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Since publishing The Great Neighborhood Book, we have continued to receive inspiring stories about how people are creating places in their communities. We plan to share these stories periodically on our blog.

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Volunteers get to work at Drake Garden.

For over a decade, Drake Garden has been giving Chicago residents the opportunity to get their hands dirty and get to know their neighbors. Located in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago, the garden offers a green, outdoor sanctuary that attracts people from all over the city, whether to work or relax in the garden.

In the 90s, the community decided that a vacant lot that was formerly the site of a synagogue could be put to a better use. Motivated and engaged community members created the Drake Garden Volunteers and worked to turn the lot into a community garden. NeighborSpace, a Chicago-based non profit that supports community-based gardens and open spaces, helped the Albany Park residents secure the land for the garden. NeighborSpace primarily works with community groups that have already established parks or gardens so that the land can be owned by an existing non-profit and can be protected against future redevelopment.

Drake Garden and the work of NeighborSpace help illustrate one of the core tenets of Placemaking: the community is the expert. Community residents did not need outside “experts” to decide what would be the best use of the land that became the garden. Residents took action and created a thriving public space. The garden has been a true success by acting as a community anchor that brings together neighbors who had never even met before in the middle of a dense, ethnically diverse neighborhood.

Local youth love using the Garden as well.

A large sign at the gardens’ entrance increases the site’s presence on N. Drake St. In the garden, there is a board describing the history of the garden as well as a community bulletin board where residents can post information about upcoming events and gatherings. This creates a means for community connection outside of working in the garden together. Drake Garden is divided into smaller zones with distinct plants and features in each area of the garden. Trees, flowers, shrubs, and open space mingle to create a lush, green environment. Recognizing that maintaining interest in a long-term, community project is hard, programming is a central concern for the Drake Garden Volunteers. The garden hosts such events as block parties and rummage sales in order to make sure that residents have as many reasons as possible to get engaged with the garden.

Drake Gardens also partners with Chicago Cares in order to get volunteers engaged with the work at the garden. This serves as an opportunity for residents from different parts of the city get to work together on a community-focused project. Chicago Cares helps engaged residents in the Chicago area find volunteer opportunities focused on addressing various communities’ most pressing needs.

NeighborSpace recently produced a video depicting a day of work at the garden that took home the Grand Prize in Placemaking Chicago’s What Makes Your Place Great? Contest, covered here on Making Places in September. Placemaking Chicago is a partnership between PPS and the Chicago region Metropolitan Planning Council focused on increasing the reach of Placemaking principles in Chicago. With over 8,000 individual votes cast in the contest, a winning photo and video were named in both the People’s Choice and Grand Prize categories. Amy Roth’s photo of Phillips Park and Ami Shah’s video of the Shops of Long Grove earned them both the People’s Choice Award. Along with NeighborSpace’s video profiling Drake Garden, Sylvia Ortega’s photo of Bush Community Garden of Hope also took home the Grand Prize. Be sure to take a look at the Bush Community Garden of Hope photo on flickr which includes some background on how the Garden got started and how it continues to be a tremendous community asset. Much like Drake Gardens, it is a great example of a community coming together for the sake of improving their neighborhood. The success of the Bush Community Garden of Hope also highlights the importance of effective partnerships as they are working not only with NeighborSpace but also local stakeholders such as the local Homeowners’ and Tenants’ Association and local businesses. PPS’ Great Cities Initiative helps support efforts like the Bush Community Garden of Hope and Drake Garden throughout the world.

Check out the other winning photos and videos at Placemaking Chicago’s website. You can also browse all of the photo and video entries for the contest.

Have you been a part of a Great Neighborhood Project?  Email us your story for use in future profiles. tpeyton (at) pps.org

What: A former industrial area that has been redeveloped to promote outdoor activity in both summer and winter - important in a northern city like Winnipeg.

Why it Works: This community place is used year round for gathering and recreation. In the summer there are concerts and markets and lots of greenspace. In the winter, once the river is frozen, the City prepares the ice for ice skating (originating at the forks), curling rinks and sleigh rides. The Forks promotes outdoor activity both in the summer and winter. The Forks originally was an industrial area of the city. Once it was no longer used industrially, the city redeveloped the area for community interaction. The buildings (old train stations) were turned into markets and the river had a walkway developed along it. It is also a historical site with museums, a childrens’ museum and other creative spaces. The nice thing is that it is a success story: people in the 1980’s didn’t expect it to work, and it has.

Read the entire profile here.

Click here to nominate your favorite public space!

What: A boulevard-like park in the city centre.

