Workshop: Many Faces of Placemaking

Downtown Revitalization Institute

The Many Faces

of Placemaking

October 25, 2013 - The Lyceum Center, Hartford

Learn what it takes to make a great place.
It starts by creating a place

Wall Street, Norwalk

where people feel they belong. Where they feel empowered to help shape their neighborhoods, physically and culturally.

Learn how people are working together to design, program, manage and celebrate their Main Streets as vibrant, human-scaled places of choice. Hear how you and your partners can collaborate to make physical and programmatic connections that give a place 24/7 vitality.

Friday, October 25, 2013

8:30 am - Networking Breakfast

9:00 am to 3:00 pm - Workshop (lunch included)

AICP CM credits pending

The Lyceum Center, 227 Lawrence Street, Hartford CT 06106

$75 for CT Main Street Members; $95 for all others

Click here to Register!

The Art of Planning Public Events

Robert Gregson, Creative Director

CT Office of Tourism

Mr. Gregson will provide examples of events and programs he has helped create throughout Connecticut to bring artists, businesses and the community together to enliven downtowns and neighborhoods. He will share stories and case studies, like "Thursday is a Work of Art".(when artistis owned Hartford's streets!) to illustrate how to plant the seeds for communities to take risks and explore the question, "where does art stop and life begin?" He will share lessons learned over decades, that still resonate today, to bring the community and resources together to celebrate arts and culture in the public realm.

How Culture Can Engage Communities

and Create Neighborhoods

Tamara Greenfield, Executive Director

Fourth Arts Block, NYC

Ms. Greenfield will focus on community engagement in placemaking, drawing on her experience developing Fourth Arts Block into a professionally managed but community-driven nonprofit organization. Fourth Arts Block has brought hundreds of thousands of artists and audiences to its historic Lower East Side neighborhood. Ms. Greenfield will share studies that depict how culture can activate public space and how streetscapes can be designed - with important lessons learned for sustaining these spaces, welcoming the public, and allowing culture to thrive.

Building Community

by Activating the Public Realm

Gary Toth

Project for Public Spaces

This presentation will define the principles of "streets as places" and will teach attendees how to conduct a place performance evaluation that can lead to showcasing local assets to create a distinct sense of place. Mr. Toth will suggest strategies that activate streets, buildings, and the places in between - while drawing in people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds. This approach to placemaking will be of particular interest to Connecticut communities with town greens - these beautiful expanses of verdant space that provide "an oasis of quiet" in the midst of an urban setting that can also become pockets of dynamic activity all day long.

Redefining Placemaking as an Inclusive Discipline

Stuart Pertz, Architect and Urban Planner

Pratt Institute

Part of a team charged with creating the Master's Degree in Urban Placemaking (MUP) at Pratt Institute, Mr. Pertz will discuss the range of disciplines one needs to build and manage great places. He will also explore the importance of all kinds of places for people and their communities, and what planning, urban design and architecture might be like if our primary concern was making all public space people-supportive and welcoming.

Downtown Revitalization Institute

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