What does it take, and who needs a seat at the table to successfully transform the public realm? Placemaking is an inherently place-based process that requires the collaboration of residents, planners, business owners, designers, engineers, local non-profits, BIDs, community advocates, and politicians - to name a few. Everyone has a role to play, and oftentimes contributions expand beyond a team member’s professional or community-based capacity, not to mention other team member’s assumptions. The city engineer withholding permits until fire lanes are confirmed could also alter traffic signal timing for extended pedestrian periods during your installation. The business owner concerned about losing parking spaces might have an empty basement where your team can prepare materials. The cycling activist steering every conversation towards bike lanes can help get bicycles donated as raffle prizes. The out-of-town property owner with a vacant storefront may have roots in the community and jump at the opportunity to activate their space. Point is, successful projects happen when people move beyond their comfort zones, talk openly about their perspective on roadblocks, and work together to get a project built. Following a primer on placemaking, we will introduce participants to a hypothetical placemaking scenario - the foundation of the roleplaying game. Workshop participants will be assigned a role (distinct from their actual profession), a roadblock their character will introduce into the implementation process, and an unexpected asset they can share - if the right questions are asked. Attendees will play their assigned roles, introducing curveballs, teasing out contributions that other team members can provide, and hashing it out - the way real projects in the public realm get built. Attendees will learn that only through transparent dialogue - sharing challenges and soliciting creative solutions from the whole team - can the project be built.
