Gresham Smith’s Post

Throwback Thursday to my final project in school! 🏫 It might surprise you but though I'm a licensed architect, I hold a bachelors degree in LANDSCAPE architecture (powerful combination IMO). What might surprise you even more is that in my last year, I focused on playgrounds and their impact on child and community development. You might be thinking, "Playgrounds? Really?" but let me tell you, these aren't your ordinary swings and slides! Each section of the playground I designed below focuses on different child development skills. From fine motor skills to social skills. These skills, I found, end up becoming the secret sauce in a recipe for community wellness. It's a place where friendships are formed, social skills are honed, and imaginations run wild. 🌈💭 Playgrounds also help connect parents which forms bonds that strengthen our neighborhoods. Playground design transcends the physical; it touches the hearts of our communities. ❤️ Like the elderly couple sitting on a park bench, reminiscing about their own childhoods. So, here's to swings that soar, slides that thrill, and playgrounds that bring us all a little closer. Let's continue to design and cherish spaces that unite, inspire, and nurture our communities. Feel free to share your favorite playground memory below, because we all know you secretly miss the slides too! 😂🍭🎈 #throwbackthursday #communitydesign #playgrounddesign #universityofidaho #vandals #landscapearchitecture #

The Bethlehem Public Library is planning for a major addition and renovation project to update their 50-year-old building. This project will address outdated and aging components, add in-demand space for today’s library users and collection needs, and enhance accessibility and environmental sustainability. Vaysen Studio is working directly with the Library stakeholders and the Community to articulate, assess, and achieve these goals. Through a series of interviews with the Library’s leadership and staff, Vaysen developed a clear understanding of how stakeholders want their library to evolve and the ways in which it should further serve the Community. Expanding on the feedback from the interviews our team held a series of discovery sessions that closely looked at individual spaces in order to provide context on how they are being currently used/misused and how they can be improved and more effectively utilized. Key attributes of the renovation include increased space for hands-on activities, easier access to circulation and reference desks and staff as a resource, and more space for social/emotional interaction. Ultimately, the project will increase space and enhance programming for Community rooms, the Children & Teen Library, and improve collections space and staff space. #interiordesign #library

Creating multi-purpose places - What it is, and how we all can contribute with it! "When it comes to how people use a space, or what types of activities are best, there are few wrong answers. One of the best ways to bring a place to come to life is to cultivate a dense and diverse mix of uses" Great article by Project for Public Spaces. 👇 https://lnkd.in/eWXSzs9u

Hi everyone, I’ve revived my Substack newsletter. What triggered it? Looking at what is going on right now, I feel we have reached a point where we’ve forgotten how to live together. But it's not too late to act. Many activists and urban planning specialists are fighting against the car-dependent urban design of the last decades. To change things, people must be able to imagine how transforming their neighbourhoods and investing in communal projects and activities could improve their lives. How can we share things, experiences, and spaces? In the same way that I inspired people to nicely decorate their homes and host cool parties with 'At Home with Kim Vallée,' I want to inspire people to advocate for engaging public spaces and more cool local activities. Have a look at: https://lnkd.in/eCz62Dgs If you like it, don't forget to subscribe and tell your friends. It would mean the world to me. #CommunityBuilding #UrbanPlanning #CommunalSpaces #InclusiveDesign #SustainableCities

Middle Ground has returned to San Francisco’s Civic Center on the San Francisco Main Public Library’s Fulton Street plaza. Featuring three new interactive exhibits, we've spent over three years now partnering with Urban Alchemy practitioners, the dedicated library staff, and hundreds of people in the Civic Center area to create a safe, inclusive space for learning. The installation will be on site for 9 months. https://lnkd.in/gi6jhxc The connection between education and community development, between curiosity and kindness, is profound. By fostering a spirit of inquiry and empathy, initiatives like this can lead to broader understandings and societal growth. It promotes the idea that engaging with each other in a respectful and compassionate way isn't just something we simply learn about, it's essential to building a healthy and cohesive community. Research from a previous exhibition emphasizes respect, connection, and compassion, reflecting Urban Alchemy's core values. Urban Alchemy employs former long-term offenders who “have dedicated their lives to healing and redemption through service” as stewards of public spaces. The Exploratorium and Urban Alchemy’s missions overlapped in an unexpected way, creating a new tool for improving public spaces with a fundamental respect that applies to all learners. We published this new tool in a recently released Routledge book…the subject of my next post. #placemaking #communityengagement #nsffunded #scienceeducation #publicspaces #civicengagement #socialsciences #sfbayarea #sanfrancisco

Hey friends! As some of you may know, I've been working on a passion project for a while and I've recently decided to transition it into a business! To assess that this is the right decision, I put together an interest survey (see below) and would be thrilled if you all could participate and/or amplify it. Urban Detour is a local, developing program aiming to connect urban populations with the outdoors through skills-building workshops, environmental education, and guided experiences. To create the best programming possible, Urban Detour wants to hear from you! This survey is intended to assess the popularity of potential programming concepts and determine access barriers to the outdoors. Constraints: Participants should live or have experience as a resident of the District of Columbia and/or the broader DMV area, and are required to be 18+ years old. #marketresearch #dmv #outdooreducation #outdoorrecreation https://lnkd.in/e3TRpQSQ Urban Detour

From our Partner’s point of view.

