...but sometimes that doesn't work out.

When we started Project for Public Spaces in 1975, it didn't occur to us that we'd still be at it thirty years later. We brashly believed that with a few strategically-chosen demonstration projects, we would show how a common-sense approach to design and development could improve communities everywhere. People--from politicians and developers to architects and citizens--would quickly embrace the idea of Placemaking. PPS would accomplish its mission by 1980 or so, we figured, and we would then move on to something else.

Well, we have a favorite saying about working on public spaces, and it applies perfectly to PPS's own history: "You can't know what you're going to end up with." What PPS has accomplished over the past 30 years--and what we have grown to become as an organization--is remarkably more complex and interesting than anything we imagined possible in 1975.

We didn't realize at that time how enormous the task before us really was. Our core belief was simple: When you focus on Place, you do everything differently. This means when you look first at local communities' assets and aspirations, you create public spaces that will nurture people's health, happiness, and wellbeing. We quickly discovered, however, that this approach ran against the deeply ingrained habits of most design professionals, traffic engineers, developers, and public policymakers.

We then asked ourselves: Could a small organization like PPS really change how these powerful and entrenched interests did their work? "Yes," we decided, and we dug in our heels for the long struggle ahead.

Our core belief was simple: When you focus on Place, you do everything differently.

Though greatly outnumbered at first, we never felt like a lonely voice in the wilderness--there were always kindred spirits eager to break new ground with us. In city after city, we came across visionaries who saw a different kind of future for America's communities. Some were private developers, public officials and foundation leaders who hired us because they saw opportunities to create great places where none existed before. Some were design professionals and concerned citizens who worked alongside us. But we learned from all of them, and they all shared our belief that parks, squares, business districts, streets and other public places should above all serve the needs and desires of the people who use them.

These people were the sort of leaders who seized opportunities to do things differently. By welcoming PPS to their communities they not only expressed a willingness to move beyond the status quo, they made a commitment to the bigger idea of revitalizing cities around public spaces. Through work in hundreds of communities around the world, PPS met more and more of these folks and forged an informal network of partners across the world who share the goals and philosophy of Placemaking.

By the mid-1990s Project for Public Spaces had acquired a long record of accomplishments and a national reputation, but our original goal of revolutionizing the design and management of public spaces remained largely unfulfilled. It was around this time that we began to notice some remarkable changes--small at first, but steadily building into a shift of historic proportions: Institutions with enormous influence over shaping the built environment were coming around to our way of thinking.

In city after city, we came across visionaries who saw a different kind of future for America's communities.

Departments of Transportation in several states wanted PPS to teach them how to design streets as places that balanced the needs of people, transit, and cars. The General Services Administration, the branch of the U.S. government in charge of federal buildings, enlisted us to transform public properties into vital places throughout the country. The Federal Highway Administration tapped us to create on online resource center to boost the adoption of Context Sensitive Solutions, which take communities into account in transportation planning, for all 50 states. Without compromising our values, we had found a new and receptive audience for the ideas of Placemaking among key decision-makers.

Today, even as obstacles that once seemed insurmountable begin to fall, unexpected challenges arise and old struggles persist. Thirty years ago, for instance, we could never have foreseen the havoc that big-box retailers would wreak on downtowns and local economies. And we still have a long ways to go before our nation's parks, streets, and public buildings are designed and managed as places that actually serve the public. As we embark on our next thirty years by tackling challenges all around, we know from our past work that nothing is out of reach. Casey Stengel said it best: "I always heard it couldn't be done, but sometimes that don't work out."

Fred Kent, President

Kathy Madden, Vice-President

Steve Davies, Vice-President