I will be on Top of Mind with Julie Rose at 4 PM Eastern talking about “Learning from Bryant Park.” The link is below. Also on Sirius Radio Channel 143.

http://www.byuradio.org/listen

A Rein Report review of “Learning from Bryant Park.

It’s the official publication date for “Learning from Bryant Park.” I couldn’t ask for a better way to kick things off than with a review from Rich Rein, who blogs as “William H. Whyte,” and who is in the process of writing a biography of Holly.

The ADRR — The American Downtown Revitalization Review. Find out about this free new online journal for those active in the downtown revitalization field. It will start publication in June 2020.

theaddr.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-public-spaces-social-distancing-20200402-2xjoldzo3jccxol3yil4qbj7dm-story.htm

At some point in the not-too-distant future, we will emerge from our urban cave-dwelling into the sunlight and re-populate our parks, plazas, streets and commercial corridors — likely with a renewed appreciation for their value. I recently took our puppy for a walk in Riverside Park, sat down on a bench and watched the river. An acquaintance from a community group stopped to chat. I don’t know him well and hadn’t spoken to him in years. But our spontaneous social contact made my day, since I had been otherwise isolated in my Upper West Side apartment. I simply enjoyed the conversation.

When the coronavirus shutdown ends, New Yorkers will have spent more time out-of-doors near their homes as a result of being asked to self-isolate and work from home and are likely to have a renewed feeling for their local public places as a result of finding a welcome change (and perhaps even some safe social engagement) there.

 

With that re-energized valuing of the public realm, the public and private sectors should be taking advantage of the resulting support to properly manage, program and maintain those spaces going forward.

We need to focus our resources on adequately stewarding of our existing public spaces, especially before expending valuable capital dollars on building new ones or rebuilding old ones. The most important ingredients to great outdoor social experiences are in their operation — and not necessarily in their design.

So, here are some suggestions for public space policy after the pandemic abates.

One, the city should fully fund the operations of the Parks Department with sufficient resources to keep a full-time staff that can provide a high-quality public space experience to all users. Parks in every neighborhood should be maintained and programmed with an eye for detail and insistence on high standards. Lawns need to be mowed regularly, bathrooms need to be cleaned and trash needs to be picked up at the very least.

Two, public spaces need to be well programmed in addition to being physically maintained in order to draw people to them. The most effective programming elements are inexpensive and easy to implement. Moveable chairs and tables are emblematic of the kind of programming that works.

Three, we should find new ways to introduce commercial activity into more public spaces; this both animates them and makes them self-sustaining. Every public space, no matter how small, should have some food and drink for sale.

Four, while storefront retail is floundering, with seismic changes in the traditional retailing environment, pop-up, short-term stores are thriving. These range from the traditional farmers’ markets to urban food halls like “Turnstyles” in the New York City/Columbus Circle subway station (of all places!). More commercial corridors throughout the five boroughs need to capture this new energy.

Successful retailing in public spaces and downtowns will be smaller scale and more local than in the past. Food service and personal services (health care, beauty, spa) will predominate. Multi-channel (brick and mortar, as well as online) sellers of unique merchandise, like the hand-made or very high quality, will be more likely to be successful.

 

Last, even — in fact, especially — the sidewalks of commercial corridors of borough neighborhoods should be animated. Every place serving food on a commercial street should be encouraged to spill out onto the sidewalk (no matter how narrow), advertising to passersby that the street is active and interesting.

What we learned in revitalizing Bryant Park was that much of what works in public space improvement is counter-intuitive and contrary to the conventional wisdom. Our recent experience of social distancing and isolation made us appreciate the value of community engagement and the informal contacts with neighbors and friends make possible by active parks, plazas and downtowns. That renewed appreciation should energize us to rededicate energy and resources to the public realm. The benefits will continue to be enormous.

 

Manshel, former associate director and counsel at the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation, is author of “Learning from Bryant Park.”

“Learning from Bryant Park” will ship on March 20th. Order now:

To order from the Seminary Bookstore Please Click here

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/transforming-cities/id1441335989

Max Musicant on Place Management. Exactly right.

BY ELIZABETH KIM

The story of the green chairs in Bryant Park can be boiled down to an antidote to hostile architecture.

In the late 1970s, William H. Whyte, a journalist and urban planner, was commissioned by a foundation to write up a set of recommendations for revitalizing the underutilized green space at the corner of 42nd Street and the Avenue of the Americas. Whyte had spent hours meticulously documenting the habits of people in Midtown’s public plazas and came away with the dispiriting conclusion that for all of its conviviality, “New York is a tough town to sit in.”

Among the things that the park needed, he said, were movable chairs.

It was a seemingly simple solution, but the plan lay dormant for more than a decade.

