Placemaking
Some urban spaces – squares, parks, sidewalks or entire urban neighborhoods – feel more like empty spaces than lively, public gathering spots. Urban Place helps cities turn their public spaces into vital places by developing an understanding of how people use a particular space and then facilitating change to improve its use.
From 1989 to 1992, Urban Place was the California representative for Project for Public Spaces, and since then, we have worked with 16 cities in attracting people back to downtowns by making them more pedestrian-friendly and easier to access. This often takes the form of developing programs to create wayfinding and signage, calm traffic and analyze parking use.
Case Study 1: L.A. Walks
For example, Urban Place is the project manager of the Los Angeles wayfinding project “L.A. Walks,” the largest urban wayfinding effort in the nation, comprised of over 1,400 vehicle and pedestrian signs. L.A. Walks has made downtown much easier to navigate for visitors that are both driving and walking throughout the area. This, in turn, has gone a long way in making visitors feel safer and also more able to discover downtown’s many attractions. Urban Place has been the project manager from the beginning of this exciting effort, which has included securing $2 million in funding.
Urban Place has helped several other business districts create attractive and user-friendly signage for pedestrians and drivers. This is a pedestrian map that is part of our Downtown Long Beach wayfinding program.
Case Study 2: Nashville, TN
In the realm of urban parks, Urban Place was part of the discussion on how to best design downtown Nashville, Tennessee’s new park currently being built in front of City Hall. Because good design is only half of the equation, Urban Place commissioned a paper to study how to best manage the park to ensure that it becomes a safe and vibrant place. The paper has caught the attention of several other cities. To download a PDF of this paper, please click here.
| Client |  |
Project |
| Battle Creek, MI | Traffic calming | |
| Battle Creek, MI | Downtown parking | |
| British Council of Shopping Centers, UK | Study tour organized | |
| Central Dallas Association, TX | Safety ambassador analysis | |
| City of Citrus Heights, CA | Wayfinding/signage | |
| City of Long Beach, CA | Wayfinding/signage | |
| Clarksville, TN | Downtown activation plan | |
| Downtown Los Angeles, CA | Wayfinding/signage | |
| Downtown Nashville, TN | Urban parks management study | |
| Downtown Nashville, TN | Parking & shuttle operation | |
| Fashion District, Los Angeles, CA | Parking use analysis | |
| Fashion District, Los Angeles, CA | Safety ambassador analysis | |
| Hollywood Entertainment BID, CA | Wayfinding/signage | |
| Lancaster, PA | Traffic calming, one-way/two-way streets | |
| Metropolitan Transit Agency, Los Angeles, CA | Bus stop use and improvement study | |
| Old Pasadena Management Dist, CA | Parking management | |
| Riverside, CA | Parking use analysis | |
| Riverside, CA | Wayfinding/signage | |
| Sacramento Downtown Association, CA | Wayfinding/signage | |
| Santa Cruz, CA | Retail use analysis | |
| Fashion District, Los Angeles, CA | Pedestrian count/use study | |
| Downtown Center District, Los Angeles, CA | Pedestrian count/use study | |
| Figueroa Corridor, Los Angeles, CA | Pedestrian count/use study | |
| Southland Corporation 7/11 stores, CA | Pedestrian count/use study |