Placemaking

On Thursday, the National League of Cities released The 10 Critical Imperatives Facing Cities in 2014, its annual report highlighting ten of the most pressing issues facing cities across the United States. Partners board member and incoming NLC President, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker explained during the report's unveiling, "This is not a wish list just of cities. This is a wish list of the people who live in America. That’s 80 percent of the population of America that’s being represented through us."

The ten items on the list were:

1. Fragile Fiscal Health
2. Deteriorating Transportation Infrastructure
3. The Shrinking Middle Class
4. Inadequate Access to Higher Education
5. The Need for Affordable Housing
6. A Less-Than-Welcoming Return for Veterans
7. Gang Violence
8. A Broken Immigration System
9. Climate Change and Extreme Weather
10. Lack of Public Trust

Click here to read the full report from NLC, which includes an overview of initiatives being taken by cities in their own efforts to tackle these ten challenges and create more livable communities for their residents.

Each year a number of organizations and publications, from the New York Post to The Economist and Bloomberg Businessweek, devise a list of the most ‘livable’ cities in America and the world. Then, without fail, every year, waves of critics denounce the list for being biased towards certain cities. This process illustrates how truly difficult it is come up with a singular definition of the term ‘livability’. Each publication has their own formula that generally includes ratings that represent each city’s access to affordable housing, cost of living, quality of education, and amount of cultural amenities, among the many other components that determine a city’s livability. How these factors are weighted in the formula depends on the interests and goals of the publication.

As the baby-boomer population all reach the age of retirement, many older individuals are going to be forced into assisted living facilities.  This article featured on PlaceMakers by Ben Brown highlights the ElderSpirit Community in Abingdon, VA, which on a relatively small budget, has created a community for older individuals that emphasizes people, skills, and needs.

"Among the Big Issues awaiting communities after we shake off the post-recession blues is what to do about demography. Particularly the part about America’s aging population.

The first-borns among the 76-million-strong Baby Boomer generation reached 65 in 2011. And over the next three decades, the geezer slice of the population pie will swell to 20 percent, compared to a little more than 13 percent in 2010. Take a look at the chart below, compiled from Census projections and pulled from the informative Alliance for Aging site.

That’s more than 88 million folks 65-plus, with the fastest growing cohorts the “oldest-old” segments of 80-plus.

I have a special interest in this topic, given that I’m among those leading-edge Boomers who have reconfigured commerce and culture to suit our tastes over the last half-century. It’s been a great run.

By now, just about everybody not invited to our long-running generational fiesta is tired of indulging Boomer fantasies. Sorry. Since we’re still running lots of stuff and still hoarding most of America’s financial assets, there’s more to come. Currently, we’re in the middle of one of our periodic – and probably our last – reality denial exercises. This is the one where we’re pretending Big Pharma, robots, electric cars and Dr. Oz will extend our playtime into infinity. You know, “60 is the new 40.” Unlike previous Boomer reality ducks, however, this one is going to be tough to buy or lie our way out of....."

Read More.

Lyz Crane draws on the work of practitioners and researchers to characterize the field of arts-based community development in which arts and culture can help achieve place based change related to the physical, social, and economic dimensions of place. This paper examines the premise that the existence of arts is considered a powerful end in itself, Crane then outlines the variety of ways that the actors and activities involved in arts and community development work can relate to and interact with each other to create sustainable communities.  Looking at the cultural ecology of place, creative economy development focuses on fostering local creative businesses and supporting creative workers both in the arts and in supporting industries while cultural development may focus on preserving cultural assets—traditions, language, stories—or on building on them to create stronger, more connected communities.  There is also a complex community development ecosystem of organizations, interests, and tools. Stakeholders may involve arts in their agendas, create arts programming, provide or develop arts spaces, employ artists, and/or partner with arts organizations. Indeed, both the arts and community development are part of the same ecosystem and all of these interactions fall into the category of arts and community development.

Crane places different types of intersections on a passive-active continuum of presence, participation, and application. Prominent nodes of intersection between the arts and community development are identified: animating public spaces; activating public spaces; serving as an anchor or focal point; and serving as a planning engagement tool.  Crane points out that, in terms of outcomes, there may not be much difference between an arts organization with a community-based program and a community organization with an arts-based program.  Oftentimes, the choice of language has to do with their founders or how they are being funded. The difference in effectiveness between these two methods and even a third that is an equal arts organization–community organization partnership is only recently beginning to be explored.

Click here to download the whole document.

