How to Turn a Place Around

By Kathy Madden,

Book cover of How to Turn a Place Around: A Placemaking Handbook

Book description

How to Turn a Place Around is a user-friendly, common sense guide for everyone from community residents to mayors on how to create successful places. The ideas presented in this book reflect over 40 years of Project for Public Spaces experience helping people understand and improve their public spaces. The…

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Why read it?

1 author picked How to Turn a Place Around as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I chose this book because it collects decades of wisdom and experience about urban design into an easy-to-read guide with lots of visual cues and tactile inspiration. The book shows off the work of community-driven placemaking that has been the practice of the Project for Public Spaces since the 1970s. The book’s “how to” section is organized around 11 principles which all emphasize that a well-designed community starts at the ground level by working directly with the community and using their knowledge and experience to guide the way forward.

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