Parks, Placemaking and Plopping a TJ’s Downtown 🌳📍🌺
(re)inventing cities, parks, placemaking and other best practices
Bright Bros. Bulletin
ESSENTIAL DATA & TRENDS FOR PLACEMAKERS
Edition 27
If you’re interested in (re)inventing cities, parks, placemaking and other best practices, you’ve come to the right place in your inbox! In this edition of the Bright Brothers Bulletin, we explore what it means when you forget to consider people in your planning process, look at what some cities have done to ameliorate their asphalt with $25K grants, why you can’t just plop a Trader Joe’s over there, and how parks hold so much promise when it comes to urban attraction and revitalization. And yes, you can assign a dollar value to that! Read on for more fascinating tidbits and tell us what you like best, worst or wanna see more of!
– Your Bright Brothers Team David Romako / Josh Yeager / Brandi Walsh
We’ve seen a LOT of talk about smart cities and planned urban utopias in the past few years, but if you’re gonna endeavor to build a whole new city from scratch, you must approach it from the proper perspective. Who is this for and what are the benefits to them? We say all the time that “we’re a people-first, data-driven consultancy”, and clearly we’re a few steps ahead of Alphabet when it comes to our planning methodology. Case in point, this piece from NextCity is really interesting because it underscores so many salient points and aspects of where we sit today with regard to technology; grappling with its effects, opportunities and possibilities — while simultaneously ignoring the single most important aspect of cities — PEOPLE! The article is kind of like a 21st century allegory to Jane Jacobs, and in our ambition to resolve the human condition, we make the same mistakes repeatedly by not thinking about the means, motivators, drivers, loves, passions or proclivities of the very complex humans who inhabit our cities. It’s a good read and very prescient as we race to perfect urban utopias, but “PEOPLE” must be the very first step in every planning process.
Photo credit: Shunya Koide, Unsplash
Truly creative placemaking is both an art and a science, and it has such strong potential to build social equity, strengthen communities, and enhance the public realm — if it’s done properly and starts with community engagement. We loved this piece from Smart Cities Dive that photodocuments seven specific interventions deployed around the U.S. thanks to $25K grants from Bloomberg Philanthropy’s “Asphalt Art Initiative” this year. From Baltimore, MD to Billings, MT and beyond, crosswalks, wayfinding and other creative endeavors are helping to make neighborhoods pop with vibrant splashes of color and engaging street art. The Instagram set loves to say “Look up!”, but we’re also fans of looking down — to take in these transformative works of public art!
…that we shared a cool Halloween “This or That” template for your social media manager in our last edition of the Buletin? Yes, it’s true! And you can snag it here for next year, if you like! We’re also working on more giveaways, templates and tools to share with our readers in the coming months. The big question for YOU is — what kind of freebies or giveaways would help you do your job? We endeavor to “Share What’s Good” in every e-blast, and publish timely and seasonal Trends Reports on the reg, but we’d love to hear what you’d find valuable outside of articles and research. Slide into our inbox fam, and let us know what you’d like to see!
Photo credit: Balazs Ketyi, Unsplash
One pain point we repeatedly hear from our clients is that the public at large has no idea who is responsible for all the awesome activations, events, planning, production and beautification that happens within cities. Understandably, most folks don’t have a comprehensive understanding of the mechanics, politics and challenges that exist within city management, planning and development. Considering that very often, the requirements, red tape and opaque procedures to make even the tiniest of modifications within a city can be dumbfoundingly arcane, it’s easy to see why laymen say things like, “Well, why can you just…?” or “If I were in charge…!”. We get it. We also got a big kick out of this piece from StrongTowns that outlines some of the flaws, foibles and common misconceptions around development. If you’ve ever sat through a public intake session and rolled your eyes so hard your dead grandma could hear it, then you’ll enjoy this read.
Parks, parks & more parks! Parks can be wonderful community assets, and a tool for revitalizing cities. Using hindsight’s famed “20/20”, many cities are now using federal infrastructure grants and other sources of funding to repair some of the urban planning missteps of the 20th century, along with new projects to activate formerly blighted parcels, old parking lots and unused corners of a city’s footprint. According to Bloomberg Cities Network, “…city centers seeing fewer workers, they (sic) can compete for those workers by offering parks, amenities, and other aesthetic improvements that make people more likely to want to go into the office…”. While many of our clients have engaged in placemaking efforts locally that are based around parks, it feels like Texas is placing a big emphasis on them. Having worked with both Downtown Dallas, Inc. (think Klyde Warren Park), and the Downtown Austin Alliance (they did an amazing job with Republic Square and now Old Bakery Park), we know firsthand the potential that parks hold. Parks have the ability to reignite, reimagine and repair places, combat historic racism, and provide quantifiable economic impact for the cities and communities they serve.
Photo credit: Nerea Marti Sesarino, Unsplash
“Parks can be a catalyst for change that can strengthen our neighborhoods and provide greater opportunities for our residents, …and it’s my view that parks and trails should be considered critical infrastructure for our city.”— Eric Johnson, Mayor of Dallas, TX
Got an article, best practice or local hero to share? Email us!
