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April 4, 2017 | 2:49 pm

Lessons From Savannah

Savannah, Georgia is arguably one of, if not the most, beautiful cities in the United States. Although I lived there for a while 25 years ago, on a recent visit I was struck by the many placemaking lessons we can learn from this lovely city. In anticipation of the 2018 CNU Congress in the city, I started taking some notes of subjects I want to explore next year.

The Power of a Plan
Much has been written on the Oglethorpe Plan of Savannah, and architects and planners continue to be enlightened by the framework of public space as the plan’s first priority. The dedication of four civic parcels – trust lots – on each square, assured each neighborhood would be served by educational and religious institutions. (Reiter, B., 2016, Savannah City Plan) Continue Reading

Category Community Development, Planning and Design10 CommentsTags CNU 25, CNU 26, lessons from livable places, livability, outdoor room, Plazas, Savannah Georgia, Susan Henderson

January 31, 2017 | 12:19 am

The Trifecta: Urbanism, architecture, and nature

We often blog on the benefits of nature integrated into urbanism and wellbeing outcomes of walkability. The real trifecta is when walkable urbanism, human-scale architecture, and nature come together via placemaking. A recent study from the University of Warwick points out that a scenic view delivers equal health benefits to access to nature: “Cohesion of architecture and design boosts people’s health and happiness, not just the number of parks and trees.”

Category Architecture, Community Development, Environment | Sustainability, Experience, Health, Planning and Design, Resilience, Theory and Practice6 CommentsTags health, lessons from livable places, nature, outdoor room, Paris, parks, placemaking, Plazas, public health, Susan Henderson

September 13, 2016 | 12:01 am

Triangular Plazas: Flexible, outdoor rooms with meaningful uses

Last year I enjoyed thinking of the critical components of a successful plaza: activity, locals, and a third place. Great plazas are hosts to community engagement any time of the day or evening, they attract both locals and tourists, and always have a third place fronting at least one edge of the outdoor room. A recent trip to France provided a study of the unusual triangular plaza, or place. These triangular French spaces reminded me of a very special New Mexican plaza of my home state. They all have a civic use anchoring the base of the space, a mixture of uses framing the space, and opportunity for meaningful, flexible community activity in the space itself.

Category Planning and Design3 CommentsTags Caen, lessons from livable places, New Mexico, outdoor room, Paris, Plazas, public space, Susan Henderson

June 1, 2015 | 12:01 am

The Plaza: What is required for a community living room?

Recent trips to Spain and Germany have me appreciating the nuances of three plazas I had the pleasure of experiencing. Each plaza was a different character and scale from the other, which if I had to sum up simply, I’d call Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor: A City Plaza, Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt: A Civic Plaza, and Zafra’s Plaza Grande and Plaza Chica: Neighborhood Plazas. All share some common qualities, including being very active almost any time of day and in any weather, populated by what appear to be locals as well as visitors, and all have third places fronting at least one side of the plaza. But after that, the differences abound. It’s enjoyable to have the pause of vacation to study these spaces and think about what lessons we might bring home.

Category Planning and Design, Theory and Practice7 CommentsTags Berlin, form-based code, Gendarmenmarkt, lessons from livable places, outdoor room, Plaza Chica, Plaza Grande, Plaza Mayor, Plazas, public space, Salamanca, smartcode, Susan Henderson, Zafra

November 10, 2014 | 12:01 am

Lessons Learned from Berlin Shopfronts

Like many European cities, Berlin teaches us myriad lessons in building successful shopfronts. While the exclusive international shops along Kurfürstendamm and Friedrichstrasse are elegant and effective, the more creative successes are found in neighborhoods and courtyards. Kaid Benfield’s People Habitat describes in detail the reasons Hackeschen Höfe is so successful at the holistic level, and last week Hazel Borys discussed the diversity of uses, so here we’ll just explore the interesting shopfront contributions. There are some very successful shopfront examples in the Prenzlaur Berg neighborhood as well.

Category Architecture, Planning and Design1 CommentTags Berlin, Bob Gibbs, Hackeschen Höfe, Kaid Benfield, lessons from great cities, lessons from livable places, outdoor room, Prenzlaur Berg, retail, Steve Mouzon, Susan Henderson

November 6, 2014 | 2:45 am

Mixing Light Industrial with Residential: The artisan’s delight

We’ve talked extensively here on PlaceShakers about how to integrate industrial uses into walkable neighborhoods. And the sorts of land use modifications, often via form-based codes, that are necessary to enable these uses within safe parameters. This week in Berlin, I was particularly inspired by the example set by Hackeschen Höfe, for mixing artisanal manufacturing with residential in mid-rise mixed-use. And they’ve been doing so successfully since 1906.

Category Back of the Envelope, Economic Development, Legal7 CommentsTags Berlin, form-based code, Hackeschen Höfe, Hazel Borys, industrial, lessons from great cities, lessons from livable places, mixed-use, outdoor room, smartcode

April 19, 2012 | 12:01 am

Get Your Garden Room Right

Having worked in communities big and small across the continent, we’ve had ample opportunity to test ideas and find approaches that work best. Urban design details. Outreach tactics. Implementation tricks. Many of these lessons are transferable, which is why we’ve created “Back of the Envelope,” a weekly feature where we jot ’em down for your consideration.

It’s that time of year here in central New Mexico when I start eating lunch in my courtyard so I can watch the tomatoes turn red. I’m reminded while sitting here of a visit from Steve Mouzon of the Original Green who was lecturing at the University of New Mexico.