withSimplicity – Harrisonburg, Virginia
withSimplicity is a handmade beauty products retailer in an airstream trailer. This is a creative adaptation of three parking spaces to activate them into a ground floor level use. Should this location not work the store is movable by virtue of being in a trailer and on wheels.
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Visit to South Street Seaport – New York City, New York
This waterfront district with distinctive multi-story brick buildings with hipped roofs and chimneys. Connecting them are ample public spaces made that much more enjoyable by the near total elimination of automobiles. Wayfinding helps to orient and navigate people through the district. Nine city blocks and several piers anchor this neighborhood....
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Titanic Memorial Park – New York City, New York
A small pocket park is adjacent to the lighthouse memorial in the Titanic Memorial Park. Raised from subscriptions, this was set atop the Seamen's Church from 1913 to 1967. Every day at noon a time ball at the top of the lighthouse would drop down at noon as a signal...
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Kikkerland Pop Up Shop – New York City, New York
This pop-up shop by Wanted Design operated for a brief time in 2016 in the South Street Seaport neighborhood of New York. It featured an eclectic selection of household and gift items.
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Seaport Smorgasburg – New York City, New York
This container restaurant in the South Street Seaport neighborhood of New York, is divided into roughly one-half for a kitchen, and the other half for service. Movable tables and chairs outside activate a street that otherwise has limited activity. Update This restaurant did not return in 2017. Instead it decamped...
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Downtown – East End Market – Orlando, Florida
We were grateful for a chance to visit the East End Market in Orlando. The market is located in the Audubon Park Garden District that was named a Great American Main Street by the National Main Street Center in 2016 — and factored prominently in that success. Inside a diverse selection of food-based...
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Downtown – Audubon Park Garden District, Orlando, Florida
The Audubon Park Garden District is a Great American Main Street Award (GAMSA) winner from 2016. East End Market serves as the physical and civic center of the district. During a quick visit in 2016 after they had won the award, we had a chance to see their hard work...
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Downtown – Johnson City, Tennessee
Tupelo Honey Cafe was our destination to meet a colleague for lunch. Before lunch I took a quick tour of the downtown and saw some fairly inexpensive but well-designed social seating at one of the restaurants. We admired the gateway signage and landscaping for "The Blue Plum Village." Later we...
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Mice on Main – Greenville, South Carolina
Mice on Main sculpture in Greenville. Credit: Greenville Roots. Mice started as a public art project thought up by Jim Ryan, a senior at Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, South Carolina, in 2000. Artist Zan Wells made a clay sculpture of each mouse. Then they were cast...
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Downtown – Corbin, Kentucky
Corbin has a reasonably well built up downtown. At the time we visited in 2016 there were some signs of a retail revival. Anchoring this were two businesses - You&Me Coffee & Tea and the Wrigley Taproom & Eatery. The Wrigley Taproom & Eatery made a conscious effort to source...
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For the Love of My City
Kageyama providing the keynote address at the Main Street Now conference in Milwaukee, May 2016. Peter Kageyama delivered perhaps the most powerful keynote address I’ve ever heard at the Main Street Now Conference in Milwaukee this past May 2016. Following his talk I was so moved that it was difficult to...
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Creative Placemaking Bootcamp
Creative Placemaking Bootcamp, Main Street Now, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (May 24, 2016) Isaac directing over 100 volunteers who helped to transform Postman’s Plot in Milwaukee during the Main Street Now conference on May 24, 2016. It all started with an idea, and the idea wasn’t even ours — it was from a bunch of...
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the spot MKE – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
This placemaking project sought to activate a surface parking lot adjacent to a conference center and hotel. While there were some well-intending efforts, overall the project did not activate the space. Primary elements include this trailer and pavement painting. From the conference center visibility of this space is limited. Approach...
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Creative Placemaking to Transform a Park in Milwaukee and Build a #BetterMainStreet
This is the story of how a National Endowment for the Arts gathering of national arts leaders in DC that was listened to by leaders of a small town in Appalachia inspired them to connect with leaders in Milwaukee to transform a neglected park. The National Endowment for the Arts...
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Natural Tunnel – Duffield, Virginia
The juxtaposition of a train track through a tunnel is somewhat incongruous. Today it is possible to walk through and see the site as a tourist. Undoubtedly this natural feature helped when expanding rail access through a mountainous area. Trains, both contemporary and historic are featured at the site.
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Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities
“Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities,” The Conservation Fund, Sheperdstown, West Virginia (March 2016) This session provided real world examples of thriving rural communities and the tools and techniques they use; highlighted the keys to success of working with diverse public, private, and nonprofit partners; and provided an opportunity...
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Crafting a New Agenda for Preservation in the 21st Century
The Preservation Rightsizing Network has caught on to a deep strain of interest to see reform from within the preservation movement. Their timing for this could not be better given it is the 50th anniversary year since the National Historic Preservation Act was passed by Congress and signed in to...
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