Then in 1991, Andrew Manshel saw a job listing to become the associate director of the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation, the nonprofit founded in 1980 by Dan Biederman and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund that was spearheading the park’s renovation—and Whyte’s vision. Manshel, a former attorney with no planning experience, applied and got the position. Soon after, he set out to pick a chair. Continue reading →

From today’s Wall Street Journal:

Millennials Are Coming to America’s Small Towns

We moved beyond the suburbs so that we can breathe free, park without worry and enjoy a parade. 

By Liz FarmerOct. 11, 2019 6:22 pm ET

Smithsburg, Md.

On a Saturday afternoon in late September, I observed my 6-year-old son repeatedly doing two things we’ve always told him not to do: run into the street and pick up candy off the ground. We were watching the annual tractor parade roll down Main Street here, inhaling the festive atmosphere along with a fair amount of diesel fumes. The parade features more than 100 steam- and gas-engine tractors (most of them with riders tossing candy) and is the highlight of Smithsburg’s annual Steam Engine and Craft Show.

In this town of about 3,000, the weekend of the fair is a big deal. It draws visitors from all around Maryland’s Washington and Frederick counties. This was only the second year we’ve gone to the parade. Last year we barely knew anyone. This year we ran into more than a half-dozen people we knew through school or youth sports. Some were simply friends we’ve made in the community. One of them invited us to watch the parade on her front porch. As we left that evening for the five-minute drive home through mostly farmland and woods, I smiled and thought, “This is why we moved here.”

For the fourth consecutive year, U.S. census figures have shown that thousands of millennials and younger Gen Xers are leaving big cities. Since 2014 an average of about 30,000 residents between 25 and 39 have left big cities annually. My husband and I left Washington, D.C., for the suburbs more than a decade ago because of affordability issues. Now I believe we’re in the next new trend of workers with mobile jobs: moving to a small town to improve our quality of life. 

According to a survey by the freelance marketplace Upwork Inc., people who freelance or have jobs they can take with them are more likely to move out of urban job centers to places that cater to their lifestyles. It’s one of the reasons places like Boise, Idaho, and Charlotte, N.C., are seeing faster population growth than most big cities. When we packed up and headed for farm country 70 miles outside Washington, my husband and I took our son, cat and jobs with us.

Raising a small child in a major metro area can be grueling. Paying for child care is like taking out a second mortgage. Weekend activities often require far more planning than they’re worth. Any parent knows that leaving the house with an obstinate toddler requires reserves of emotional strength. Add the near-certainty of hitting traffic, struggling to find parking, and waiting in long lines, and each trip requires a stockpile of fortitude. 

When it came time to leave the city, our priorities were simple: We wanted to live in a town with good schools and in a house on a lot 3 acres or larger. My husband and I were both able to work from home four days a week, so we cast a wide net around the Washington area.

That’s how we ended up here. We now live in a house that could swallow our old house whole, with acreage to spread out and start long-talked-about projects. We’ve acquired pigs, chickens and, most recently, a puppy. We live next door to a winery with owners our age and whose property we can stroll to on paths cut through fields. Our other neighbors have a herd of goats from which we have a 5-gallon bucket of frozen milk. My fall project is to learn how to make goat-milk soap.

The seasons actually change here. The mountainsides are awash in fall colors. In the winter, the snow creates a quiet, white blanket over the land and stays around to be enjoyed instead of melting into dirty sidewalk slush. In the spring and summer, the fields come to life again and we marvel at how fast the corn grows. Once people get here, the speed and intensity of city life loses its hold over them.

Of course, we’ve had to make adjustments. Washington County is a conservative and rural part of Maryland, so we’ve traded cultural diversity for economic diversity. Eighty percent of the population (including us) is non-Hispanic white. Nearly 14% live in poverty, a rate almost twice that of our old suburb.

There have been lifestyle trade-offs, too. Eating at a good restaurant now requires a 30-minute drive. But going apple picking is something we do at an orchard on the way home from school. I miss being able to walk to our neighborhood playground or the nearby yogurt shop. But I love ambling around our property here, or driving to the local creamery and watching my son play with school friends on its playground.

Perhaps most important, we have psychological as well as physical space. I don’t wonder if I’ll find a parking spot at the grocery store or movie theater. I don’t reflexively check for traffic unless I’m getting on a highway. While playing in our backyard, I don’t feel hemmed in by trees and roof lines. I look up and feel the wide expanse of the open sky.

Before we moved, it had been years since I’d been to a parade. In crowded cities, they’re a pain. Who wants to deal with the hassle of parking and the crush of people trying to leave when it’s over? As children in pre-tech-boom Mountain View, Calif., my sister and I walked from our house to the main drag to watch the small parades the city would host. We often marched in the annual Halloween costume parade. In my memory, parades are simple and fun—a reason for a community to get together. 

Living here, I’ve found that again.

Ms. Farmer is a journalist and fiscal policy expert.