• Seven qualities of safe spaces

    An American urban planner who was influential in the design of mixed-income neighborhoods enumerates the qualities of public spaces that feel safe and secure.
    People are hard-wired by thousands of years of evolution to react to the built environment in certain universal ways. That’s true because the design of communities has a real impact on safety, health, and social relationships. Over countless generations, our ancestors were attracted to places that...Read more

  • Infrastructure Department boosts the public realm

    Jersey City is showing how to rapidly transform public space to serve a wide range of users, contributing to its reputation as a livable city.
    Two years ago, the City of Jersey City created a Department of Infrastructure to oversee streets, transit, parks, municipal buildings, and other facilities—an unusual and bold move helping transform the public realm. The department and policies leading up to its creation were pivotal in...Read more

  • Historic square gets new urban makeover

    Nicely proportioned Bergen Square in Jersey City received a road diet, new public space, traffic calming and other upgrades.
    One of the nation’s oldest public squares, degraded by 20th Century parking lots, has been restored to greater pedestrian use with a $1.8 million makeover. Street Plans’ Brooklyn office worked with Jersey City’s Department of Infrastructure to renovate Bergen Square, a beautifully proportioned 17th...Read more

  • Vanishing third places and what can be done

    Creative, multipurpose spaces are the answer to dying third places, according to two experts on CNU's On the Park Bench.
    “Third places” are economically, socially, and culturally important, serving as much of the glue that keeps neighborhoods together. However, they have long been vanishing and weakening, according to Jaime Izurieta and Rik Adamski, who presented to CNU’s On the Park Bench. The trend has been...Read more