Placemaking in Theory and Practice

The Metropolitan Planning Council recently came out with a new guide to an old concept. "Placemaking" is a term that has been around since the 1970s in architecture circles to talk about how people and space together create community. At Placemaking Chicago, a website created by MPC in partnership with New York's Project for Public Spaces, you can check out a step-by-step guide to creating great places in your neighborhood and case studies of neighborhood groups in the process of creating cool spaces like the Bloomingdale Trail.

Placemaking Chicago talks about "the power of 10" in a thought-provoking way here:

A great place needs to have at least 10 things to do in it or 10 reasons to be there. But, don't get fixated on a particular number. It's really a matter of offering a variety of things to do in one spot—whose quality as a place then becomes more than the sum of its parts.

Since I had such a great time at Pilsen Open Studios back in October, I've decided to create my own Power of Five challenge and tell you all about five great artists I met in five great spaces during the tour. (And I won't count the earlier post about Victor Montanez, just to raise the bar.) First up: Giselle Mercier showing her stuff at Tianguis.