How Communities Are Planning - Placemaking

Placemaking

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces its five Greening America’s Capitals technical assistance recipients. EPA will "fund a team of designers to visit each city to produce schematic designs and exciting illustrations intended to catalyze or complement a larger planning process for the pilot neighborhood. Additionally, these pilots could be the testing ground for citywide actions, such as changes to local codes and ordinances to better support sustainable growth and green building."

Except for Boston, the cities are all small, at least by my NY childhood standards. (Okay, when I lived in Boston, that seemed pretty small.)

Charleston, WVa, will have its transit hub's streetscape addressed to give it a "sense of place." There is also a transit connection in the Hartford, Conn. plan. There is no transportation or transit TA mentioned in connection with any of the projects.

Placemaking Resources

If you are ever providing TA with a placemaking component, here is a website with resources that quickly explain what placemaking is and how to achieve it. Entitled Livability for All Ages-Best Practices, the site envisions placemaking as a crucial livability component. The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is listed as one of the resource sites.