Page 16 - The City of Greensboro Conditions and Trends

CITY OF GREENSBORO COMPREHENSIVE PLAN CONDITIONS & TRENDS

At its core, Placemaking is a strategy for creating centers of activity within a community and enhancing the quality of those
centers in order to bring people together for social interaction, culture, commerce, and recreation. To be successful, a
center should offer a variety of things a visitor can do, ideally without spending any money. According to PPS, creating
these centers produces multiple benefits for the community, as they:

Create improved accessibility Promote a sense of comfort
Build and supports the local economy Nurture and defines a sense of community
Foster social interaction Promote health

Placemaking can start as an experimental approach to try out ideas for short periods in order to evaluate their
effectiveness. Some elements are dropped while others are refined and used again. When an idea appears to be
particularly successful, it can shift from temporary to permanent. Good places usually combine multiple Placemaking tools
and techniques, including street furniture and plants; food truck rodeos; pop-up shops, markets, and events; street or
sidewalk art; outdoor games; wayfinding signage; and traffic-calming measures. Placemaking experiments can help change
happen in ways that are smarter, more equitable, more sustainable, more connected, more fiscally responsible, and more
people-centered.

What This Means for Greensboro

Placemaking efforts are being carried out by local governments, private businesses, non-profits, citizen-activists, or by
partnerships among two or more of these groups. Greensboro is beginning to turn its attention to the principles of
Placemaking as an element of its community and economic development strategy. To date, Placemaking activities in
Greensboro have been primarily carried out by non-profits and private businesses.

Placemaking, especially in the downtown area but also in neighborhood-oriented centers or urban villages, could have a
transformational effect on growth and development in Greensboro over the planning horizon. It can be especially valuable
as a tool for improving quality of life in or near newer suburban areas that developed without the benefits of a mix of uses.
Considering the growing demand for the type of community atmosphere that Placemaking can create, Greensboro stands
to gain much by increasing its efforts on this front, and risks at least as much by failing to improve the quality of place it
offers to its residents and visitors.

DRAFT -16- March 15, 2018