The D.C. Office of Planning (OP) has awarded a $75,000 “ArtPlace Arts and Culture Temporium” grant to Partners for Livable Communities (Partners) to develop and manage temporiums in underutilized spaces in the Deanwood neighborhood, one of the District’s earliest African American communities.

Under this grant, Partners will develop and manage DeanwoodxDesign, a project that showcases the rich arts, cultural, historical, and green space assets of Deanwood and Ward 7 through a community-wide, intergenerational, and collaborative effort. This project engages artists and a diverse network of Deanwood institutions and stakeholders to cultivate community pride, showcase and create great art, and invigorate the creative economy.

"So, what is the point of public art? ” This question, posted online by Voice of San Diego's Kelly Bennett, came in response to the city of San Diego’s recent pull from public art funding; after its release on Twitter the post quickly turned viral. Responses to the post ranged from views of public art as superfluous and its place in the public sphere as luxury, to public art as necessary for community well-being, safety, and cohesiveness. 

Many of us believe in the arts as integral to the livable community— but when measuring out our federal dollars,  the arts are usually the first to go. But what if we could prove that in addition to instilling neighborhood pride and value in our public space, public art could actually serve as a deterrent for crime and violence?

Investors in America Award

For his influential work in developing new approaches to urban redevelopment, suburban growth and regional planning.

On September 22, 2010, at the Building Livable Communities forum , Beth Osborne, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Transportation Policy at USDOT and James Lopez, Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary at HUD, answered some questions about the new HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities.  The Partnership should be seen as a model or case study for other government agencies. The Partnership for Sustainable Communities does not need to be the only interagency government partnership focused on the development of livable communities.

Osborne and Lopez explained why only HUD, DOT, and EPA were involved and pointed to some of the logistical problems that have arisen in the developing of the Partnership. Simple communication between agencies is made difficult with modern email firewalls and other cyber security screening processes. Also, when you have too many people working on the same issue, efficiencies break down and it becomes difficult to please everyone. There is a saying, “too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the soup.” In other words, too many people working on a single project can ruin it. Minimizing these difficulties improves the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the collaboration.

Partners’ recent forum with the Hirshhorn Museum, “Building Livable Communities: Creating a Common Agenda,” served as a positive platform to re-announce a new and exciting agenda for architecture, design, and social experimentation: The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s Bubble Expansion and book store renovation. Attended by Congressional representatives, federal agencies, think tanks, cultural institutions, and community development leaders alike, Director of the Hirshhorn Museum Richard Koshalek discussed the museum’s upcoming plans.

The "Bubble,” as it is called for the short-term, is a joint venture of Koshalek and Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, a renowned New York-based design firm, to re-invent the Museum as an intentional classroom and illustrate intersections of public and private space. Additionally, the museum book store will undergo a transition from a common commercial entity to becoming integrated as a part of museum exhibition space, through a renovation and move to the basement of the building.

Perhaps this new agenda comes from the idea that we need to adapt spaces to peoples’ readily changing needs. Perhaps this comes from Richard Koshalek’s desire to make the Hirshhorn a world class modern art museum with a daring new exposition. Perhaps this comes from the need to blur public and private space by incorporating The "Bubble” as an almost space-less entity into a negative, or void, of the concrete mass building; and the book store as an experiment in museum exhibit space. Or perhaps this agenda just comes from a need to make the stolid flimsy, the serious fun, and the patron part of the exhibit. 

President of Partners for Livable Communities, Robert McNulty, was quoted in The Wall Street Journal article “Artists vs. Blight ,” discussing artist occupations of blighted homes and neighborhoods in transitioning communities such as Cleveland and Detroit.

Minneapolis, MN

A central gathering place, market, and community center for members of the Minneapolis Latino community.

San José, CA

An arts organization teams up with a small, local business to create a central gathering place and cultural center within a struggling neighborhood.

Boston, MA

A nationally recognized apprenticeship program that empowers artists, giving them the skills and knowledge needed for a successful career in the fine or commercial arts.

Memphis, TN

A museum which educates the public on the Civil Rights Movement and preserves the historic location of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination.

Holyoke, MA

A grass-roots organization that promotes economic, social, and community development through food and agriculture projects.

Founders Award for Civic Leadership

A life-long commitment to improving livability through design.

Queens, NY

A program that uses the rich cultural heritage of the community to engage and educate neighborhood youth

Entrepreneurial American Leadership Award

A powerful couple who have worked to transform downtown D.C. into the lively urban center it is today.

Entrepreneurial American Leadership Award

A community leader who has fought to preserve and revitalize the rich cultural past of Paterson, New Jersey.

A city that was completely transformed by the strong will of civic leaders and innovative urban planning strategies.