PPS's Training Programs

Why get trained in Placemaking?

Project for Public Spaces’ Placemaking training seminars introduce new ways of thinking about the public spaces in your community. The training provides practical tools and techniques, as well as inspiration to those who want to improve the public environment in their neighborhood, town, or city.

PPS offers a variety of training programs that help both citizens and professionals improve their communities and make them more vibrant and livable. The training will help participants understand how to effectively participate in community redevelopment and reinvestment efforts that are happening to the places where they live, work and play. Participants will also learn how to elicit useful input from communities and stakeholders and how to develop and implement a positive community participation process for creating a vision for a particular place, or series of places.

Some important issues that are addressed in PPS’s work as well as in our training programs are:

As more people live in central cities and downtown areas, they are aware that increased investment results in better places, and they want to be a part of that process.
Everyone has experienced a problematic or unused public space in their own community and they know that these spaces can function better.
People want an inclusive process for planning public spaces that results in more successful spaces.
People are looking for skills; professionals want to know how to work effectively with communities, while citizens and community activists want training in how to bring their ideas into a city’s planning process in a positive way.

Who does PPS train?

PPS trains a variety of audiences, nationally and internationally, including community members, citizens, city planners, transportation professionals, managers of private, public and federal properties, landscape architects, architects, urban designers, academics, and many others. PPS also develops training programs for various city, county and state departments, including planning, parks and recreation, transportation, economic development, and any other specific professional organization who is interested. PPS has also worked with non-government organizations on establishing Placemaking programs on a country-wide basis, such as our programs in Scotland, Serbia and the Czech Republic.

What are the goals of PPS’s training programs?

Placemaking training will empower people to better understand how to play a role in the process of creating better public spaces. Through a classroom environment and fieldwork demonstrations, participants will see first-hand how to be a pro-active part of the planning process.

As a professional, this training will teach participants to look at their projects and spaces through the eyes of the user and the community. This perspective can change how city planners, engineers, designers, etc. work.

What types of training programs does PPS offer?

PPS offers two types of training programs: public workshops, and tailored training. The public workshops start with an introductory course designed around the principles of successful spaces, including the Placemaking process, qualities of successful and unsuccessful places, case studies of successful places that have been transformed through community-led improvement processes, and before-and-after examples from around the world.

Current public workshops PPS offers are:

How to Turn a Place Around is an introduction to the Placemaking principles and process. The two-day workshop is held twice a year in New York City, and is geared toward a broad spectrum of professionals and community activists;
An introduction to developing and maintaining successful public markets, How to Create Successful Markets, is also offered twice a year, in New York City or a host city. Tours of public markets and interviews with market managers are essential elements of the course. The course builds upon the work PPS does around the world in creating public markets as a catalyst for social and economic change.
Streets as Places is a two-day training seminar held in New York City three to four times a year. The course introduces participants to new ways of thinking about streets as public spaces and shows how Placemaking can build great streets and great communities. Streets as Places features a walking tour of recent street improvement projects in NYC, an on-site Placemaking street audit, and open discussions about current transportation issues and challenges.

PPS also offers more in-depth training on a variety of issues and tailored for particular groups. Possible tailored training programs we offer include:

Advanced courses for people who have taken the introductory course, have initiated a specific project, or who need help dealing with specific issues in their community, such as: incorporating the Placemaking process into a city government process; learning detailed data collection techniques; facilitating community meetings; or translating a community’s vision into a workable and successful design. These courses are offered upon request, and are usually held in the host city or town.
Public sector training to prepare staff of city or state agencies to be more responsive to a community-based Placemaking approach. Often, community members are ready to implement changes in their town or city, and the public sector is unprepared to work with them or to tap into their expertise in an effective manner.
Specialized courses in Transportation Planning for both public sector transportation engineers and planners and for transportation consultants who work on public transportation projects. Context Sensitive Solutions training offers a new approach to transportation planning, looking "beyond the pavement" to the role that streets and roads can play in enhancing communities. More information available on the Transportation homepage.
International program. PPS's international program trains planners who are working for non-government planning organizations (NGO’s) to use a community-based Placemaking process in their community revitalization projects. These programs are generally multi-year partnerships, during which time the local representatives gain the experience to conduct Placemaking workshops and make improvements to particular places themselves.
Research, training and sharing information among academics. Many academics are using PPS's book, How to Turn a Place Around, and other materials in their classes, and some are interested in developing curriculum and embarking on research projects that will benefit communities and planners. PPS is planning a symposium of people from a range of academic institutions to explore how Placemaking can most effectively be incorporated into design and planning curriculums and how new research can be conducted and introduced into the field at large. To become involved, contact Kathy Madden.
Continuing education courses. PPS gives lectures and training programs for continuing education credit hours. This arrangement is usually through a university, college, or professional organization who enlists our participation in a series of events.