The Placemaking Round-Up
A biweekly newsletter with public space news, resources, and opportunities.
The Biweekly Bazaar
A curated dispatch on all things public markets plus the latest announcements from the Market Cities Program.
A biweekly newsletter with public space news, resources, and opportunities.
A curated dispatch on all things public markets plus the latest announcements from the Market Cities Program.
NEWS RLEASE
March 10, 2025 – New York, NY. Project for Public Spaces recently released its State of Public Space Survey Report, detailing how public spaces are faring today, as seen through the lens of the public space professionals who plan, design, steward, and advocate for them every day. Since its founding in 1975, the organization’s mission has grown to help hundreds of thousands of people around the world understand and improve the public spaces in their own communities, which include parks, playgrounds, squares, streets, marketplaces, and more. In November 2024, Project for Public Spaces invited planners, designers, place managers, artists, researchers, activists, and others to share their insights about the greatest challenges and opportunities facing these vital community places today. Over 700 individuals across 57 countries and 48 U.S. States contributed to a robust data set and overwhelmingly voiced a concern for public spaces.
Only 5% of public space professionals who participated said that public spaces are meeting community needs, while 95% reported that public spaces need to improve or are outright failing to meet the needs of the community.
To understand this resounding sentiment, Project for Public Spaces sorted through the findings to pinpoint the most pressing societal and practical issues in public spaces today. These issues are summarized in the report’s Seven Big Takeaways:
1. Aging infrastructure: The way we fund public space is broken.
2. Bureaucracy: Cutting red tape could make limited resources go further in public space.
3. Homelessness: Public space is on the frontlines of the housing crisis.
4. Access: Physical, financial, and cultural barriers prevent many from accessing the benefits of public space.
5. Social Isolation: Public space can break the vicious cycle of loneliness.
6. Climate Change: Extreme weather is making public space less welcoming, but public space can adapt.
7. Disinvestment & Gentrification: Big public space investments need a plan for development without displacement.
In response to the key issues identified, Project for Public Spaces turned to its 50 years of expertise and network of innovators to offer additional context and promising case studies for addressing these challenges in an increasingly uncertain time. The organization stresses the need for public space funders and regulators to seek new models, and the opportunity for public space professionals to contribute to some of the greatest challenges facing the world today.
Since closing the survey in 2024, even greater challenges for public space professionals have emerged. A new wave of scrutiny on federal funding in the U.S. has led to grant delays, proposed funding cuts, and understaffing, undermining the stability of the civic infrastructure that we all depend on. This has already resulted in worsening homelessness and chaos in our National Parks, and many public space professionals are expecting cuts to trickle down into neglected parks and streets, communities unprepared for this year’s floods and fires, and ultimately, a deepening spiral of social isolation.
“While our public space colleagues have largely voiced concerns about the current performance of public spaces, one principle remains unchanged. We cannot stop advocating for them, especially in these pivotal times. Investing in public spaces is, and always will be, a commitment to the health of communities,” says Nate Storring, Project for Public Spaces’ Co-Executive Director. “Public space work is powerful, addressing many root issues that jeopardize livelihoods, community resilience, and even democracy. While current affairs often demand that we act urgently on many fronts, we must not forget the foundational importance of public space to the wellbeing of our towns, cities, countries, and world.”
“Public space work is powerful, addressing many root issues that jeopardize livelihoods, community resilience, and even democracy. While current affairs often demand that we act urgently on many fronts, we must not forget the foundational importance of public space to the wellbeing of our towns, cities, countries, and world.” — Nate Storring, Project for Public Spaces’ Co-Executive Director
As Project for Public Spaces celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2025, it is grateful to have had an outpouring of support and participation in the survey. The findings will be applied in the organization’s everyday work educating, convening, and empowering public space professionals as they create and improve places in their own communities. You can click here to read the full report.
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Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, Project for Public Spaces has spent the past five decades bringing some of the most successful public places in the world to life. Today, it remains committed to putting community participation at the center of everything it does, from placemaking partnerships with corporations and foundations to workshops, trainings, conferences, on-the-ground design and planning services, and more. The interdisciplinary team has helped over 3,500 communities in 52 countries create inclusive places that change society for the better. Project for Public Spaces is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Learn more at PPS.org.
CONTACT
Anne Tan-Detchkov
Director of Communications & Marketing
Project for Public Spaces
atan@pps.org
(212) 620-5660
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