HR&A Advisors’ Post

Place Informatics Visitor Behaviour Platform is helping The Northampton Active Quarter Partnership along with the University of Northampton understand and monitor how green spaces are being utilised across Northampton. Equitable access to green space has been recognised as a high-priority policy at local, national, and international levels. However, how many people visit Northampton’s green spaces was difficult to establish. Place Informatics advanced visitor insights platform is allowing them to monitor 19 local green spaces over 2 years. To learn more: https://lnkd.in/enBxqc-s #PlaceInformatics #SustainablePractices #VisitorData #ParkNetwork #CharityImpact #VisitorBehaviour #Footfall #TownCentres #LocalCouncils #VisitorInsights #GreenSpaces #PublicRealms #FootfallAnalysis #EconomicImpact #TownCentreInsights #RetailTrends #LocationAnalytics #FootfallData #UKFootfall

Join us at the Public Realm Roundtable! Networking NYC'S exceptional public space leadership. JUNE 13TH-16TH 📷The Public Realm Roundtable is a national gathering of government and public space-supporting organizations who build, maintain and enliven the public realm. New York City’s Mayor Adams, business districts and the Alliance for Public Space Leadership have come together to forge a new position in government, the Director of the Public Realm. This revolutionary new role could become a best practice that the top cities across America should want to pursue. RSVP for a gathering of those responsible for the public realm including parks departments, property management bureaus, public works managers, and government-adjacent players like BIDs, “Friends of” organizations and conservancies will convene in New York City this June to have a series of thematic roundtable discussions to share good practices, innovations and discuss pain points in our collaborative and emergent work to create praise-worthy public realms.Join us in NYC📷 🏙️ Featured Visits Include: A selection of New York's "Greatest Hits" public spaces! • Broadway Vision Corridor • Open Streets • NYC Plaza Program & Public Squares • Outdoor Dining in NYC • NYC Parks, Green Market & Formalizing Markets 💬 Key Topics of Discussion: • Catalyzing and Keeping Cross-Department Synergies • Maintenance and Enlivening of Spaces with Partners through Permits, MOUs, Reimbursable Expenses and Intermediary Organizations • Equity and Anti-gentrification Tactics • The Next Frontier: Reforming Already-Existing Public Spaces for Better Use: When Streets, Sidewalks, Parking Spaces, Buffers and Margins become new centers of Public Gathering • Making the Case: Connecting the Realm to its Outcomes like Health, Economy, Climate, Sociability and other positives outcomes to attract partners and ease permissions”

NEWS: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Builds Morgan Center for Research & Innovation -- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is constructing the $480 million Morgan Center for Research & Innovation on its Schuylkill River waterfront campus. Situated next to the existing Roberts Center for Pediatric Research, the 350,000-sf tower will provide state-of-the-art labs and core facilities where investigators and clinicians from different disciplines can engage in collaborative discovery. CannonDesign’s architectural vision for the 17-story building strategically collocates wet and dry environments to accelerate the creation of innovative new therapies. The dynamic and flexible structure will provide 257,630 sf of lab space, 33,000 sf of office space, and 6,500 sf of ground-level retail. The second story will accommodate conference rooms, collaboration spaces, and a lecture hall. Opening onto a variety of outdoor areas with pedestrian paths, the biophilic development will encourage circulation through public green spaces. Gilbane Building Company, Pride Enterprises, and McKissack & McKissack are jointly delivering the sustainable facility, which is aiming for LEED Silver certification. Ground was broken in October of 2022 and occupancy is expected in 2025. https://lnkd.in/eeJBtcNQ #ResearchAndDevelopment #Healthcare #Biomedical #InterdisciplinaryResearch #Collaboration #EnergyUseReduction #Sustainability

How can we improve the quality of our homes and communities for an ageing population? It was a pleasure to join this Housing LIN webinar chaired by Jeremy Porteus, alongside Dr Cecilia Zecca (Northumbria University & Royal College of Art) and Richard Griffiths (Cartwright Pickard architects) to share latest insights, new approaches and research. It happened to be on the eve of the election – feeling very optimistic now about the potential for doing things differently! And great to see many common themes emerging from our presentations; particularly the need to move from creating only physical architecture to social architecture as well. 💡 I shared my work towards creating more “Compassionate Places” - reframing how our surroundings are designed and shaped to address a broad range of human needs in a holistic way. 🏙 This is supported by the new “Place Quality” model that sets human experience as the primary driver for design and placemaking.  The talk focused on principles for building social connectedness and community - one of the key factors for making healthy, human-centred, socially-sustainable places. 🔬 It was inspiring to learn of a collaborative research project by Cartwright Pickard and The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design funded by UK Research and Innovation. 🏡 The project set out the question of “How can we foster the creation of socially, economically sustainable and more human-centric housing model for later living?” 🌿 It was brilliant to see the ethnographic approach taken through in-depth engagement with residents, and how the insights can grow into new approaches. 🌍 And the wide range of case studies and best practice from around the world -  looking forwards to reading the research publication when this is out! 📽 Check out the webinar recording to see all the presentations and discussion: https://lnkd.in/ehcRNgdp Thank you to Jeremy and the Housing LIN team for the invitation to participate – hope to keep the conversations going in this new era! #CompassionatePlaces #PlaceQuality #ConsiderateUrbanism #HumanExperience #Equity #Connectedness #DesignforWellbeing #DesignforChange #HealthyCities #SocialValue #ESG #HealthyHomes #Innovation #DesignResearch

