Place-Making: The Intersection of Urban Design and Community Engagement (Week 10)

Over the past couple of weeks two of our courses, Urban Design and Community Engagement have begun to intersect each other.  The idea of place-making, that is, creating a desirable space within a community where people want to congregate, is an issue that has risen to prominence in the urban design field within the last thirty years.  Place-making, while now thought of as primarily an urban design matter, has its roots in community engagement theory, and it is interesting to think about how these two fields have become more and more intertwined over time.

Jane Jacobs, often hailed as the pioneer of place-making, advocated for an “eyes on the street” approach to urban design.  This design philosophy emphasized the needs of city dwellers over the needs of the architect, who were too often concerned with designing places that looked good in a portfolio, rather than places that felt good for the people that lived there.  By creating “places”, cities can create areas where people from all walks of life can gather and interact, building both social fabric and capital.

Well-designed and well-utilized public spaces can also play an important role in community engagement.  They can serve as rallying points for protests, speeches, and rallies, and a gathering point for civic engagement and activism.  Cities and businesses are aware of this as well, and it is likely the reason that traditional schools of urban design often emphasized creating areas where people passed through, rather than where people stayed and socialized.  In Happy City, Montgomery gives the example of a business soliciting advice for how to best implement spikes around a tree to keep people away.  This type of design philosophy is emblematic of a distaste for the public that many, particularly “upper-crust” institutions (i.e. Wall Street financial institutions) hold, and until very recently, have reflected in the very architecture that these institutions are located in.  Alongside this, a city hall with a large public space in front of it almost invites political rallies and spectacle, and it would be interesting to see how many cities have embraced, or run, from this very real possibility.

The intersection of Urban Design and Community Engagement, particularly with respect to place-making, has been interesting to watch develop, and I am curious to see if any more intersections will occur as both courses continue to progress.