Project for Public Spaces
Encyclopedia
Project for Public Spaces (PPS) is a nonprofit organization based in New York
dedicated to creating and sustaining public places that build communities
. Planning and design rooted in the community form the cornerstone of PPS’s work. Building on the techniques of William H. Whyte
's Street Life Project, this approach involves looking at, listening to and asking questions of the people in a community to discover their needs and aspirations.
Founded in 1975 by Fred Kent
, PPS works with individuals and communities to create a vision around the places that they view as important to community life and to their daily experience. One key to this process is reaching out to people—including those who might not otherwise participate in an improvement effort—where they live, work and congregate. The process uses systematic on-site observations, time-lapse filming, and customized interviews and surveys to gather people's input and document and analyze their activities. Planning grows out of these observations as well as workshops and public forums where people have an opportunity to contribute ideas and concerns about improvements and physical changes in their neighborhoods.
PPS was a key in developing the concept of placemaking
, which is not just the act of building or fixing up a space, but a whole process that fosters the creation of vital public destinations: the kind of places where people feel a strong stake in their communities and a commitment to making things better. Simply put, Placemaking capitalizes on a local community's assets, inspiration, and potential, ultimately creating good public spaces that promote people's health, happiness, and well being.
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
dedicated to creating and sustaining public places that build communities
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
. Planning and design rooted in the community form the cornerstone of PPS’s work. Building on the techniques of William H. Whyte
William H. Whyte
William Hollingsworth "Holly" Whyte was an American urbanist, organizational analyst, journalist and people-watcher.Whyte was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1917 and died in New York City in 1999. An early graduate of St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Delaware, he graduated from Princeton...
's Street Life Project, this approach involves looking at, listening to and asking questions of the people in a community to discover their needs and aspirations.
Founded in 1975 by Fred Kent
Fred Kent
Fred Kent is the founder and president of the non profit organization Project for Public Spaces. The organization is dedicated to creating public places that foster communities.He studied with Margaret Mead and worked with William H...
, PPS works with individuals and communities to create a vision around the places that they view as important to community life and to their daily experience. One key to this process is reaching out to people—including those who might not otherwise participate in an improvement effort—where they live, work and congregate. The process uses systematic on-site observations, time-lapse filming, and customized interviews and surveys to gather people's input and document and analyze their activities. Planning grows out of these observations as well as workshops and public forums where people have an opportunity to contribute ideas and concerns about improvements and physical changes in their neighborhoods.
PPS was a key in developing the concept of placemaking
Placemaking
Placemaking is a term that began to be used in the 1970s by architects and planners to describe the process of creating squares, plazas, parks, streets and waterfronts that will attract people because they are pleasurable or interesting...
, which is not just the act of building or fixing up a space, but a whole process that fosters the creation of vital public destinations: the kind of places where people feel a strong stake in their communities and a commitment to making things better. Simply put, Placemaking capitalizes on a local community's assets, inspiration, and potential, ultimately creating good public spaces that promote people's health, happiness, and well being.
External links
- Official Website (includes extensive place database & articles)