Place-Making with James Rojas... in New York!

From East L.A. to the East Village, urbanist and planner James Rojas is in NYC this month for engagements at Pratt and elsewhere. He's also been taking his Place-It! workshops all around the city! Last night I was able to attend one myself, held in Tompkins Square Park as part of the Urban SPACEship meet-up group.

The event was great, with dozens of people assembled on the grass in Tompkins Square. James explained his method, to inspire everyday community members to think about their placemaking ideals without the restrictions of planner-speak and bureaucratic guidelines. Then we all sat down with our construction paper and hundreds of unique, abstractly shaped toys and objects to design "our ideal childhood place."

I created something (below) inspired by the town of Watford, Hertfordshire, and especially its enormous wooded greenspace, Cassiobury Park. This park, a couple of blocks from my grandparents' house in this London suburb in which I spent much of my childhood, is the place that always comes immediately to mind when I think of childhood and idyllic places. Together with its surrounding walkable streets, shops, and train access, it is - oddly though it may sound to some who know the city and its rougher edges - pretty ideal in terms of urban design.

Next, we were tasked to get into groups of five or six and create a vision for improving Tompkins Square itself. My group went with a board game-inspired theme (below) and many of the groups emphasized water (as had many childhood places in the previous exercise).

All in all a great experience and demonstration of the potential in the 'Place-It' method. Most importantly, it got a wide variety of New Yorkers talking about place in really free and creative ways.