Newcastle, Australia's downtown business district lacked street life and was littered with empty buildings. A "Renew Newcastle" campaign brought new life and new residents. PPS talks with the man behind the plan.
Marcus Westbury reveals his secrets for downtown revitalization in this interview. Westbury says that aesthetics should take a back seat to creating "new dynamics that generate more interesting and engaging public spaces."
Westbury: "The Renew Newcastle model is to constantly provide new spaces for experimentation and incubation- as we have done more than 60 times already. Some of those projects will succeed some will fail, but the point is to unleash experimentation. Our role will expand and contract with the number of empty spaces available – some of our project will be there in 10 years time but many probably won't be."
FULL STORY: How Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper Interventions Can Catalyze City-Wide Renewal
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The VW Bus is Back — Now as an Electric Minivan
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Investigation Reveals Just How Badly California’s Homeless Shelters are Failing
Fraud, violence, death, and chaos follow a billion dollar investment in a temporary solution that is proving ineffective.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research