HR&A Advisors’ Post

The Independent highlights an antidote to the loneliness and lack of connection that has caused a nationwide public health crisis. Third places are the solution. 🌟 Third places are the spaces beyond our homes and offices, where we engage with others, form new connections, and foster familiarity and belonging. Examples of third places are:  Coffee shops ☕️ Libraries 📚 Salons 💇♀️ Bars🍹 Gyms 🏋️♂️ Museums 🏛️ Restaurants 🍽  Theaters 🎭  Parks 🌳 We’re pleased to be included in The Independent’s article for our work in partnership with the City of San Francisco investing in the cultivation of new third places downtown. SF New Deal is at the forefront of transforming empty spaces into engaging hubs of activity and connection. From immersive art exhibitions 🖼 to beloved local bakeries 🥐, #VacanttoVibrant is not just revitalizing our city's landscape but rekindling the community spirit that defines San Francisco. 💖🌉 Check out the full article and visit the Vacant to Vibrant pop-ups for a dose of third space goodness https://lnkd.in/ga3Q-eBY

It’s a rare pleasure to finish work for a client knowing that it will be ‘field tested’ straightaway.   I finished developing a Placemaking Process Guide and Resources for Far North District Council last month, and this work will be put to the test starting soon in Kororāreka Russell – with a chance for further revisions following feedback from its first outing.   It’s great to be able to work with a client in this way, where a quick and meaningful feedback loop is part of the process.   Problems we have tried to address that we are putting to the test include:   ·     Do these resources make local government transparent and navigable for communities wanting to lead or instigate local placemaking and developments?   ·     Do this process and resources help build community capability and address inequity across the District?   ·     Have we succeeded in getting buy-in from Community Boards and multiple teams across Council to support the placemaking process?   ·     Does this process help us figure out how to deploy very limited Council placemaking resources (staff and budget)?   ·     Will this work equip the Placemaking team and local communities to feed more knowledgeably and confidently into higher-level growth and spatial planning processes underway in the District?   I’ll post a bit more about each of these common issues and how we went about addressing them in the coming days.

UKREiiF - what a week! Speaking on over twelve panels and roundtable discussions, plus an evening gig, the Ellandi team covered a range of themes from how retail spaces foster community cohesion and drive social value, unlocking of new funding avenues through effective partnerships to successful placemaking and urban regeneration strategies and adapting retail management for long term success. Some of key takeaways on strategies for developing sustainable and vibrant communities: The need for developers to listen to diverse community voices—not just the loudest - along with the importance of involving the private sector early in the planning process. To develop a vision that considers all demographic groups and integrates retail, heritage, commercial, health, and educational facilities into comprehensive development plans. The role of local governments in collaboration with communities to future-proof urban environments, discussions focused on the importance of incorporating a holistic approach from the outset that includes consideration of health facilities, parks, and schools, thereby avoiding the common pitfall of treating these elements as afterthoughts. Placemaking was highlighted as a non-negotiable aspect of urban development, requiring a long-term vision that incorporates flexible planning to adapt to transitioning technologies and climate challenges. Political leadership and partnership between the public and private sectors are important to translate visions into actionable strategies and ensure inclusive community engagement. #retailpluscommunity #developmentmanagement #publicprivatepartnerships

As with physical public spaces, digital spaces are only as safe and welcoming as the investment we make in them. Safe and well-maintained public spaces are a pleasure to be in, but abandoned and neglected places become rundown, overgrown, and dangerous as nefarious activities spring up in the absence of community interactions. When entities in charge of maintaining physical public spaces fail to address the situation, community members often come together to clean up and care for the spaces. Community members shouldn’t have to do that, but it’s in their best interest to participate in maintaining the physical public spaces they frequent, even when they don’t own them and aren’t officially responsible for the upkeep. Digital public spaces are no different. They require care and cultivation to become and remain places where people want to gather. What are the digital equivalents of picking up trash, beautifying public spaces, cultivating places that have been abandoned, interacting with the humans we encounter, and intervening when some choose to disturb the peace? *** 📷 A pic from a visit to the beautifully maintained Birmingham (Alabama) Botanical Gardens years ago.

