EVENT RECAP: Plazas, Parklets, and Pop-Ups in the Public Realm
December 19, 2019
On Tuesday, December 3, 2019, A Better City hosted a half-day event called Plazas, Parklets, and Pop-Ups in the Public Realm. Fifty people attended the event despite the snow and school closures.
To kick-off the event there was a panel presentation on recently completed tactical placemaking projects, including Downtown Boston plaza projects, Birch Street Plaza in Roslindale, Gove Street Crossing on the East Boston Greenway, Green Street Parklet in JP, pavement murals in and around Boston, and Mathscapes in Cambridge.
Following the panel, there were breakout groups where here participants connected directly with professionals who've recently implemented projects to ask questions.
Finally, the keynote speaker, Mike Lydon with Street Plans in NYC, presented on “7 lessons for how Boston can Continue to Build Great Streets By Everyone, For Everyone.” Mike Lydon highlighted projects across the county that showed how pilots, pop-ups, and demonstration projects help to test ideas, gain support, and to lay the groundwork for future long-term projects.
KEY THEMES
- Projects often have a large set of partners to implement the projects.
- Tactical projects can happen in 6 months to 24 months, which is much quicker than traditional projects.
- Pop-up plazas can be a useful tool to build support for projects.
- Engage people on-site to talk about the concept of the projects.
- Adding programming with additional partners can help to activate the space and help to show residents what can happen in the new tactical spaces.
BREAKOUT SESSION QUESTIONS
- How are these projects funded?
- With Birch Street, the design and project management work was funded through a Barr Foundation grant through A Better City. The construction and
- What permits are needed serving food and alcohol on the street?
- The business on Birch Street will need to apply for permits to serve food and alcohol to the City of Boston.
- The design team knew that the two business owners were interested in serving food and alcohol on the street, so there was space left between the planters to easily great a seating area between the planters.
- Many projects are gear towards warmer months. How do we explore public space in the color months?
- Montreal has winter lighting installations
- Patio warmers at ski areas.
- Rich culture of ice fishing houses in Midwest US and Canada
- BTV practice of plowing ½ of the paved path – ½ is for skiing, and ½ is for winter walking cycling.
- Trees and planting: how to incorporate planting as a placemaking opportunity in the parklets?
- With pavement murals, who does the design for Nieghborways projects?
- Neighborways in-house artist is good at large scale as well as turning revisions quickly since she works digitally. The technical design will factor in traffic patterns, colors, themes, and whether this is a one-time effort that will be allowed to fade or something that the community may want to organize around and do every year to stay engaged, catch-up, etc.
PANEL, PRESENTATIONS, & KEYNOTE
- Green Street Parklet: Jamaica Plain presented by Ginger Brown, Executive Director, JP Centre / South Main Street
- Neighborways Community Based Pavement Painting presented by Mark Chase, Founder/Project Manager, Neighborways Design
- Birch Street Plaza: Roslindale Village by Nina Chase, Principal & Co-Founder, Merritt Chase (unable to attend due to weather. Presented by Jacob Wessel)
- Tactical Urbanism 2020 presented by Mike Lydon, Principal, STREETPLANS Keynote Speaker
- Mathtalk Aha! See Math Everywhere by Omo Moses, Founder, MathTalk (unable to attend due to weather. Presented by Michelle Moon of A Better City)
- Bringing Life to Streets presented by Jessica Robertson, Associate, Utile
- Plazas Downtown Boston presented by Jacob Wessel, Public Realm Director, City of Boston
- Gove Street Crossing: East Boston presented by Stephanie Weyer, Landscape Architect, Toole Design
HANDOUTS
- Birch Street Plaza, Roslindale 2-pager
- Green Street Parklet, Jamaica Plain 2-pager
- East Boston Outdoor Seating, East Boston 2-pager
- Gove Street Crossing, East Boston 1-pager
