“What makes a “good” public space?” is a question asked in public health, economic development, community development, environmentalism, and more, especially during Summer 2020, where the public’s need for quality public spaces was underscored even more. This research report, funded by the William Penn Foundation, characterizes the diverse range of methods and lenses used to evaluate urban public spaces today. For use by practitioners and policymakers alike, our synthesis combines insights from academic literature and evaluation tools used by urban planners.
Specifically, I wrote answering the question of “to what extent do municipalities include public space assets as a factor in larger community development evaluations?” (pp. 19-21). My section uses my background in community development and neighborhood planning efforts to bring discuss asset-based community development, tools used in planning evaluations, and using public space to build community capacity.
Published in October 2020. Written in collaboration with Hamil Pearsall, PhD; Stephen Dickinson; and Kyle Cruz; all at Temple University.
Maggie Loesch 