PlaceShakers and Newsmakers is PlaceMakers' online mouthpiece. Our opportunity to share perspective and engage in the discussion of ideas. Because of the work we do, we spend our days in the company of urban designers, architects, civic boosters, enviros, developers, politicos, city staffers, preservationists, community activists and good ole everyday folks, and our goal here is making sense of them all. Making the interconnected — and often competing — agendas of community design accessible and illuminating the inevitable benefits and trade-offs that result from the choices we make.
We try to publish weekly, ideally on Tuesdays. Sometimes perspective essays and, periodically, practical placemaking (though, admittedly, the distinction between the two is often a loose one).
We're a north American firm so, for better or for worse, the issues we take on tend to reflect that. It's freely acknowledged that many of our ideas and critiques are not necessarily appropriate or transferable to other cultures and we welcome discussion of how urbanism might be fostered or challenged elsewhere.
Join us as we discuss ideas and efforts impacting everyday community, from innovative applications of form-based codes to design solutions across multiple scales, to civic engagement and the selling of big ideas. Let us know what’s happening in your area and how it plugs into the Bigger Picture, and we’ll share. Contact any of our contributors here.