Project for Public Spaces

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Founded in 1975, Project for Public Spaces has brought some of the most successful public spaces in the world to life. Public spaces are only able to fulfill their potential when the people who use them everyday take part in the process. That’s why we put constructive community participation at the heart of our work. We partner with corporate social responsibility initiatives and foundations to support projects of all scales and budgets—from planning or improving parks, plazas, and public markets to transforming entire districts. Through workshops, trainings, and conferences, we educate and equip people with the tools to lead in their own placemaking efforts worldwide. Our interdisciplinary team has worked on the ground with over 3,500 communities in 52 countries, creating places that serve as the foundation for our society’s health, resilience, and so much more. Together, we can build a world where every public space is community-powered. Learn more at www.pps.org. Source

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Impacts of Market Cities: How Market Cities Build Inclusive & Diverse Economies

| Project for Public Spaces
What is a public market worth? Ask a room full of experts this question and the answers could be as diverse as the products displayed in a busy market hall on Saturday morning. Public markets offer a range of interconnected economic, civic, and environmental benefits to consumers, producers, and communities alike.
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Sneak Peek: Seven Detroit Experiences at Placemaking Week 2026

| Project for Public Spaces
Detroit, Michigan, USA, has been many things to many people: an industrial powerhouse, a city of middle-class opportunity, a city in crisis, but more recently, a model of public space-led renewal. If you've been following the placemaking world, you already know that Detroit doesn't just talk about resilience—it lives it. Beacon Park Night Market, Detroit, MI.
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Letter from the Co-Executive Directors: A New Strategic Vision to Ensure Great Public Spaces Are Never the Exception

| Project for Public Spaces
Dear Public Space Champion, When our founders started Project for Public Spaces in 1975, they set out on a three-year mission to prove why public space matters. Five decades later, so much has changed for the better in our public realm. Community engagement and human-centered design are far more common, funding for creative projects in public places has increased, and a community of placemakers has grown across the world. And yet, great public spaces are still the exception, not the rule.
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Placemaking Is Dead, Long Live Placemaking!

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By Max Musicant, Shina Shayesteh
| Project for Public Spaces
This article was first published in the Practice of Place Substack. Republished with permission. By Max Musicant and Shina Shayesteh‍ It’s time to let placemaking rise from its own ashes. Source: Wikimedia Commons We find ourselves in a political era where language is being weaponized. Leaders are saying the exact opposite happened from what we are directly experiencing. “Truth” is becoming more and more the opinion you can yell the loudest.
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What is a Third Place? Beyond the Buzzword to True Social Connection

| Project for Public Spaces
Social isolation is on the rise. In fact,it’s an epidemic. In light of this crisis, it is no wonder that people are feeling more compelled to find ways to connect. Unfortunately, at the time we need them most, we are losing our hangout spots, our meet-up points, our usual gathering places. Our communities are starting to feel the absence of places where people can go to meet with friends, have informal exchanges with acquaintances, or just get out of the house.
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Project for Public Spaces Awards Community Placemaking Grants to Reimagine Streets for Safer, More Mobile Communities

| Project for Public Spaces
NEWS RELEASE February 4, 2026 – Detroit, MI, Traverse City, MI, and Newport, KY. Project for Public Spacesannounced today that it has selected two nonprofits and one municipality to receive Community Placemaking Grants: Streets as Places & Destinations Stations to transform outdoor public spaces that will improve street safety and mobility.
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Kathleen A. Madden (1947-2025)

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By Steve Davies , Ethan Kent, Josh Kent
| Project for Public Spaces
Written by Steve Davies, Ethan Kent, and Josh Kent Kathleen (“Kathy”)  A. Madden, a prominent urban public spaces expert and placemaking leader, died on October 20, 2025, at her home in Brooklyn following a brief hospitalization. Kathy, co-founder of the internationally recognized Project for Public Spaces (PPS), brought Minnesota sensibilities to her lifelong commitment to helping people improve their lives and communities.
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What Holly Whyte’s “Social Life” Film Can Teach Us Today

| Project for Public Spaces
On Friday, September 26, 2025, a sold-out crowd filled the theater at the Anthology Film Archives (AFA) in Manhattan’s East Village, eager to watch a newly restored version of a beloved classic. William H. “Holly” Whyte’s The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces—a documentary that has played as a staple in countless urban planning, landscape architecture , and architecture classrooms for over 45 years—was finally showing on the big screen.
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Get Ready for Placemaking Week 2026 in Detroit

| Project for Public Spaces
The 5th International Placemaking Weekwill take place in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., June 24-26, 2026! We look forward to opening our Call for Proposals in October 2025, but in the meantime, let’s take a closer look at our host city! We have a lot to learn from Detroit. From its downtown to its riverfront to its neighborhood parks, Detroit’s community-driven projects have transformed vacant spaces into vibrant hubs of culture, connection, and pride.
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What is a Public Market?

| Project for Public Spaces
Fundamentally, a public market is a shared space that offers local businesses a central place to sell a variety of goods. They are set apart from other types of retail, such as grocery stores, by a few key criteria.
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