• Park plan brings Olmsted aesthetic to suburbs

    Amherst, New York, is building a Central Park to create a regional public space that is centrally located to town residents.
    An Olmstedian “central park” is moving toward construction in Amherst, one of New York State’s largest suburbs. The drawing by Joe Kohl of Dover, Kohl & Partners looks much like a Frederick Law Olmsted plan—except for some parking and a few other modern aspects. Amherst is a steadily growing...Read more

  • Streetscape plan helps revive historic downtown

    Built around a 150-year-old railroad depot, Greer suffered from motor-vehicle-age changes; a streetscape project has made downtown a destination.
    A historic railroad town in South Carolina, Greer needed a downtown revitalization. “Over the years, the city’s most valued asset had become unusable, unwalkable, and derelict, focused on vehicular experience only while the retail and business continued to turn over,” says design firm Kimley-Horn...Read more

  • How placemaking can save the planet

    A brief film biography of Fred Kent offers insight into placemaking, and why it is essential.
    The Place Man is an excellent and easily digestible documentary history of the Project for Public Spaces (PPS). At only 19 minutes, The Place Man focuses on the career of founder Fred Kent, who William H. Whyte hired to work on the seminal “Street Life Project” that studied and documented how...Read more

  • Town converts parcel into downtown hub

    A sold-out concert by soul music legend Gladys Knight opened a new 2-acre park in Douglasville, Georgia, recently—that’s a good sign for the multipurpose public space in the county seat 30 miles west of Atlanta. Douglasville is another example of a town converting an underutilized parcel downtown...Read more