Eleven Ways to Fix a Place [ALBUM: Reviving Urban Open Space]

Neighboring on a New York City street Photos courtesy Project for Public Spaces Eleven Ways to Turn a Place Around Thirty years ago in New York City, the pri- mary activities of a neighborhood took place in its streets—on stoops and sidewalks, next to fire hydrants and in empty lots. Very little neighbor- ing took place in the city’s parks, markets or civic spaces, because these more traditional public spaces were either in disrepair or simply not avail- able. In cities where people still gathered, they gravitated to the historic places built prior to World War II, because the newer public spaces were either non-existent or unusable. It was a sad, deeply disturbing time, yet highly motivating for those of us seeking to effect change. The last half of the twentieth century was a devastating time for public spaces of all kinds— from grand city parks and plazas to neighborhood greens and town squares to downtown main streets everywhere. Suburbanization drained urban areas of many of their families, and urban renewal razed much of what was left, abetted by designers focused on creating objects, and city agencies interested in advancing the narrow agen- das of their departments. PLACES 14:2