Key Concepts from Public Administration & Urban Planning (Part IV)

This section highlights several foundational ideas that every Levin School student should understand: public-private partnerships, entrepreneurship, and placemaking.

A public-private partnership is a formal arrangement between a government entity and a private company to finance, build, and/or operate a project that serves the public. These partnerships combine public oversight and goals with private sector expertise and resources. In this case, the City of Shaker Heights worked closely with RMS to redevelop a declining commercial area into a vibrant, mixed-use district. This collaboration allowed both parties to share risks and responsibilities and ultimately create a project that neither could have completed alone.

The city used public tools like the Shaker Partnership Loan Program to help independent businesses lease space in the Van Aken District, rather than leaving leasing entirely to the market. This approach supported entrepreneurship and made the district feel unique and community-oriented. However, it also carried risks, including the financial instability of smaller businesses and the need for ongoing public support. While critics might question government involvement in private leasing decisions, the city’s strategy demonstrates how local governments can take an active role in shaping economic development to reflect community values.

Remember, placemaking involves designing public spaces that encourage people to gather, hang out, and return. It’s about creating emotionally resonant, socially vibrant spaces.

It’s worth expanding our conversation about placemaking. The speaker, Peter Kageyama, describes placemaking as the process of creating cities that people genuinely love and feel emotionally engaged with, moving beyond mere functionality.

His placemaking examples included:

• Transforming New York City’s Times Square into a pedestrian-friendly area.
• Developing unique public spaces like New York’s Highline Park, an elevated railway turned into an above-ground park.
• Creating playful environments such as Chicago’s Millennium Park, which incorporates features like the “Bean” sculpture (Cloud Gate) and interactive water cannons, which show the importance of play.
• Integrating dog parks and playgrounds to humanize museums and other public spaces, as seen with the Tampa Museum of Art.
• Fostering bike-friendly, walkable, and dog-friendly environments that encourage discovery, improvisation, and social capital. Walkable cities, for instance, allow for new discoveries about a city, while dog-friendly spaces create vitality and a sense of safety on the streets.
• Events and traditions like Providence, Rhode Island’s WaterFire, a display of bonfires in the river, and Pittsburgh’s zombie walks, which embrace the city’s connection to zombie film culture.
• Simple expressions of fun, such as adding dinosaurs to a children’s museum’s facade.

Ultimately, this type of placemaking is driven by emotionally engaged individuals and a small percentage of content creators within a community who undertake extraordinary efforts to make their city a lovable and vibrant place.