Why it Works: Esplanade Park in the centre of Helsinki consists of two active streets – Northern and Southern Esplanade – and a longitudinal, boulevard-like park between them. The park is built on east-west direction, so the sun shines nicely on the park throughout the day. The park is centrally located, and can be considered as the borderline between the most active commercial centre and the more peaceful, southern part of the city. At the east, the park ends at a fountain, behind which opens up the view to the market square of Helsinki and the sea. At the western end the Esplanade green space is closed by the Swedish theatre, behind which runs the busiest street in the centre of Helsinki. The theatre building acts as a wall blocking the traffic noise, so the Esplanade Park is at the same time both close to the busy city and a calm resort.

Read the entire profile here.

Click here to nominate your favorite public space!

What: A public park known for its views.

Why it Works: Mission Dolores Park is a beautiful eight-square block park nestled on a hillside with broad sweeping views of downtown San Francisco and the Bay Area skyline to the northeast. Located directly in between famous Castro Street in The Castro, and Valencia Street in The Mission, Dolores park is also only a few blocks from bustling Market street. Accessible by light rail on the F and J lines, Dolores Park is also walking distance from the BART, multiple MUNI and bus lines, and the Haight Ashbury neighborhood. Dolores park is right in the middle of the cultural and social center of San Francisco. Although the park is quite heavily used on sunny days, the grass is in good shape, and the crowd doesn’t feel like a deterrent. There are benches bordering the park and scattered throughout, but most people prefer to sit on the sloped ground which faces the northeast with beautiful far reaching views on the Bay Area. The park features a few basketball and tennis courts and a playground. There is loads of open space and it is not uncommon to see young people throwing a frisbee, or dogs chasing balls. The park is happily shared by families and twenty and thirty somethings at all hours of the day. The park is surrounded by some of the best cafes the city has to offer and is an excellent place to bring a cup of coffee and a croissant with the morning paper.

Read the entire profile here.

Click here to nominate your favorite public space!

Locavore

* Markets and eating local. Locavore ($3.99) uses the iPhone’s GPS capability to find your closest farmers’ markets, and tells you what’s currently in season near you, from almonds to zucchini.  It also links to recipes and information for all 234 food varieties it tracks — very convenient when you’re trying to figure out what to do with quince or sapote.  Farm Fresh NYC ($2.99) works similarly for the Big Apple, and includes a graphical grocery list; San Franciscans can use Sprout (free) to track down markets, CSAs, and other local food sources.  (And check out this group that combined their love of Apples with their love of (locally-grown) apples!)

UpNext 3D NYC

Everyblock

The city of Los Angeles has long been plagued by gang violence.  California has the largest gang presence of any state, and L.A. is at the top of the state’s list for gang-related violent crime.  Parks in poor neighborhoods are a frequent site of gang clashes, turning ostensibly public spaces into foreboding “territory” into which average citizens dare not venture – especially after dark.  Violence typically spikes during the warm summer months.

L.A.’s traditional approach to gang violence puts heavy emphasis on policing and physical separation of rival gangs, making use of “gang injunctions” to restrict the movement and public activity of gang members.  In the words of one LAPD officer, these measures “[make] it a crime — an arrestable crime — to hang out together.”  Though these programs appear to have met with some success at reducing crime rates (and the California Supreme Court has upheld their constitutionality), they have come under some legal and policy scrutiny for being overly restrictive of civil liberties and subject to arbitrary enforcement.

Last summer, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Gang Reduction and Youth Development office implemented a new approach to fighting gang violence: parks programming.  The Summer Night Lights program extended nighttime hours in eight parks in troubled neighborhoods — keeping lights on until midnight, and sponsoring nighttime movies and family-oriented activities four nights a week.  According to the mayor’s office, the program was responsible for a 17% decline in crime rates and an astounding 86% decline in homicides for those areas.

This summer, the city is building on that success, doubling the size of Summer Night Lights to sixteen parks in blighted areas.  The park activities have become even more important in light of California’s budget troubles, as local schools have been forced to cut summer programs, leaving kids with more free time and less structure.  L.A. plans to serve 350,000 free dinners over the course of the summer, and will offer a variety of programming focused on families and youth.  The multitude of programs includes basketball and soccer leagues, safe skateboarding programs, screening of local films, and acting, dance, hip-hop, and fashion workshops.

Lighting up L.A. to fight crime and build community. (Credit: L.A. Times)

One of the most notable aspects of Summer Night Lights is the city’s engagement with community stakeholders, including at-risk youth themselves.  One component of the program is the creation of a ten-member “youth squad” for each park, which will assist in staffing events and help to create neighborhood awareness.  Summer Night Lights is being sponsored by $1 million in private donations, which the city has pledged to match – a great example of the power of public-private partnerships in community placemaking.

Los Angeles hopes that the power of a great place with great things to do will stave off violence in its urban parks — so it has suspended gang injunctions for gang members peacefully attending Summer Night Lights programs.  By allowing these youths to socialize freely in the park with other community members, L.A. is recognizing that providing positive options is an essential tool in improving urban neighborhoods.  As gang intervention worker Miguel Leon told the New York Times: “You can rewrite the narrative of your life and your neighborhood.  A gang affiliation is not your whole identity.  You’re also part of this community.”

