HistoricOmaha

A Do-it-Yourself Guide to Placemaking

Jay Walljasper has given us nothing less than a manual for how to rebuild community, one practical step at a time, and in the process recover much of the joy of day-to-day life. What a gift!

- Bill McKibben, author of
Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future

Abandoned lots and litter-strewn sidewalks, or rows of green beans and pockets of wildflowers? Graffiti-marked walls and desolate bus stops, or shady refuges and comfortable seating? What transforms a dingy, inhospitable area into a dynamic gathering place? How do individuals take back their neighborhood?

Neighborhoods decline when the people who live there lose their connection and no longer feel part of their community. Recapturing that sense of belonging and pride of place can be as simple as planting a civic garden or placing some benches in a park.

Need ideas for how to improve your own neighborhood?
Download–free–the Great Neighborhood Party Kit for tips on how to kick-start a memorable neighborhood event in your own community!

The Great Neighborhood Book explains how most struggling communities can be revived, not by vast infusions of cash, not by government, but by the people who live there. Through real-life stories, this book addresses such challenges as traffic control, crime, comfort and safety, and developing economic vitality. Offering compelling evidence of how people in communities have enhanced their own neighborhoods through “Placemaking” — the PPS term for the process of transforming public space — this exciting guide offers inspiring real-life examples that show the magic that happens when individuals take small steps, and motivate others to make change. It joins The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces and How To Turn a Place Around in the PPS library of publications that explore a place-based approach to improving neighborhoods.

This book is a must-read not only for neighborhood activists and concerned citizens but also for urban planners, developers and policy-makers.

Author: Jay Walljasper
Publisher: New Society
Pub Date: 2007
Binding: Softcover, 7½ x 9, 175 pp., b&w illustrations
Price: $19.95
Member Price: $15.96
ISBN: 978-0-86571-581-3