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Creative Placemaking

Month: September 2014

Adaptable Imageability

Posted on by Abigail Glastetter

       

creative placemaking: a process between user and landscape to develop a meaningful, engaging, and flexible space for any given user.

“The observer himself should play an active role in perceiving the work and have a creative part in developing his image. He should have the power to change that image to fit changing needs” (Lynch, 1960). As society continues to evolve and progress with rapid technological advances our landscapes are forced to fluctuate to match our ever-changing needs. Landscapes are dynamic, self- organizing systems to be preserved for the physical and mental sustainment of humanity (Ahern, 2012). Resilient landscapes are more capable to absorb the changing stressors we put on them while maintaining system functionality. The world continues to deplete resources at an increasingly unsustainable rate holding planners and designers responsible to develop a resilient process to reinvent cities beginning at the site scale using imageability as a catalyst for innovation.

 

Public Art

Posted on by Nicholas Mercado

 

    

 

Oftentimes, public art is something that is put aside or completely overshadowed, but in reality its value is hugely important.  Cities gain cultural, social, and economic value through public art. It’s something that adds unique meaning to public space and provides a sense of identity. All places have creative potential. Public art can play a significant role in how we go about activating space in a creative way.

The Happy City

Posted on by Danielle DeOrsey
Biking rush hour happiness. Copenhagen, Denmark. Image by Danielle DeOrsey

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence”  -Aristotle

Creative Placemaking is a concept that aims to revitalize spaces, structures and streetscapes by creating a site specific identity in order to bring people together to celebrate, inspire, and be happy (NEA). Cities in which we live play a large role in our overall happiness. With such influence, an important question arises: As landscape architects and urban planners, how can we utilize the power of place and urban design to provide and increase opportunities for happiness? This project will focus on using active transportation as a catalyst for urban development that aims to increase overall happiness in Manhattan, KS.

 

Promoting Walkability in Midwestern Cities

Posted on by Steven Holt
The River Market: a small example of a walkable space in Kansas City, MO. Photo by Steven Holt.

Creative placemaking in urban settings is a method of promoting walkability, which provides health, economic, and environmental benefits to a city.  Studies show a strong correlation between higher density, more walkable neighborhoods and lower rates of carbon emissions, electricity consumption, and obesity, as well as a larger percentage of income spent locally.  However, in the United States, with a few exceptions, cities and especially suburbs are designed to be convenient and comfortable for the car first, at the expense of pedestrians and cyclists.  The benefits of people walking and cycling are too numerous to count, and thus should be one of the primary goals of design at the local, neighborhood, and city scale.

Conservation Education in Zoos

Posted on by Michelle McElroy
Sea Lion Sound exhibit the St. Louis Zoo, image by Michelle McElroy

Zoos offer an opportunity to educate visitors about wildlife and habitat conservation. Due to their ability to create experiences and engage visitors directly zoos have the potential to increase learning and conservation related action while also building quality of place. In the past several decades there has been a shift towards educating people about conservation within the zoos. There has been an increasing effort to focus on the welfare of animals first and foremost, with the visitor experience being designed to engage each viewer in regards to the specific animal and their habitat.

Temporary Landscapes and Placemaking

Posted on by Rachel Fox
The construction process of our design build installation in Copenhagen Denmark: Hands On Urbanism

Landscape architects need to take a more active role in the planning, design, and execution of temporary landscapes. Temporary landscapes are a tool for creative placemaking because they can contribute to the changing cultural identity of city. Temporary landscapes offer respond to the flexibility needed by our cities. However the unorganized variety of temporary landscapes has made it difficult to evaluate and learn from these spaces. In order to create stronger temporary landscapes a typology is needed.  A typology of temporary landscapes will help us better situate and evaluate these projects.

It’s September 2014. These are our first words.

Posted on by Katie Kingery-Page

Landscape architects have a long history of working with communities to creatively examine, re-imagine and strengthen places. The Creative Placemaking Net at Kansas State University is group of six landscape architecture students and one faculty member. All are interested in the potential of art and design to influence place. This group is inspired by the idea of Indra’s web, a buddhist metaphor for interconnectedness across scales. We envision ourselves as Indra’s Web (Net), reflecting and amplifying each other’s ideas.