a number of public spaces have been developed underneath and around the tracks which sit a story above the ground.  See photo below. This is a fantastic use of space as people may not want to live within these areas and businesses may not want to form here due to the railway line travelling through but people may want to gather here. In Melbourne’s case the Yarra River provides a backdrop for those using the public space which links back to the idea of entertainment within public spaces.