LA Placemaking Academy

In the spring of 2009, Project for Public Spaces, Inc. developed and delivered a Placemaking academy- style training program for the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) of the City of Los Angeles, and the Urban Design Studio (UDS) to augment and expand upon the CRA and UDS's current planning and design process and to identify institutional, financial, socio-cultural and physical obstacles and challenges to implementation Place Making practices as a means of creating great places throughout the City of Los Angeles.

Participants in the training were drawn from the seven CRA planning regions around the city, the LA City DOT, the LA Office of Community Planning, LA City Bureau of Engineering, Land Development, Architecture, City Planning staff, and the UDS.

These seminars were intended to introduce new ways of thinking about cities and towns and their public spaces. Participants were encouraged to think about their projects in a new light and were introduced to practical tools and techniques that they can use in applying these ideas. We worked with participants to develop a placemaking framework for their projects, which will enable them to introduce placemkaing principles and practices into their work.

The study areas selected for this training programmed included three existing public spaces (Gil Lindsay Plaza, a plaza in Boyle Heights, and the area around the BRT station at Reseda and Oxnard) and 11th Street between Broadway and Figueroa all of which are within CRA target areas and are currently in the project development phase.