Do our public spaces do what they were created to do? Do people use them in plentiful, positive ways? What should they look like, and why is it so difficult to successfully design them?
TheCenter for Active Design (CfAD)recently released the Assembly: Civic Design Guidelines, a publication presenting “evidence-based strategies to create public spaces and buildings that lay the foundation for a robust civic life – inspiring greater trust, participation, stewardship and informed local voting.”
The guidelines are intended for public leaders’ use; Assembly’s primary target audience is public sector leaders (including mayors, agency heads, planners and policymakers) – but the guidelines and strategies included carry just as much benefit for anyone who designs, builds, manages, studies or advocates for great public spaces.
Mixed-use development projects are on the rise, in new builds and adaptive reuse alike. Multifamily Executive’s March 2018 article, “10 Urban Projects That Nail Mixed-Use Design”highlights this movement in the built world. Demand calls for it – employees want all-inclusive options that ease their day-to-day lives. But more than that – studies have consistently shown that most people want to feel connection to others.
In a letter included in the introduction to the new guidelines, Sam Gill, Senior Adviser to the President and VP/Communities and Impact at the Knight Foundation(a CfAD partner), gives readers some food for thought that frames the Assembly guidelines in a more meaningful way:
“The Assembly: Civic Design Guidelines come at a crucial time for our democracy. Americans’ trust in institutions of all kinds is in steady decline. This concerns us at Knight, because we believe that trust is an important part of a functioning democracy. It’s a vexing challenge, one with no easy solution.
But how we design and program public spaces can potentially play a role. Assembly presents a foundational understanding, rooted in evidence, of how design can support or hinder civic life. The book offers strategies and projects that seek to inspire change in the way “business as usual” is conducted in communities.”
TheCenter for Active Design (CfAD)is an international non-profit organization using design to foster healthy and engaged communities. It prides itself on translating scholarly research into practice, using a multi-disciplinary approach to empower local decision makers by providing publications, original studies, technical assistance, and digital tools that support its goals.
In a brief note introducing the assembly guidelines, Joanna Frank, the CfAD’s President and CEO, shares with readers the guidelines’ background and intention.
“CfAD grew out of New York City’s groundbreaking work on the Active Design Guidelines, which were released in 2010 to widespread acclaim. That landmark publication drove home two powerful concepts:
1. Community design has a direct and measurable impact on behavior. For example, public health research indicates that people are more likely to walk more, play more, and eat better when they have access to the sidewalks, parks, and grocery stores that support these healthy behaviors.
2. Practitioners who shape our buildings, streets, and neighborhoods have a crucial role to play. With their skills and influence, they can create communities that maximize health and quality of life for all residents.”
“These lessons have directly informed the Assembly: Civic Design Guidelines. Assembly’s exciting empirical findings suggest that a well-designed and well-maintained public realm can support a virtuous cycle, creating places where residents feel valued by their community and, in turn, take pride in and care for those spaces.”
To provide a starting point and to help frame the discussion, the CfAD first spends some time defining “civic life”:
“Assembly benefits from the guidance of a diverse, multi-disciplinary Advisory Committee, incorporating perspectives from the fields of urban design, architecture, political science, behavioral psychology, public space management, real estate development, public policy, community organizing, technology, branding, and more.”
“Given the diverse viewpoints informing this work, Assembly advisors sought to establish a common vocabulary for understanding civic life. They identified four key civic life outcomes to help structure research, define relevant metrics, and assess the civic value of design interventions.
1. Civic trust and appreciation.Residents feel they are part of a collective civic identity. They exhibit pride in their community and trust their neighbors and their local government to do what’s right.
2. Participation in public life. Residents regularly make use of enticing public spaces and attend public events that facilitate equitable access among diverse groups – sparking regular interaction among neighbors and strangers.
3. Stewardship of the public realm.Residents feel invested in and take responsibility for public spaces in their community – maintaining, programming, beautifying, and advocating for those spaces.
4. Informed local voting. Residents understand the role of local government in shaping their communities. They contact local officials, express support for issues, and vote in local elections.
To wet your whistle, listed below are the eight Assembly guidelines, along with their high-level supporting strategies. The entire Assembly: Civic Design Guidelines publicationis free and available to the public through the CfAD website. In PDF version the guidelines are beautifully laid out. Each individual strategy and its connections to civic life are clearly expressed, accompanied by specific actions, thoughtfully integrated case studies and photography.
If only to develop a clearer sense of how your own design projects can affect civic life, we recommend reading through the full toolkit.
1. Enhance Community Connections
>Put Pedestrian Needs First
>Expand Transportation Options
>Diversify Land Use
2. Prioritize Maintenance
>Mitigate Litter
>Clean Up Vacant Lots
>Maintain What Matters Most
3. Incorporate Nature
>Improve with Trees and Plantings
>Encourage Community Gardening
>Celebrate Unique Natural Assets
4. Celebrate Community Identity
>Use Local Arts to Inspire and Engage
>Connect Diverse Local Cultures
>Preserve and Repurpose Historic Assets
>Showcase Local Food
5. Make Public Spaces Welcoming
>Create Welcoming Entrances
>Use Positive Messaging
>Make Navigation Intuitive
6. Make Public Spaces Comfortable
>Provide Seating Options
>Illuminate Public Spaces and Buildings
>Provide Water and Restrooms
>Tailor Design to Local Climate
7. Make Space for Activity
>Provide Space for Programming and Events
>Support Informal Interactions
>Reclaim Underutilized Infrastructure
8. Foster Local Democracy
>Improve Voting Access and Awareness
>Increase Access to Community Information
>Elevate the Visibility of Local Government
>Support Community-Driven Design Processes