What Makes a Place Great?
This month we're talking great places, starting with ideas from Project for Public Spaces and finishing off with an example of a fantastic public space redevelopment featuring a POPP ICON table. For councils looking for ideas to maximise their public spaces this is the place to be. .
IMAGE CREDIT ABOVE
Location: Scarborough Beach Foreshore, WA
Image Credit: Nude Design Studio
"Imagining a public space is impossible without answering the question: What can you do there?"Project for Public Spaces
Use and Activities: One Essential Key to Cultivating Great Public Spaces
Uses and activities are a reflection of what's possible in a place and ultimately, how well it serves its community.
Uses and activities are a reflection of what's possible in a place and ultimately, how well it serves its community.
Whether it be through pop up events, regular programming, or permanent placemaking features (like a ping pong table!), activity is at the core and is an essential consideration when designing (or re-designing) public spaces.
According to Project for Public Spaces, the question of what activities are best isn't so critical (it's hard to go wrong). What's more essential is the diversity and density of uses and activities available. This is what they call the Power of 10+. The idea is that for a campus, urban area, or rural region to thrive there needs to be 10 great destinations, with 10 places within it, and each place needs 10 things to do. Creating clusters of activity like this means there is a constant liveliness, no matter the time of day, week, or year.
So, more is better, who would've thought?! Want more ideas? Project for Public Spaces lays out seven their principles for cultivating active and useful public spaces as part one of their four part series: "What makes a place great?"
Docklands City Park by MALA Studio