2024 Summer Issue of Urban Land - 33

office-centric. Downtowns that previously
closed after working hours are now being
reimagined as 18- to 24-hour environments
that leverage their centrality, character, and
connectivity to create community.
CHRIS LAW: The COVID-19 pandemic has had
a major impact on mental health, especially
for older people and those who were already
a little isolated. Placemaking is a practice
that can connect people, whether through a
street festival or other event, or even through
an organization that invites people to work
together to prepare for a festival or event. I
hope that these events make people understand
the importance of public open spaces,
so that when the next pandemic comes, we
will be more ready to deal with it.
KRISTOPHER TAKÁCS: Real estate pressures
that traditionally drove downtown investment
and redevelopment seem to be very different
today than they were three years ago. And
in every American city, there's an enthusiasm
to rethink our downtowns in new ways that
attract vibrancy, resiliency, and life. That's
essentially what placemaking is: the intentional
creation of places that excel through
the right combination of programs, people,
activities, culture, and economic structure.
Reinvented downtowns will become greater
than the sum of their parts-much greater
places than the single-use neighborhoods
many were crafted to be.
How can the public sector better
encourage placemaking efforts?
HELLER: Why shouldn't every major downtown
gateway city have a creative placemaking
officer? In places [such as] San Francisco,
Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, that
role could bring substantial value. There
should also be a streamlined process that
allows artists, creatives, food purveyors, and
others to launch concepts and ideas much
more easily. One example is the convergence
of public open space with commercial enterprises,
like in New York City's Bryant Park.
It's a thriving place because it's a public park
that has commercial programming woven
into it. It feels like an amazing European
plaza, lined with restaurants, and people
playing ping-pong, and art carts. Too often,
SUMMER 202 4
parks are segregated from commercial retail
lifestyle centers.
LAW: The government can offer vacant land,
public spaces, and buildings so that placemaking
can happen. A lot of my work in the
last three or four years has been on helping
to create mechanisms so the government
can supply those lands and resources to nonprofit
organizations more easily and seamlessly.
Often, government regulations are
not designed to provide the flexibility that
placemaking efforts require-you have to go
through 15 different government departments
to use a space. Government can also provide
financial support or resources such as offering
ambulances or police support for major
events.
MAWEMA: Investment in public infrastructure
[such as] streets, sidewalks, parks, and
waterfronts, as well as more public/private
partnerships and tax-based incentives like
Washington D.C.'s Housing in Downtown
program, can help support private sector
placemaking activity. Adaptive reuse and
renovation projects always present opportunities
to simultaneously build back critical
infrastructure and improve the public realm
to move the city forward.
TAKÁCS: Business improvement districts,
community groups, housing associations, and
other civic coalitions [that] have
As part of the ULI
Art in Place Program,
ULI partnered with
Bank of America and
Hong Kong's Link Real
Estate Investment
Trust to host the Choi
Wan Community
" Paint and Plant "
Day in April 2024,
fostering community
engagement and
transforming the
rooftop of the Choi
Wan Commercial
Complex in Hong
Kong with new
sitting and planter
areas. Volunteers
collaborated with
local artists on a mural
painting at the podium
level, as well.
URBAN LAND
33
FEATURES
ULI HONG K ONG
2024 Summer Issue of Urban Land

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2024 Summer Issue of Urban Land
