The Social Life Project

Discussion: Next Steps for the Global Placemaking Movement

Imagine if the places where we live were shaped for, and from, our social lives, re-imagined to make it easy for us to gather, shop, have fun, eat together, and be around people different from us. we would collectively have an impact on the health of our planet.

Havana's Resilient Social Life - Cuban Public Spaces Over the Years

With improving diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US, the country’s public space, and public life, is poised to evolve in new directions, for better and worse.

Amenities

Have a Seat? How Seating Shapes Welcoming Cities

Benches and seating are not objects; they are mirrors to our social behavior. We have seen it time and again, that where there is seating, there is life.

Great Public Spaces

Time-Honored Places: The Public Square, Part II

Public Spaces as squares are plazas in Spain, Latin America, and sometimes the U.S., piazzas in Italy, platz in German-speaking countries, and simply "square" everywhere in between. In many small towns they have the Village Green. In essence they are the main gathering places for people.

Seating

Discussion - Brooklyn Promenade Social Seating and Cafe/Kiosk

The entire promenade is very stark and not very inviting except for the extraordinary view. By initially just adding a few items to experiment with, the community could see what might be possible in the future

Amenities

You are where you sit: Zurich shows us how

People thrive in place that reflect their personality and where they can be seen in ways that others understand something about who they are. Different people need different settings. Diversity of seating is a basic need and varies for each place.

Architecture of Place

Vancouver Community Discussion: Two Questions

Vancouver is no longer a small city along the west coast of North America. It has the highest population density in Canada. Two questions: Has it lost its soul? Can it create the great waterfront a great city deserves?

Climate Resilience

How Placemaking and Social Life are Helping Win the Climate War - 11 Ways

When it comes to addressing climate change in a way that actually moves the needle, the creativity and community-orientation that always defined the global Placemaking movement can be the foundation for the future of communities everywhere--and for our planet.

Great Public Spaces

Catalytic Places: Public Squares, Part I

What great squares have to offer their communities is limitless. Above all, it's the social life that works in these squares: What are perhaps the most magical parts about these places are the simple, crucial chance encounters that allow us to have with others.

Brooklyn

A Big Idea - Staring us Right in our Face

Placemaking Resource Center: Creating organic and productive places for people to come together, reflect on the social life of their cities and communities, spark new ideas through conversations and case studies, and be inspired to take the social life of these places into their own hands

Climate Resilience

Throwing (Good) Shade for Placemaking

Shade can become an intentional strategy — developed with communities, led by communities. If we do it right, the addition of shade in all its forms can have an enormous collective impact on walkability, Social Life, and climate resilience.

Waterfronts

Pop-up Restaurants on the Waterfront: Six Cities that Do it Well

Eating along the water is almost universally appealing. We are drawn to the waterfronts that have them

Great Barrington, MA- Build Back Better-Together: Creating the Future We Want

Great Barrington, MA. Draft Discussion Building a Placemaking Campaign

Top Ideas

Reconstruyamos Juntos y Mejor: 11 Agendas Transformadoras Para Restaurar La Vida en Nuestra Comunidad

Salvar el planeta depende de recuperar nuestras comunidades

Great Public Spaces

Kungsträdgården: Stockholm's Square for All

Stockholm's Kungsträdgården has everything one could want in a great square. It is one of the most diverse and important squares in Europe

Top Ideas

Build Back Better, Together: 11 Transformative Agendas to Restore Social Life in Your Community

Saving the planet depends on reclaiming our communities.

Sidewalks

What Happened to Small-Town Life and How to Recapture It

we found and learned from some truly wonderful examples of small-town social life, and it is these glimmers of hope that can lay the foundation for new attention to public spaces in smaller communities.

Architecture of Place

Paris, the World's Best Waterfront

Paris Plage challenges the idea of iconic design as a way for cities to show off. Instead centering the creation of iconic places, Paris Plage sets a high standard for other cities to emulate.

Architecture of Place

Community Discussion: Creating the Heart of Brooklyn — Brooklyn Borough Hall, Court House, Cadman Plaza down to Fulton Landing

This article is meant to help build a campaign around a concept for a promenade from Borough Hall doown to Dumbo and Fulton Landing — an idea that we first introduced in the New York Times in 2007. The concept has in part been carried forward by Downtown Brooklyn Partnership as

Waterfronts

Capitalizing on the Appeal of Waterfronts: 11 of the Best

Of all the types of public spaces that exist, waterfronts are among the most strongly linked to the identity and history of a city. There could be no Stockholm without the harbor; no San Francisco away from the Bay; no Rio without its beaches.

Great Public Spaces

Driving the Local Food Economy with Social Life: Munich's Victuals Market

The Victuals Market (Viktualienmarkt) in Munich, Germany Central "Market Square" is typical of the historic squares around Europe, showcasing the local commerce, culture and diversity in the center of each city.

Brooklyn

Community Discussions: Montague Street Activation

Montague Street has a tired, old, not cared for feeling. There are multiple empty storefronts, uncared for buildings, limited to no seating, few places to gather, weak entranceways, few outdoor cafes, limited restaurant experience. All this was greatly impacted by the pandemic.

Amenities

Four Paris Benches, Plus

A well-designed seat placed in the right location sets the stage for lively activity along a sidewalk, in a park, or on a waterfront.

Architecture of Place

Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper: Gabriel's Wharf, London

Built in 1988, It took 3 months to develop, cost 78,000 pounds and created 60 jobs. It is still thriving today.

Great Public Spaces

Play Sculptures

Play-friendly sculptures can be a part of making someone's visit to a park particularly memorable, whether that's by bringing a beloved character to life, or offering a landscape for play unlike any other.