The Metropolitan Planning Commission administered a short online survey for Chatham County residents in order to collect public feedback in preparation for the forum on creating and sustaining public places to build communities. The forum will take place at the Coastal Georgia Center.

The Rudy Bruner Award is given to urban places that demonstrate the successful integration of effective process, meaningful values and good design. RBA winners are distinguished by their social, economic and environmental contributions to the urban built environment, and often provide innovative solutions to our cities most challenging problems. The RBA awards one Gold Medal of $50,000 and four Silver Medals of $10,000 each. Case studies of winners are published on line at www.brunerfoundation.org/rba/ and in a book distributed by the Bruner Foundation.

For more information or to receive an application, contact:
Bruner Foundation
130 Prospect Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
Ph. 617-492-8401, Ext. 184

Email: application@brunerfoundation.org
Download the application: www.brunerfoundation.org/rba/

In Chicago, PPS recently teamed up with the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) to provide training to both local officials and community leaders focusing on community-led Placemaking initiatives, and to assist them in setting up a Placemaking campaign for the city. The partnership includes the recently-published Guide to Placemaking in Chicago, which provides basic training on Placemaking at a local level and highlights specific examples of citizen-led Placemaking in the city that has already led to sweeping improvements on local streets and in neighborhoods. The book also guides communities in evaluating their public spaces and provides a framework to engage local businesses and government in helping implement improvements.

The partnership also included two days of training, for both city officials and community activists alike.

For more information on the Chicago campaign and to download a free copy of A Guide to Placemaking Chicago, visit www.placemakingchicago.com

Further Info:

• The Social Life of Our Urban Spaces [The Gapers Block]
• Project Experience: Placemaking Chicago [PPS.org]

The latest in urban planning, placemaking and citizen action:

• Jahn Gehl talks about the scars of Robert Moses’ reign in New York and the feasibility of making New York’s streets more pedestrian-friendly in a tough economy. [Des Moines Register]

• Frederick, MD could repeal a 2 year old ban on open containers in county parks [WMDT]

• The Bush administration, which admonished Clinton for hurriedly passing last minute executive orders on his way out of office by protecting parks and wildlife areas, is doing the same thing. Only in this case, the Bush administration is using pollution to beat up on the public parks. [Denver Post}

• City planners in Lawrence and Douglass Counties, Kansas aim to change a traffic code in order to 'build neighborhoods instead of more automobile-oriented subdivisions' [LJ World]

Fred will speak at the annual City of Bergen conference around the concept of “The Future City” and issues related to how cities will be envisioned and should be planned in the future.

Gary will participate in a discussion as a part of the National Center for Bicycling and Walking’s Active Living Resource Center. The purpose of the meeting is to create a roadmap to both encourage communities to become more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly, and provide them the technical assistance to do so.

The Roadmap will hopefully create a guide to using and implementing the wide range of active living tools, projects and programs that put communities on the path toward fashioning themselves as active living environments.

PPS has just begun a collaboration with the town of Charlotte, NC to develop open space and parks in the town’s Uptown Cultural District. They are not only open to suggestions but actively soliciting feedback from residents.

Recent suggestions include a large park for concerts and festivals, incorporating bike and pedestrian friendly transit, and building a connector to compensate for the I-277 barrier.

More Information:

• Want greats parks?  It’s time to speak up! [Charlotte Observer]

The latest in urban planning, placemaking and civic action…

• Missoula residents debate with the city’s Office of Planning and Grants over proposed rezoning of urban fringe area to increase housing density. [Missoulian]

• Slowly healing New Orleans debates approval of legislation that would streamline the rebuilding process, taking the politics out of planning. [Forbes]

• Bethlehem, PA outlines plans for giving the town a face lift that runs across the board from housing, to preservation, transportation, downtown revitalization, and on and on. [Brown and White]

• Interesting take: [Bay Area Home Girl]

• San Francisco’s Planning Commission allows developers to build a property on The Embarcadero 40 feet higher than the zoning laws permit because of a LEED Platinum rating? [Planetizen]

• High school students in Great Barrington, MA start an organic garden and feed the whole school, bring together the community, learn landscaping and gardening, and generally create a positive public space for the town. [Slow Food]

• Montreal wins a spot on Time Magazine’s 50 best inventions of 2008 for its solar powered, construction-less bike sharing program. [Streets Blog]

• New York City Council approves plans to redevelop industrial section of queens near Shea Stadium. Plans include affordable housing for 4,000 middle class familes. [City Room]

Fred travels to Turin, Italy to participate in the conference “Destination Italy: Scenarios, Trends, and Strategies to enhance Italian Tourism” presented by Fondazione Rosselli and Confturismo. As a panelist for the session “Friendly Urban Contexts: Ways of living / visiting cities, Fred will discuss urban quality, urban public spaces and accessibility with architect and Harvard professor, Reem Koolhaas.

Renee presents at the annual meeting of the Oyster Bay Main Street Association about PPS and placemaking and how this is relevant to opportunities and challenges faced in Oyster Bay. Attending the meeting is a broad and diverse cross-section of interests from community residents to business, non-profit, and political leaders.