An important look into the value of Third Spaces in small rural as well as urban communities. This concept has been in the conversation since Ray Oldenburg, an urban sociologist, wrote about the importance of informal public gathering places in his book The Great Good Place (1991). Oldenburg brought focus to how and why these places are essential to community and public life, arguing that bars, coffee shops, general stores, and other "third places" are central to local democracy and community vitality. https://lnkd.in/epS5tave

Tues. Oct 17 @ 12P (Jamaica Time). https://lnkd.in/gEBtbXvB We invite you to join us next week for the final conversation in our 'mobilize' series with Beatriz Rodrigues and Doris Gross, as we explore how communities can use low cost interventions to prototype and transform their environments. Community participation is critical to creating resilient urban transportation networks that adapt to evolving public health, environmental, and economic needs. In the Kingston Metropolitan Area, the development paradigm invests significant capital in untested mega-projects that upend communities and too often miss their stated objectives. Tactical urbanism is an approach communities can use to rapidly adapt their urban environments to changing circumstances. Communities can easily adjust to feedback with temporary interventions that use low-cost, flexible materials and prototype the efficiency of different designs. Importantly, we can collect data from successful interventions to make the case to invest in their permanence. This webinar will examine case studies in peer cities that use this approach to address concerns of road safety, accessibility and community revitalisation. We will explore best practices for community engagement and how communities, local stakeholders and decision-makers can co-create solutions that meet the needs of diverse populations.

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. Most cities grew up around the water, but in all too many cases, these urban birthplaces later became shunned as polluted, disreputable places. We think it's time to get back to these waterfronts and re-awaken their natural role as places of exchange and movement. Read more in our article “Capitalizing on the Appeal of Waterfronts: 11 of the Best." This SLP archive article is a part of our series on waterfronts and the unique ways in which they can boost the appeal of a community and contribute to a vibrant social life. https://lnkd.in/d6VPmyz By Fred Kent and Kathy Madden PlacemakingX, Placemaking Europe, Centre on African Public Spaces, PlacemakingUS, Placemaking Canada, #WaterfrontPlacemaking #PublicSpace #Placemaking #Waterfronts #Riverfronts

Good perspective here on the Central Social Districts evolution from Central Business Districts. The successful cities of the future...

Placemaking Week Europe 2024 - THEME SPOTLIGHT #3 Living with Water: The Flow of the City "Of all the types of public spaces that exist, waterfronts are among the most strongly linked to the identity and history of a city”. Ethan Kent and Kathy Madden's wonderful article highlights the importance of waterfronts in defining a city's identity. The function of waterfronts has changed over the years, as has the approach and utilization of these spaces. You can dive deeper into the theme of waterfronts during this year’s edition of Placemaking Week Europe! We will explore the dynamic relationship between urban environments and waterways, transcending traditional notions of waterfront development, while discussing how waterfront placemaking celebrates the natural ebb and flow of the coexistence between urban life and water. Join us as we embark on a journey to discover local tales and groundbreaking methods to craft lively waterfront areas. Let’s plunge into how placemaking fosters connection and awareness around water among urban residents 🌊. Do you have a workshop, panel, project, or placemaking exploration that aligns with this theme? Don't forget to submit your program proposals through our OPEN CALL - DUE MAY 19TH! ❗ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT! https://lnkd.in/e9UyaXD4. Charlot Schans Lisette van Rhijn Hans Karssenberg Ramon Marrades Laska Nenova Vivian Doumpa Levente Polyak Bart Cardinaal Fredrik Lindstål Milena Ivkovic Ronald Huikeshoven #Waterfronts #UrbanIdentity #CityHistory #Placemaking #UrbanDevelopment #CommunityBuilding #CityLife #CityCulture #WaterfrontPlacemaking #PublicSpaces #CityIdentity #PlacemakingWeekEurope #RotterdamMakeItHappen #CreatingBetterCitiesTogether #CityScapes #WaterfrontDesign #UrbanRevitalization #CommunityEngagement #UrbanPlanning #SustainableCities

For all its apparent complexities, is town and city centre revitalisation simply about "getting more smiling faces on our streets”? That's the hypothesis that I will present as I lead a webinar on November 30th as part of the Heritage Trust Network's online event programme on "rethinking town centres". I'll be looking at the 'what' of rethinking town centres and proposing that, whether your role is curating a rich mix of businesses; creating attractive public spaces; restoring an iconic building; or organising an appealing events, it is essential to focus as part of a team on the desired outcome of getting more people out enjoying a place. The coming-up with exciting ideas and even delivering successful projects, I'll argue might be considered the easy part of rethinking a town centre. The challenge is to get different projects and the groups behind them to work together; to join-up and sustain success for a broad and lasting impact. To focus at least as much on the 'how' of revitalising town centres. The making it happen. As part of next week's workshop, I'll make the case and explain how an evidence-based plan and coordinated partnership are necessary to enable different stakeholders to more effectively 'play to their passions'. I'll consider the policy and funding context necessary to create such capacity and how central and local government might more effectively facilitate locally-led change in future. In the complexities of how different partners and projects can come together to rethink and reshape our town centres, I'll suggest we stay focused on the simple question: How is each action helping to bring more smiling faces to town? And of course, I'll cover how we measure whether there are more happy faces in our town centres. See the link below in the comments to the booking form for workshop on November 30th . #towncentre #citycentre #heritage #localgovernment #communityengagement #highstreets Hannah Tomlinson Beverley Gormley