CREW Boston

Creative Placemaking: Changing the Ways We Activate Communities

In November CREW Boston hosted a luncheon panel discussion about one of the industry’s favorite buzzwords: placemaking. The panel, which was moderated by Tara Piurko, a real estate partner at Toronto-based Miller Thomson and former CREW Network President, featured Jesse Brackenbury, Executive Director of The Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston; Russell Preston, Founder and Director of Principle Group, a planning, design, and development firm; Al Wilson, Founder and CEO of Beyond Walls in Lynn; and Laura Christopher, Real Estate Innovation Officer at MassDevelopment, explained what placemaking is, what it is not, and why real estate developers in the private sector should consider investing in placemaking to create successful, sustainable, and thriving projects and communities.

Some takeaways from the program: 

Although many placemaking projects create new attractions meant to encourage new visitors to cities, towns, and neighborhoods that have seen economic downturn or lack development investment or infrastructure, the more enduring goal of placemaking projects should be to bring along the community that already exists and to create opportunities for those who have already put down roots in these areas.  The most successful placemaking projects are those that respond to the existing needs of a community rather than imposing an outside solution or vision of what the community needs or should be. For example, Al Wilson, Founder and CEO of Beyond Walls in Lynn described how installing 600 linear feet of interactive and permanent LED lighting to a busy underpass not only created a visually arresting, accessible piece of public art, but solved a pressing need of the community by lighting a site troubled by crime and traffic accidents involving pedestrians. 

Placemaking can help property owners and developers test their business plan before opening. While projects await entitlements or funding, property owners and developers can use the project site to host placemaking projects to ensure that the area is vibrant, visible, and well-trafficked. Where “walkability” is an essential ingredient to a real community, ensuring that a project will draw people to a community is essential to the success of projects. Even small investments like bike and bus infrastructure can have a real impact by creating an amenity space for future residents or customers, without having already built a project. Russell Preston explained that instead of spending money on marketing, his firm, the Principle Group, invests in placemaking endeavors from the episodic, such as live music or a community chili cook-off, to the permanent, like a public art installation. As Laura Christopher explained, these types of success stories provide municipalities with the objective data needed to encourage public investment in emerging communities, resulting in lasting public-private partnerships. And, success begets success. A pioneering project in an emerging location, bolstered by placemaking that creates a larger community fabric, can encourage private and public buy-in for future projects.       
 
Because placemaking is often pushing the envelope and thinking about new ways to activate communities, there can be conflict with municipalities. City permitting may not have a neat category in which to “fit” placemaking projects. Placemakers need to be nimble in order to respond to and counter “no’s” from City Hall. 
 
Placemakers must be able to test new ideas and be willing to fail when those new ideas flop. Remaining open to failure and observing how the public “votes with their feet” ensures that project proponents get it right and adopt placemaking projects that will have a lasting impact on communities. In this way, placemaking democratizes decision-making about the public realm. 
 
Importantly, the panel emphasized that placemaking should be as much about placekeeping as it is about creating new and innovative uses for existing properties and communities. As with anything, the most successful projects are those that feel authentic. True authenticity can only come from active listening and dialogue with the community and constituents that new projects are intended to serve.  









































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Event Registration is either not opened yet, already closed or not available for this event. Please contact laura@crewboston.org with any questions.

