A boy can dream: "To truly empower placemaking as a strategy for accelerating innovation, districts must experiment with new models of Place Governance."

Lots of good ideas herein, of the sort that might be considered by downtown New Albany merchants.

8 Placemaking Principles for Innovation Districts, by Project for Public Spaces

PPS staff Nate Storring and Meg Walker reflect on the possibilities and challenges of placemaking in innovation districts. This article is part of the Bass Initiative on Innovation and Placemaking, a collaboration between PPS and the Brookings Institution.

Let's skip to Number Eight.

8. UNITY: GOVERN WITH VISION AND HOLISTIC, INCLUSIVE STRATEGIES

A district cannot follow any of these principles very far without encountering the issue of governance. How do stakeholders within the district collaborate and make decisions? Where does the money come from? Who has the power to implement the plans and policies? Who is going to get their hands dirty and actually do the implementing?

To truly empower placemaking as a strategy for accelerating innovation, districts must experiment with new models of Place Governance. This means breaking down silos between disciplines and addressing issues with integrated strategies of policy and place. It means planning proactively and accountably with workers, students and residents—those end users again—not just leaders and experts. It means fostering a common sense of vision for the district’s future, while also leaving room for people to make many little plans. And ultimately, it means devolving more powers, responsibilities, and funding to the district level.

These are radical changes to the way that municipalities approach governance today, however Place Governance can begin with improving public spaces. The placemaking process brings together people from across disciplines, sectors, and interests, and provides tangible little wins that form the basis of shared trust for bigger endeavors. With relatively little investment, placemaking can literally produce the common ground for a broad, inclusive vision of the innovation district.

Um, never mind.

Perhaps we need to begin with something simpler, like "Maybe you and your employees should park somewhere else for a change."

Ideas for how people can create "Streets as Places" in their own community.

Public art without official permission? No monetization there, chump.

Come to think of it, as opposed to directing action toward propping up unresponsive regimes, street reclamation ideas like those presented here are precisely the type of project ideal for neighborhood organizations. Why not direct one's time and money at the problem, rather than the figurehead?

Perhaps the single most radical sentiment herein is this: "While people’s backyards are places for private gathering and recreation, the front area of a person’s house and the street beyond it can be an 'urban commons.'"

I know, I know. One-way, high-speed interstates work against such additions of human value. Maybe we should do something about that?

ACTIONS FOR STREETS AS PLACES: HOW ONE MAKES IT HAPPEN (Project for Public Spaces)

... While people’s backyards are places for private gathering and recreation, the front area of a person’s house and the street beyond it can be an “urban commons” – a place where neighbors bump into each other, children play together, and friendships are forged through impromptu conversations, block parties, and all kinds of other events. To make that happen, a neighborhood needs small places where people can gather (a stoop, a front yard, a corner, the sidewalk,) as well as opportunities to bring people together (Little Free Libraries, a community bulletin board, gardening, a public art event, or even a stoop sale). Across the country, people are starting to reclaim their streets and front yards as important social places.

"A strong sense of place is an important factor ... in the physical and economic health of our cities."

I'm going to continue mentioning this even if it drives you crazy.

How Placemaking Drives Resilient Cities, by Ethan Kent (PPS)

 ... Thriving places have a direct impact on our ability to address major societal challenges. As numerous studies have shown, a strong sense of place is an important factor not only in our own health and well being, but also in the physical and economic health of our cities. Part of this experience of a place comes from actively participating in the creation of its meaning and use—and people are less likely to develop a strong relationship to, and investment in, a place if there is a high risk of the place not being sustained. We need to focus on Placemaking in order to generate resilience, just as resilience is necessary for investing in place ... a resilient community also leverages its investments for broader outcomes – this is what Dr. Judith Rodin has dubbed “the resilience dividend.”

Seattle alleys, New Albany street pianos and the overdue purging of bureaucrats.

Photo credit: Hannegan Roseberry at Fb

I generally advocate thinking outside our self-imposed civic boxes, because New Albany has far too many of them, stacked somewhere out in the garage, creased and dusty, and filled with hoary rationales for non-activity that we've forgotten even exist.

We also have many suitable alleys, as outlined in is adaptive reuse saga from Seattle.

Seattle's Future Alleys Look Like Paradise, by John Metcalfe (City Lab)

When you peer into a downtown Seattle alley, you might see rats and people sleeping in dumpsters. That could change, however, as the city plans to turn some of these airless holes into charming, plant-filled utopias.

Against all odds, New Albany has a thriving restaurant and bar culture to consider, and consequently, while excitedly reading about alley renovations in Seattle -- and recalling the many "hidden" infrastructure places we possess in addition to these -- one sensation kept coming back to me.

Namely, the smell of dumpsters behind restaurants in a red-hot, humid Indiana summer. However, using spaces, making places ... I support the idea, and the possibilities are endless. In fact, apart from alleyways, we could do so much better here, and the first step simply must be liberating ourselves from thinking that the usual suspects and their same "officially" accredited agencies, commissions and political entities possess a monopoly on creativity.

They don't, and all too often they stifle grassroots artistic expression, placemaking and neighborhood revitalization.

As Hannegan Roseberry's experience with our gatekeepers at the Board of Works earlier this week illustrates, the cultural asphyxiation starts at the very top. Hannegan had an idea, and the bored's political appointees could barely stifle their yawns while flashing the usual reply: "It's not an option."

 ... Now, you may be wondering what this surely controversial project must be, considering the absolute breakdown of communication and complete avoidance it inspired: A street piano, painted brightly by teenage artists, sitting out on the street for all passersby to enjoy and experience. I know, contain your gasps of horror; the audacity of this citizen, to think she could so arrogantly prep a whimsical and creative project such as this and terrorize the streets of New Albany.

In all seriousness, my goal is to shed light on a far more concerning challenge than the fun and frivolity of a street piano: The piano is really beside the point.

New Albany must make government more accessible. It is absolutely inexcusable that a citizen with an idea and a passion for her community could be so absolutely and completely led in circles, shut out and shut down.

Tuesday mornings, 10 a.m. It's in need of a dose of glasnost.

Look it up, Warren.

"Creative placemaking practitioners use artistic interventions to bring new perspectives (beyond just aesthetics) to communities."

Chattanooga Terrain Art Park; from the article below.

"Successful use of creative placemaking requires making the people part of the resilience equation work. To do this, cities have to treat creatives with the same gravity afforded other community development assets and colleagues."

Didn't I just have this conversation with a local artist, standing on the corner, facing Main Street, and lamenting that whenever New Albany's governmental functionaries (read: DemoDisneyDixecratic operatives) get involved with artistic expression, the inevitable results are different versions of the same "Dogs Playing Poker" motif?

That's what happens with agoraphobia. You must control every situation, lest the walls start closing in.

Putting the Arts to Work for City Resilience: Creative Placemaking, by Jason Schupbach (100 Resilient Cities)

I recently attended a major convening of community development and arts professionals where Ben Hecht from Living Cities said, and I’m paraphrasing here, "The science of how to do the technical parts of community development is well understood – how to build water infrastructure, housing units, transportation systems - but we as community development officials have forgotten about the ‘people’ part of the equation. How do we build places where people actually want to live their lives? How do we build strong social ties? The secret lies partly in the arts."