– Your Bright Brothers Team
David Romako / Josh Yeager /  Brandi Walsh

Our wildly popular Trends Report is back, and this one’s a doozy! Our latest publication delves into the world of illumination from a placemaking perspective, as we explore three categories for lighting and how they’re implemented in cities near and far. Take a deep dive into specific case studies around placemaking for events and activations, interventions and public safety, as well as wayfinding. Chockful of research, consumer intercepts and tidbits galore, this document offers a great jumping off point for any district, downtown or DMO looking to light up the night in their communities. Click here to download “Lights, Camera, Activation!” from our website.

They’re not the first community to do this, but bringing an artistic flare to the mundane traffic control boxes in Chandler, AZ brings a pitter-patter to our hearts, in this piece from ABC15 in Arizona. What we found interesting first, is that the funding is coming from the city’s economic development department and its arts commission.  And why shouldn’t placemaking dollars come from econ dev?  Perfect pairing, IOHO. Secondly, each artist is compensated $1,000 per design. Acknowledging, empowering, cultivating and showing gratitude through financial compensation for artists is a move we think every city would benefit from. When considering the “backwater beige” homogeneity of Chandler’s multitudinous tract housing and stucco-clad shopping centers, these pieces of public art will help boost and reinforce one of the fiercest levels of civic pride we’ve ever seen nationwide. Sidebar, Bright Brothers has worked with the City of Chandler’s tourism bureau in the past, as well as their downtown community, and we’ve never seen such optimism and pride from stakeholders anywhere else! Here’s one more reason to ❤ Chandler, AZ!

Photo credit:  City of Chandler 

…that Berlin may soon have a car free zone larger than Manhattan?! As part of a movement sweeping Europe at the moment, and fomenting in the U.S., reclaiming city streets for people (not automobiles), fits in with trends we’re seeing all over the place. Heralded by likes of Paris and Barcelona that have been making massive movement towards the concept of the 15-Minute City (which we’ve reported on prodigiously over the past year), efforts like the Vision Zero Network, which endeavors to make streets safer for humans and reduce traffic injuries and fatalities, to one-off, localized efforts by communities and neighbors to reclaim their streets during the pandemic (and now want to make those changes permanent), the citizens of Berlin may be onto something. The grassroots group Volksentsheid Berlin Autofrei (or the People’s Decision for Auto-Free Berlin — we think it sounds better auf Deutsch!) has collected 50,000 signatures and worked with pro bono lawyers to draft legislation that would deemphasize private car use and encourage walking, biking, public transport and cargo bike deliveries within the Ringbahn encircling almost the entirety of the city center. “It’s as much about our immediate environment as it is about the environment at large,” noted one of the group’s founders, Nina Noblé. If successful, the legislation would create the largest urban car free zone globally. Can you imagine?

Photo credit:  volksentscheid-berlin-autofrei.de

We love to give props to organizations like Dallas-based Better Block for their placemaking kits, designs and plans that make it so easy to place make, and we’ve given them numerous shout-outs. We’re compelled to do so again, but this time for a different reason. If you caught our piece on the “Greying of America” in Edition 9, you’ll know that America’s aging population is set to explode, and that by 2030, one-in-five Americans will be 65 or older. This generational shift is going to have massive impacts on all ways of life — and your job; everything from our streetscapes to infrastructure to service industries to how we manage our downtowns, districts and tourism. Once again, Better Block pops up with this brilliant kit of street furniture designed for those 55+, in collaboration with AARP. The kit is free to download and best of all, you need no glue, screws or nails to create an active third space in your downtown! With free, downloadable plans for everything from dog parks to beer gardens, bike racks to Adirondacks, to benches, planters, little free libraries and more, their Wikiblock Library is an invaluable resource and source of inspo for any urban planner or placemaker.

Photo credit: Better Block

Placemaking fantasy! What if you had an untapped asset in your downtown that you could do anything with from a placemaking perspective? Would you create a beer garden, an event venue, add art installations, illuminate the space with LEDs, develop a farmers market or what? That’s the enviable position of those in Cincinnati, OH who, for over a century now, have been sitting on a never-completed stretch of subway tunnel running directly under their downtown. For years it’s been the haunt of urban explorers, graffiti artists and adventure seekers, and ideas and proposals keep popping up, but to date the unfinished tunnels remain relatively intact and just prime for the placemaking!  If you had the opp, what would you do with a space like this?  The mind boggles at the possibilities, and we’d love to hear your thoughts, dreams and druthers!
 
Photo credit: James Gilboy, The Drive