Published today, my opinion piece in Crain's Chicago Business is making the case for celebrating and investing in Chicago’s culture-makers. I offer a counterpoint to all the pearl-clutching about #Chicago’s reputational challenges. It’s true that my beloved city has been a punching bag for conservative pundits, a byword for urban disorder. But the usual package of solutions — conventions, casinos, sports venues, and the like — aren’t the answer. I argue that cities that are successfully repositioning themselves are those that recognize assets already embedded in communities. Rather than subsidizing stadiums and kowtowing to conventioneers, Chicago ought to be resourcing its extraordinary BIPOC artists and entrepreneurs. They are shaping Chicago’s narrative for the next generation. They serve as global ambassadors for Chicago’s brand. And they are undoubtedly the city’s most valuable asset. Hope this piece gives policymakers and corporate leaders something to think about. Agree or disagree, get at me! Choose Chicago American Planning Association International Downtown Association Urban Land Institute World Business Chicago Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) Public Sphere Projects

Architecture should never only concentrate on the building and indoor spaces, but also care about the experience between the buildings. It’s still true when it comes to educational activities.

If you want to understand more about how a person's environment might affect their dementia, take a read. Thanks to Inclusive Design Magazine for inviting out Founder, Dr Emma Williams to contribute on this important topic. #dementiacare #sociacare #inclusivedesign

At Urbis, we are shaping cities to be ready for the future: one where creative and innovative economies thrive alongside inclusive societies. We believe that creative precincts can help achieve this vision. But we know developing successful creative precincts is not without challenges. Creative precincts are multi-dimensional and require careful coordination across multiple domains for long-term success. Therefore, our multi-disciplinary team of #cityshapers has identified key factors to enable successful creative precincts in our latest thought piece, Crafting Creative Clusters. Our latest thought piece, Crafting Creative Clusters, identifies five key factors to support successful creative precincts. Read more at the link here: https://lnkd.in/gEZ3DfEV. Vicki Triantis, Melissa Luki, Kali Marnane, Kristen Saul Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation (MAP Co), Creative Victoria, Creative Australia, City of Melbourne, Merri-bek City Council #CityShaper #CreativeCluster

🏙️ How can we redesign cities for humans? Cities used to be great engines for collaboration and competition – but somewhere along the centuries, we've lost our way. Rapid urbanisation, the loneliness epidemic, bombastic yet homogenous architecture, and soaring real estate vacancy rates are all impacting on the health of our cities and the people that live within them. But according to Adam Scott of FreeState, who's been working on solving these problems through experience design for the last 20 years, there is another way. He thinks our cities need an experience-led approach, and has developed the City-Life-Ecosystem framework to light the path ahead. Experience design currently sits in the Creation-Activation and Software sections of the ecosystem. But Scott believes that experience designers have potential to reach far beyond. In his words: “We need to get involved to bring together our multiple capabilities to create extraordinary stories and experiences. The city needs you: not just as activators, but as experts with the knowhow to create a human-scale city.” At the WXO we think this work represents a real opportunity for the world of experience design to be taken more seriously. There is a problem in our cities – and an opportunity to have an impact and make money. Read the full report in the link in comments below – and tell us, who's in for a WXO City Taskforce...? 👇 (WXO Members: you can also start workshopping these ideas on the collaborative board in your private Circle space. And we'll be running this Campfire again at a US-friendly time soon – stay posted for details!) #wxo #wxocampfire #worldexperiencesummit #experienceeconomy #experiences #experienceevents #experientialretail #realestate #retailrealestate

Checking in again at Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station NYC to see if the digital #placemaking experience has improved since December 2022. See the video for my pre-coffee early AM assessment 🤓 Public transportation, transit, is core to wiser cities and regions. To be successful we need transit palaces that are comfortable & welcoming to all people, to all bodies. This pandemic has made many of us more aware of the need for embodied consciousness in placemaking, for trauma informed design choices. Aside from ongoing calls for more inclusive usability in public spaces. Unfortunately Moynihan remains a poor example to the world of what public transportation hubs can be. We can do so much better. Here are positive suggestions top of mind from today’s visit. 1. Make #wayfinding and transit info a priority over private advertising & crass “place branding”. 2. Govern use of digital urban screens to be kind to our nervous systems instead of assaulting. Be trauma-informed. Understand the subjective experience and sensory world of all bodies using #transportation. Limit speed of all motion graphics to calm speeds. Limit max brightness levels to calm levels. 3. Fund and program #creativeplacemaking public art in holistic respectful community-led ways, not tokenistic seconds in between advertising. 4. Times Square’s digital placemaking is an anti-human anti-pattern, don’t replicate it anywhere. It’s a lesson in misunderstanding the history of electric light & non-trivial difference of digital light mediums. Don’t add your project to the list. 5. Make revenue by offering amazing world class #transit and #mobility service not abusive predatory advertising in public spaces that abuse people’s need to wait for their transport. 6. Enact Digital Placemaking media governance: there is no adblocker in public space, ban advertising in public space especially in captive transit spaces, require healthy digital medium use, ban physically assualtive unhealthy media. Require community curation control of public digital art. 7. Establish wayfinding “platinum” standards including universal design requirements for all mediums, digital and physical. 8. Hire ethical and experienced digital placemaking & creative placemaking practitioners. 9. Ethical use of Urban Screens aren’t for giant ad banners, only use them if you have proper ethical curation budgeted.