Confirmed Attending

  • Amelia Aboff
  • Lynne Adams
  • Joanne Adkins
  • Susan Amato
  • Linda Anderson
  • Aislin Kate Anderson
  • Chelsea Andre
  • Ellen Anselone
  • Kelen Araujo
  • Ariana Axelrod
  • Maureen Ayers
  • Kaila Bachman
  • Rachel Bandi
  • Johnna Barry
  • Julie Barry
  • Deborah Bayha
  • Aimee Bearer
  • Bridget Beckeman
  • Janet Bernardo
  • Liz Berthelette
  • Joyce Blatt
  • Amy Blomeke
  • Katie Bolger
  • Gayle Bourdeau
  • Lauren Brash
  • Sarah Broughel
  • Hillary Brown
  • Donna Brown
  • Amy Brown
  • Veronica Bulman
  • Carla Cabral
  • Michaela Cadigan
  • Michelle Callahan
  • Sandra Capo
  • Ellen Caracciolo
  • Pat Carlson
  • Pamela Carnovale
  • Kate Carter
  • Denise Chicoine
  • Maggie Collins
  • Kelly Conover
  • Pat Cooper
  • Nancy Curry
  • Melissa DaCosta
  • MaryKate Daly
  • Diane Danielson
  • susan davis
  • Abigail Day
  • Danna Day
  • Yanel de Angel
  • Patty DeAngelis
  • Maria Deering
  • Megan Delehanty
  • Jean Delios
  • Kaitlin DeMartin
  • Donna Denio
  • Ellen DeNooyer
  • Alexis Deutsch
  • Joe Dolben
  • lisa donfrancesco
  • Cara Donleavy
  • Bonny Doorakian
  • Laurie Ann Drinkwater
  • Elizabeth Elcock
  • Joyce Elden
  • Susan Elsbree
  • Rachel Eng
  • Jen Fairfield
  • Joan Falvey
  • Pam Fisher
  • Christine Flaherty
  • Jennifer Flanders
  • Hannah Foley
  • Kayleigh Fraser
  • Nicole Gibson
  • Susan Gittelman
  • Ileen Gladstone
  • Jocelyn Goglia
  • Kira Gonzalez
  • Shelly Gouin
  • Alyssa Gould
  • Kristin Gowdy
  • Kathryn Graber
  • elizabeth grammatikov
  • Melissa Gravlin
  • Kerin Green
  • Mika Gross
  • Elizabeth Gruber
  • Elizabeth Gruber
  • Elizabeth Gruber
  • Rachel Grudzien
  • Thea Hahn
  • Courtney Haskins
  • Michaela Herrmann
  • heather hohenthal
  • Dana Hsu
  • Connie Huang
  • Janine Hunt
  • SueEllyn Idelson
  • Cathrine Jansen
  • Kris Jester
  • Karen Johnson
  • Marty Jones
  • Danielle Justo
  • Monique Kachadoorian
  • Molly Kalan
  • Isabel Kaubisch
  • Dena Kavanagh
  • Cynthia Keliher
  • Maya Khuri Plotkin
  • Sue Kim
  • Kaitlin Kincaid
  • Lindsey King
  • Leslie Kivitz
  • Elizabeth Krol
  • Kelly Kurlbaum
  • AMANDA KUTIA
  • Abigail Lake
  • Michelle Lambert
  • Margaret Laracy
  • Rebecca Lee
  • Renee LeFevre
  • Kayla Lessin
  • Anne Lewis
  • Samantha Lukacs
  • Cate Lynch
  • Laura Lynch
  • Maureen Maas
  • Maria Maffei
  • Ashley Maggiacomo
  • Stephanie Maiona
  • Emily Maitin
  • Catherine Malagrida
  • Jessica Mallaghan
  • Rebecca Maloney
  • Jo-Ann Marzullo
  • Nancy McCafferty
  • Tabetha McCartney
  • Julie McDonnell
  • Berley McKenna
  • Angela Meehan
  • Pamela Messenger
  • Tyesha Miller
  • Julia Mirak Kew
  • Valerie Moore
  • Kaitlyn Mulcahy
  • Tara Munro
  • Kathryn Murphy
  • Carlye Murphy
  • Cristina Napoli
  • Carla Nelson
  • Holly Nelson
  • Nicole Nielsen
  • Judith Nitsch
  • Carly Nugent
  • Liz Nyman
  • Jane O'Brien
  • Colleen O'Connor
  • Barbara Oddo
  • Kathleen ODonnell
  • Vanessa Okonkwo
  • Shawna O'Neil
  • Jill Ouellette
  • Carmen Panacopoulos
  • Joan Parsons
  • Mary Patalita
  • teresa patten
  • Michelle Paul
  • Beth Pearcy
  • Patricia Pinto
  • Claudia Piper
  • Jennifer Platt
  • Katie Pontes
  • Amy Prange
  • Nicole Pratt
  • Patti Quint
  • Courtney Retzky
  • Diane Retzky
  • Sarah Rhatigan
  • Ali Ribeiro
  • Abby Roberts
  • Amanda Roe
  • Allison Rojas
  • Kim Rubin
  • Lauren Ruggles
  • Jennifer Sacco Smith
  • Lynn Scarbo
  • Joan Schneider
  • Julie Schultz
  • Lydia Scott
  • Sue Scotti
  • Marge Selinger
  • Jill Sharif
  • Pooja Sharma
  • Lisa Sheehan
  • Miriam Sheehan
  • Simmee Silton
  • Lori Silverstein
  • Caroline Skuncik
  • Karen Smith
  • Christine Song
  • Stacey Spurr
  • Janaki Stern
  • Ariella Stober
  • Lisa Strope
  • Rebecca Sullivan
  • Valerie Swett
  • Sara Taylor
  • Jess Tessler
  • Marcia Thornhill
  • Deborah Tirone
  • Mallory Toomey
  • Casey Torto
  • Alexandra Toteva
  • Nicole Tracia
  • Stephanie Traeger
  • Kristen Trotter
  • Steph Tyll
  • Gabriella Uccellini
  • Kimberly Vermeer
  • Christine Vincenti
  • Eleonora Vizcardo
  • Alexandra (Ali) Wannop
  • Sarah Wegman
  • Brittany Wigdor
  • Jessica Willhoft
  • Erin Wirth Powell
  • Alice Wong
  • Rachel Woodhouse
  • Elizabeth Wright
  • Emily Yu
  • Lori-Ann Zannini