Section 4: Creating a Sense of Place
Placemaking & the Power of Everyday Design
Placemaking is the practice of creating spaces that are more than just physically functional. It involves designing public spaces such as plazas, sidewalks, parks, and marketplaces in ways that encourage people to gather, hang out, and return. Features like comfortable seating, green space, public art, safe walkways, and engaging storefronts all work together to make a place feel alive.
The Van Aken District’s success as a gathering space is a testament to these principles and perhaps no feature captures that better than “the rock.” Tucked between Mitchell’s Ice Cream and other storefronts in the main plaza, this five-foot boulder has become an unofficial landmark of childhood in Shaker Heights. Children climb it, compete to be king or queen of the mountain, spill ice cream near it, and make memories on it daily. Parents gather around on nearby benches, letting their kids burn off energy while they chat or relax.
At first glance, it might seem unremarkable, just a boulder in a patch of artificial turf. But it’s a good example of what placemaking looks like when it works. The rock wasn’t designed to be the center of attention, but that’s exactly what it became. It invites imagination and unstructured play. And it’s turned a public plaza into a family-friendly space. As one parent joked, “It’s basically the district’s childcare facility.”
Source: https://stephanie-sheldon-m931.squarespace.com/stories/van-aken-district-shaker-heights-rock
This kind of feature reminds us that placemaking isn’t always about grand statements. It’s about human-scale details that foster connections and belonging.
References
https://stephanie-sheldon-m931.squarespace.com/stories/van-aken-district-shaker-heights-rock
