Featured Articles
Lewiston Wins $30 Million Choice Neighborhood Grant!
We received the FANTASTIC news today that U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded a $30 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant to fund the Growing Our Tree Streets Choice Neighborhood Transformation Plan in Downtown Lewiston. We couldn’t be more excited for the Tree Streets community, the City of Lewiston, Healthy Neighborhoods and all the project partners. Congrats to everyone involved!!
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Safety is big part of completed Wilmington comprehensive plan
Last week, City of Wilmington, Delaware released Wilmington 2028, their new draft plan. We had such a great time working with the people of Wilmington to help envision the future they want and recommend actions to get there!
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Small wins bring big change to Akron
So great to see our work with Reimagining the Civic Commons / Akron Civic Commons highlighted. We aim for small actions that have big impacts in communities.
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We’re measuring the impact of investments in public places. Here’s what we’ve learned.
How do you measure the value a park has on a neighborhood? From a gathering place, to increasing property values, to improved air quality, and more, we worked with Reimagining the Civic Commons and City Observatory to create tools to capture the social impacts of civic spaces like parks. The four key outcomes we looked at are civic engagement, mixing of incomes and backgrounds, environmental sustainability, and attracting neighborhood investment. Read more about the real impact of a place here
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Philadelphia seeks to heal old Eastwick wound with a "village in the city"
"The study released on Monday envisions Eastwick as a 'village in the city' that balances development and economic growth around a Main Street, while preserving open space for flood mitigation," writes PlanPhilly/WHYY. We are so glad to be on the team of consultants on this project. Check out this article about our work in Philly's Eastwick neighborhood!
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Interface Principal Scott Page talks Economic Development with Aaron Renn and Kevin Hively
What is economic development? Kevin Hively, Scott Page, and Aaron Renn discuss this and much more, including why cities need to look beyond just tech, the importance of growing your own companies, the three people ever community has to have, the future of the "three F's" (food, fashion, furniture), the need for the right space at the right price, the role of tourism and more.
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Our DIY Toolkit For Measuring the Civic Commons Is Now Available
Reimagining the Civic Commons releases our toolkit for measuring the social impact of public spaces. These tools, which are now available for download here, enable anyone to better understand the performance of public space investments in their communities.
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Cool Places to Cool Off
"And perhaps most impactfully, these makeovers are inspiring cities to rethink the role and potential of their public pool systems. When city leaders start to look at public pools not just as places to cool off, but as cool places, nearly anything is possible."
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"Cooling Off" in NYC
Three cheers to the fine folks at NYC Parks for making a splash with their #CoolPoolsNYC initiative at 5 public pools throughout the city! Cool Pools is designed to "increase attendance, improve quality of life, and bring neighbors together to interact with their local community pools --and each other -- in fun new ways" Take a trip to check out one of NYC's 5 cool pool locations this summer!
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Measuring the Impact of Public Space on Neighborhood Well-Being
"The reason monitoring all of these potential outcomes is so interesting is that city infrastructure projects can have any number of consequences, intended or otherwise. They can accelerate real estate values, price out or alienate longtime residents, bring in new businesses, or flood the area with tourists. As cities and their donors have paved (unpaved?) the way for trail systems in Philly, a huge city park in Tulsa, or a floating performance space in New York, serious questions about these implications have followed. This project marks an attempt to put some numbers to those implications. "
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Measuring what matters in the commons
Our baseline metrics reports for the Civic Commons initiative are out in the world! Following up on a first year of data analysis, we'll be going back out this summer and fall to see what impact the first roster of built projects (including Detroit's Ella Fitzgerald Park, HomeBase, and Memphis's Mississippi River Park) are having on their communities.
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