Research

On October 11, Lansing is hosting its third annual Creative Placemaking Summit. I’m honored to be one of the presenters and will be sharing the stage with two of my favorite creative placemakers, Rebekah Kik and Danielle Lewinski. Our assignment is to tackle a tough topic: the cultural conflict between...

For Valentine's Day this year, the Young Preservationists of the Great Lakes Bay delivered valentines to their favorite vacant historic properties in Bay City and Saginaw, hoping to draw some attention to these buildings-and perhaps ultimately a soulmate who could breathe life back into some of them. (Yes, Valentine's Day...

Milan's downtown Tolan Square is a great example of tactical placemaking. Two summers ago, the city turned a piece of this street into a plaza with nothing more than a few heavy planters at each end and some picnic tables. For a budget of around $5,000, the community suddenly had...

Creating Vassar's Vision from Michigan Municipal League on Vimeo. Vassar is a unique place. The small city, with a population less than 2,700 people, had six new businesses open in just over a year. The one-block downtown now offers a variety of experiences with a historic movie theatre, coffee shop,...

Last week something pretty cool happened: 200 people attended a community visioning workshop in Vassar, MI. The city has a population of about 2,600, so a 7% turnout is a success worth celebrating. This visioning event was pretty unlike most organized through a traditional charrette. When I first sat down...

A formerly vacant storefront in downtown Allegan is filled with activity during Festive Fridays. Allegan is doing everything right. They have an historic downtown, a beautiful riverfront, community-wide events, and most importantly, wonderful people who all love where they live. We had the opportunity to partner with Allegan in 2013...

Last week I had the chance to check out progress on part of Kalamazoo's PlacePlan: a "road diet" on a section of Portage Street, passing through the Edison neighborhood's historic Washington Square district. Portage Street had suffered the same fate as numerous urban roads: in the name of carrying the...

This week, Benton Harbor residents were treated to a second round of conceptual drawings showing what their beloved Dwight Pete Mitchell City Center Park may look like in the near future. Michigan State University professors Warren Rauhe and Wayne Beyea presented drawings combining features that received the most positive feedback...

We're really excited to announce PlacePOP, our new placemaking & engagement consulting service. PlacePOP is a low-cost, high-impact approach to inclusive planning that communities can use to test ideas, engage residents, and strengthen support for place-based projects. PlacePOP in action at the Boyne City PlacePlans event. Working with local partners,...

Under a blazing hot July sun, Lansing residents and visitors were treated to fun, interactive, pop-up placemaking on Capitol Avenue today! The west driving lane became a bikers-only lane. And, with the capitol building as an impressive backdrop, the League and a variety of Lansing area organizations set up creative...