Kathy Madden

A Great Street: Buenos Aires' Calle La Defensa

Buenos Aires' Calle La Defensa is a memorable street any day—but especially on Sundays, when crowds gather to walk, shop, dance, eat and have fun interacting with the street performers.

Sidewalks

Two Buildings that Build Life: Fostering Sidewalk Social Life in Brooklyn and Paris

A building needs a base, At the street level, buildings with small shops that spill into the public space that has a plaza with a market or double-loaded sidewalk, buildings can come alive. What is outside becomes inside, and what is inside becomes outside.

Architecture of Place

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

Few would argue with the statement that Brooklyn Borough Hall, Court House, and Cadman Plaza may be the most underperforming public spaces in New York City. Their potential is enormous.

Public Markets

The Magic of Holiday Markets

As you look at the best markets around the world, they are dynamic year-round destinations in the center for most cities. Bryant Park and Victualen Market in New York City and Munich are prime examples.

Founders and Friends

Remembering Don Miles

Don Miles was a long-time friend of ours and a founding board member of Project for Public Spaces in 1975. He passed away in Seattle on December 2, 2021.

Community Discussion

Seven Catalytic Placemaking Strategies: A Discussion about the Future of Vermont Downtowns

Restoring social life in Vermont starts with a rethinking of streets, public spaces and community institutions

Top Ideas

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.

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.

Waterfronts

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.

Neighborhoods

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

Amenities

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

Community Discussion

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.

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.