It’s that time of year again: the Carolina Planning Journal is being copyedited and proofread and then copyedited and proofread again. And it is looking very beautiful. So: we’ve compiled a list of seven creative placemaking resources in order to get all of you excited about this upcoming volume, “Just Creativity: Perspectives on Inclusive Placemaking.”

  1. ArtPlace’s Blog Series called “The Huddle”

ArtPlace is a funder for creative placemaking projects all across the United States. This blog series spotlights “conversations” between projects and organizations funded by ArtPlace, in which they “talk through topics, get advice, and perhaps even gossip a little.” It’s a great source for local governments or people interested in creative placemaking. This series was launched in January 2016 and has already published a great piece on the funding landscape.

  1. January 2016 Volume of the Architectural Review: Culture

This volume of the Architectural Review is introduced with a challenge: “When it comes to cultural vibrancy, it is not simply a case of build it, and they will come. There is nothing more likely to put off a collective of artists than the sanitized insertion of a new-build cultural campus or the top-down creation of an artists’ village…A better investment would be the careful identification and preservation of urban subculture where it currently exists. Supporting these communities with cultural buildings, and providing long-term controlled cheap rent and subsidized start-up and studio space to keep the community together, is critical.”

  1. Volume 10 of the San Francisco Federal Reserve’s Community Development Investment Review

This volume of the Community Development Investment Review has pieces written by creative placemaking heavyweights like Ann Markusen, Darren Walker and Xavier de Souza Briggs of the Ford Foundation, Rip Rapson of the Kresge Foundation, and Jamie Bennett of ArtPlace. Two particularly helpful articles: one on financing creative places from Deutsche Bank and another on evaluation indicators from the Urban Institute.

  1. ArtForce Website

North Carolina-based ArtForce is a great resources for communities in the state that would like to create, build, and retain their creative economies.

3. Gehl Architects

The firm that helped turn Copenhagen into a bike-ped haven. These folks have developed the Public Space/Public Life survey model and have transformed many underused public spaces into famous icons of public street-life vitality. Gehl Architects piloted “Broadway Boulevard” in New York City in which for one day all major squares along Broadway were closed to automobile traffic and temporary furniture was moved in.

2. Projects for Public Spaces

PPS is a New York City-based firm known for pioneering public placemaking. It offers weekend long trainings on topics like how to create a successful and thriving public market and placemaking implementation and management.

  1. The Carolina Planning Journal

The upcoming volume of the Carolina Planning Journal, of course! We can’t wait to share an interview with Ann Markusen, articles from the Rural Studio, the Steel Yard in Providence, Opportunity Threads here in North Carolina, and more. Preview the table of contents below!

Volume 41 ToC

Volume 41 cover