In The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, William H. Whyte remarked that “the way people use a place mirrors expectations.”  L.A.’s approach to urban parks matches this observation perfectly.  By inviting positive uses in its public spaces and treating gang members as stakeholders, Summer Night Lights is creating community bonds and changing the fabric of L.A.’s neighborhoods from within.

What: Over 200 acres of community park, with a shoreline along Lake Huron.

Why it Works: Canatara Park spans almost 85 acres, and sits on the edge of Lake Huron. The people in this area have always loved this park. The land was bought in the 1930’s with money from both the citizens of Sarnia and the municipal government. Over the years, the area has been developed, but always with a focus on the area’s environmental character (i.e., native plants, no hindrance to the native animal habitat, no carnival like developments). The park’s green space is phenomenal, and the beach is as well. The sports field consists of about 6 acres and provides facilities for all amateur sports. The park can be accessed from all areas- beach, woods, one roadway that curls through the park- but one must park the cars to access and walk to all areas available. The park is consistently used through all seasons, though at its height in the summertime. Being in Canatara Park reminds us of what nature truly offers us and how we must remain humble in its presence.

Read the entire profile here.

Click here to nominate your favorite public space!

What: A public square in the heart of Merida.

Why it Works: The Plaza Mayor is a major focal point of Merida taking up the size of one full city block and enclosed on four sides by two lane roads. The landscaping is a simple path system through various types of trees and bushes. There are many benches and low retention walls for sitting. Every Sunday is fair day in Merida. The paths are wide enough to support pedestrian traffic and vendors selling various foods and handicrafts. All roads are shut down within a block radius of the square. The festive atmosphere brings hundreds of local Merideños. There is even live music in the streets at night. People are able to move freely through the square at any time of the day. It often has people walking through after visits to the Cathedral or any of the fine Yucatanese restaurants that border it. At first look, you’ll notice the high amount of people that are circulating through the square. This is a comforting image to someone who is not familiar with the safe and social atmosphere that is present in the streets of Merida.

Read the entire profile here.

Click here to nominate your favorite public space!

What: A revitalized park at the heart of a small Tennessee town.

Why it Works: Although Pegram Park is small in size it serves as the center of the community for the town and the surrounding county. It hosts numerous events throughout the year, including 4th of July parades, Christmas in the park, little league, easter egg hunts, political forums and music events. It is what “makes” the town of Pegram, which has grown from a small rural town and has turned into a small bedroom community. The first and foremost issue the community is working toward is safety and accessibility for all. The park is a center for community in a county that has very few community hubs. Community partnerships and volunteers have come together to find funding to upgrade the park and maximize its potential. A non-profit partnership group named Friends of Pegram Park made up of volunteers and citizens have designed a master plan based off of community input, have written grants, are fundraising and are working together with local government to implement the plan. The spirit behind this project has certainly made citizens become more politically involved in a time of change for the area.

Read the entire profile here.

Click here to nominate your favorite public space.

Savannah is known for the beauty of its tree-canopied streets, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. Clearly, its citizens agree. A recent survey that invited people to name the city’s best and worst streets drew four times as many responses for “worst” as for “best.”

The survey was conducted on behalf of Savannah Forward, a coalition of public and private institutions — from the government, to the Downtown Neighborhood Association, to the morning news — all of whom are looking for ways to increase Savannah’s livability.

To that end, they invited PPS president Fred Kent to the city on February 5th to speak to a crowd of over 300 citizens interested in improving Savannah’s public realm. Kent tackled some of the “worst” streets — all of which, he noted, prioritize car traffic at the expense of everything else. Bay Street, for example, cuts off the city’s downtown from its riverfront, and is “the most obnoxious road you have,” Kent said. He urged the city to consider narrowing the roadway, widening the sidewalk, and adding attractions like sidewalk cafes to turn it into a gathering place.

The “good” examples submitted by the public were split between convenient throughways and slow, tree-lined residential streets. Which means, Kent suggested, that the right approach for Savannah will be one that balances the region’s character and ambience with easy accessibility to its destinations.

Savannah’s built form is also notable for the historic squares that checker its downtown. But “just because they’re beautiful doesn’t mean they’re well-used,” Kent pointed out. He encouraged the coalition to bring their squares to life, starting by scheduling activities in two or three squares to draw people there, like an interactive water feature, sitting steps, and a plaza for live performances.

“Mr. Kent inspired us to take action now,” said Theodora Gongaware and William Stuebe of Savannah Forward. And it’s a great time to act — not in spite of the economic downturn, but because of it. The lull in development offers “an excellent window of time to try new things,” they said.

They’re not the only ones who are excited. Check out this post, “Is Fred Kent Hiring?” from someone who attended the event, and this follow-up from another Savannah citizen.