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.
By contributing their time, passion, and creativity to the beach center, community members are uncovering vibrant new spaces that have been hiding in plain sight.Place Evaluation & User Analysis
Community Engagement & Visioning
Programming
Place Concepts & Designs
Lighter Quicker Cheaper
Salisbury’s beachfront is a regional highlight rich with a mixture of carnival traditions, famous “beach pizza,” and old New England charm. Over time, the town’s beach center was losing ground as a destination. The city invited Project for Public Spaces to help residents re-imagining the entire beach center, two commercial blocks with a broad esplanade. The area had all the ingredients of a great public space but lacked the inviting environment and range of activities to characterize it as a true destination.
Project for Public Spaces and stakeholders created a “lighter, quicker, cheaper” design for the space along with plans for long-term governance. The resulting “off-beach oasis” includes a flexible lawn area, seating, festive lighting, and giant building blocks. Other interventions included a mini “parklet” with spaces for eating and socializing instead of parking spaces. With this transformation, Salisbury has shifted a sometimes contentious debate about the location of a new comfort station into a broader and more productive conversation about the life of the entire beach center. Lessons learned from this ongoing experiment will inform more permanent capital improvements to the beach center soon.
Place Evaluation & User Analysis
Community Engagement & Visioning
Programming
Place Concepts & Designs
Lighter Quicker Cheaper