Downtown Coldwater is taking big steps to revitalize its historic downtown and create a place for families and residents of all ages. The Downtown Coldwater Main Street program is working to support a dynamic environment that consistently demonstrates collective energy and synergy. They strive to foster entrepreneurial investment and growth and encourage a vibrant, multi-cultural, family-oriented downtown that is enjoyed by its community. Learn more about what the Coldwater Main Street program is doing to support their community in the 2024 edition of their Impact Report at https://lnkd.in/gZG5b-Qp. Here are a few key highlights: 💵 Downtown Coldwater Main Street saw nearly $1.5 million worth of private investment in the district between 2022-2023, totaling $2,023644 since the program's inception in 2021. 🏛 Downtown Coldwater celebrated 7 new businesses between 2022-2023, and 6 renovations to facades & building upgrades took place just in 2022-2023, bringing the grand total 11 new businesses and 10 facade & building rehabs since the program's launch. 🙋♀️ Downtown Coldwater Main Street welcomed 23,000 folks into the community for events and gatherings, bolstered by 318 volunteer hours at the value of $9,588 for the year. Their programmatic goals are to provide family-friendly experiences with a focus on arts and culture; to revitalize buildings and public spaces to enhance an authentic sense of community that is attractive to all ages; and to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem that supports existing and new, experience-based, and multicultural businesses. Each year, Michigan Main Street supports local communities in compiling its annual Impact Report to demonstrate the power of Main Street programming. From transformations of commercial districts to community revitalizations across the state, Michigan Main Street’s dedicated economic efforts over the decades have been leading economic growth in downtowns across the state. Read the compilation of their efforts for the past 20 years in the report recently published, detailing Michigan Main Street’s economic, fiscal and community impact: https://lnkd.in/gespseip

Great example of the why social dynamics matter so much to the success of a place -- constructive collaboration, formal or informal, is the prerequisite to everything else. Can this level of cooperation be seen in your neighborhood or town? What would get you there? Any examples to share? Jasper is a place where everyone works together. It is a city being built by many hands. This is easily seen through groups such as the Redevelop Old Jasper Action Coalition, which has taken the lead on preserving many historic buildings (now merging with The Heart of Jasper), it can be seen through the city’s utmost care to be transparent and include citizens in decision making, and it’s seen through the Mayor's Youth Council, a group of teenagers who work closely with the city to develop and act on local projects.  “The strength that we have here is that we all work well together,” Eckerle explained. “We take ideas, and then move forward with them and we get things done.” #relationships #collaboration #revitalization #urbanplanning #socialcapital #placemaking Placemaking Education Town Team Movement PlacemakingX Stanford Social Innovation Review Strong Towns

Hey friends! Check out this fellowship opportunity made as a memorial to a dear family friend, Tommy Pacello. Please read a little about our friend Tommy and what this opportunity means. It would be great for designers and anyone looking to make a community impact. Applications close July 31st https://lnkd.in/e4WR4QSm Tommy Pacello loved great public spaces. He loved great cities. He loved people who worked together to improve their communities. He was a planner but he believed in action. He was a lawyer but he wasn’t afraid to bend the rules. He loved good music, good beer, good food, and good people. Tommy introduced the notion of tactical urbanism to Memphis - thinking big and building small - because he knew that design could be both intentional and iterative. He believed that city-building was a process, not an outcome. He inspired us to “do better” and “make cool stuff.” Tommy Pacello believed in community. The Tommy Pacello Placemaking Fellowship will be a cash prize awarded annually to an individual or team that is making cool stuff -- specifically, design projects, public realm improvements, or other activities that celebrate Tommy’s approach to catalytic placemaking and city building. This award will be made annually by a committee of Tommy’s friends and colleagues. Recipients will also benefit from technical assistance and professional guidance provided by members of the committee in the sectors of law, project design and management, communications and stakeholder engagement, and fundraising. Recipients of the award will be asked to document their work through a video, photo slideshow, slide deck, white paper, or other media. They will present this work publicly within one year after receiving their award, and their presentations will be shared and archived online. Applicants who wish to be considered for a Pacello Fellowship should provide the committee with: An idea for a project or series of projects that will improve your community by addressing a clear need or challenge. We define “community” as a block, neighborhood, district, city, or region. The scale of the idea is less important than how well it addresses the following questions: Is it innovative? What is new and different about your idea? Is it catalytic? Will it help make additional “good things” in your community? How do you know? Is it connective? Will it build new partnerships ones among businesses, neighbors, local government, and/or other stakeholders? Does it put people at the center -- particularly the ones who may already live in the community?