Posts Tagged ‘PlaceMakers’
Placemaking vs. Placeshaking
A recent post over on Comstock’s reignited consideration of the word “placemaking,” sparking along with it a little renewed interest in this piece below, which originally ran back in February, 2013. Given that we as a firm have officially been “placemakers” (on legal documents and everything!) since 2003, we unsurprisingly have our own thoughts on…
Read MoreUrbanists Soak Up Buffalo: PlaceMakers empty their notebooks
The 22nd annual gathering of the CNU wrapped up Saturday night, June 7, in Buffalo. We’re looking forward to the recordings at cnu.org over the next few weeks to fill the inevitable gaps, since the competing sessions and hallway conversations presented the usual embarrassment of riches. Rather than go for a tidy narrative, let’s just…
Read MoreMeet Your ‘Makers: Where we’ll be at CNU 21 Salt Lake City
It’s that time of year again, fellow urbanists. The Congress for the New Urbanism, perhaps the country’s most comprehensive gathering of city planners, city builders and city lovers. This year, the 21st, is themed Living Community which, according to organizers, “balances the demands of physical, social, economic, and environmental values by connecting people to place.…
Read MoreHappy New Year
Another year down, another one rarin’ to go; another batch of worthy accomplishments matched in force by tasks yet undone. Today your friends at PlaceShakers take a moment to catch our breath, consider the miles left behind, and map out some plans for the road ahead. Join us Thursday, when we’ll lay out our Placemaking…
Read MoreReturn on No Investment
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…
Read More200,000: What’s in a number?
Last October, I wrote a piece commemorating a PlaceShakers milestone — 100,000 reads — which took us 32 months to amass. Today, I write to mark our next one: 200,000. This time, it took less than 8 months. Clearly something is up. If reads are increasing, that means interest is increasing. If interest is increasing,…
Read More100,000: What’s in a number?
Sometime today or over the next few, Placeshakers and Newsmakers will cross a notable (for us) threshold: 100,000 reads. Not that 100,000 is altogether different from 90,000 or 80,000 but it does make for a nice round opportunity to reflect on what we’ve been doing here and how its evolution has surprised us. As many…
Read MoreAn App for That (And that and that…)
One of the greatest selling points of the SmartCode, the DPZ-created version of a form-based unified development ordinance, has always been its customize-ability. First of all, it’s Transect-based, which immediately separates it from conventional codes that stamp out the same rules for development everywhere in the landscape. And since DPZ made it a free, open-source…
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