By Tom Borrup, Project For Public Spaces, Jan 1, 2009
https://www.pps.org/article/artsprojects
Public spaces and marketplaces are essential ingredients in every community. Public space provides opportunities for people to meet and be exposed to a variety of neighbors. These meetings often take place by chance, but they also can come through active organizing. The art of promoting constructive interaction among people in public spaces has been nearly forgotten in many communities. Planners, architects, and public administrators have focused more on creating aesthetic places and on providing for the unimpeded movement and storage of automobiles than on creating places that encourage social interaction. More recently, public officials have been even more concerned with security and maximizing their ability to observe and control people in public spaces.
William H. Whyte asserted that crowded, pedestrian-friendly, active spaces are safer, more economically productive, and more conducive to healthy civic communities. “What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people,” he wrote. Since the 1950s, city planners, developers, policy makers, and transportation engineers have built and modified communities in just the opposite vein.
While the design of public space influences its use, Project for Public Spaces notes that 80 percent of the success of a public space is the result of its “management,” referring to how the space is maintained and activities programmed. In other words, even in the best-designed spaces for public interaction, activities need to be planned, and the space needs to be clean, secure, and well maintained, or it is unlikely to serve people well.
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Success Story #1
Igniting A New Urban Spirit
WaterFire, a public art event in Providence, Rhode Island, brings unprecedented numbers of people together on a regular basis to share a profound experience. At the same time it instills pride, belonging, interaction, and human connection. Created by a public artist, WaterFire involves hundreds of volunteers and supporters, and it has become part of the community’s collective identity.
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Visitors now come from around the world, and local residents volunteer for and attend the event again and again. By working across public, business, and nonprofit sectors, the city revived its economy. Perhaps more importantly, WaterFire boosted the community’s spirit and self-image beyond what anyone could have imagined.
