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Category Archives: Placemaking

June 5, 2015

Learning to Play a Different Game in Suburbia

Order book Cars are king in most Michigan suburbs. We have designed our suburbs for efficiency of process, where uses are separated and car-oriented, said Ellen Dunham-Jones, co-author of Retrofitting Suburbia, at the League's Suburban Summits in May. But in…
May 19, 2015

Writing the next chapter in the suburban story

Big box stores can have second lives, as Westland's Circuit City to City Hall renovation, completed in 2014, demonstrates. In 2012, the City of Westland set aside plans to build a new city hall--the long-needed replacement to a '60s vintage…
April 29, 2015

PlacePlans: What have we learned so far?

We're proud to be part of Michigan's leadership in building on place, but that doesn't mean we're content to rest on our laurels or pretend we've got everything figured out.  We're still learning as we go, and updating our practice…
April 17, 2015

Zeal and Personality Move PlacePlans Forward

A buzz of excitement filled the auditorium of the Benton Harbor Public Library as about 100 people gathered to share their ideas, visions and concerns for Dwight Pete Mitchell City Center Park. The occasion was the April 14 Community Visioning…
March 13, 2015

Placemaking Workshops

Placemaking can take on many theoretical definitions, but in practice, placemaking includes things like a farmers market, family-friendly parks, interesting small businesses, great restaurants, walkable downtowns, and streets lined with trees. Placemaking is what matters most to people. According to…
March 12, 2015

Sprawl, Sprawl, and More Sprawl

Sprawl - we know it when we see it.  We all live with sprawl in some way or other, but do we ever stop to think how it impacts our lives?  Or do we just go through the motions of…
March 6, 2015

Do Complete Streets require complete snow removal?

With many of Michigan's communities recovering from our coldest or snowiest Februaries on record, the Water Hill neighborhood in Ann Arbor is making headlines from The Atlantic's CityLab to the Christian Science Monitor with "SnowBuddy." From their webpage: SnowBuddy is a…
February 12, 2015

Creating a Purposeful New Life for Old Suburban Sites

Dead regional malls, huge vacancies in strip malls, and empty office buildings have been accumulating in American suburbs in recent years. Much of this change can be attributed to suburban demographic shifts. Particularly since 2000, many babyboomers are now empty-nesters,…
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