The 40-credit, four-semester master of science degree program — which purports to be the first of its kind in the United States focused on creating successful public spaces based on community planning [...]
“Rather than allowing these spaces to be formed as an afterthought of building design, placemaking sees the creation of successful public spaces as the starting point, which in turn dictates the siting and design of other components of the urban fabric.”
— artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com
The "Urban Placemaking and Management" masters program will be led by David Burney FAIA, who was also recently appointed interim Executive Director of AIANY and the Center for Architecture. The program will be part of Pratt's Programs for Sustainable Planning and Development.
Pratt's full description of the program is available here.
8 Comments
placemaking??
I don't know how Pratt defines placemaking, but I understand it to be about what makes a place unique, what gives it a special feeling when there. It involves understanding a context in all its facets and trying to build upon it harmoniously. Not every place has a sense of place, and it changes over time, but we all know special places that we hope will survive to give others the happiness they give us.
It's the art of building a nice backdrop building where the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Not something you will learn at most schools but incredibly important when you get out. You need to listen and empathize with what people like about a place and have the humility to respond harmoniously.
In music, it's like joining a band with a distinct sound and learning how to add to what makes it special without over whelming or creating dissonance. I hope this helps to understand because it's like many things we value in life, hard to quantify but essential to happiness.
you can major in nintendo if you know how to bullshit.
if you can't dazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with bullshit, am i right?
case in point, thayer is talking about music as if that's relevant.
So many of these stories feel connected... I saw a quote from a design person (they like dispense wisdom) recently that said, "The old way of thinking about "things" is outdated. Now its about relationships." At what point did the intelligencia decide it was an either/or?
I'm all for placemaking in urban space if it is local (^) and isn't just high-line-washing or bike washing. Unfortunatley this doesn't sound like a complete system of thought, but a trendy commodification and repackaging of what's hip: tactical urbanism, bike-washing, etc, which are fine when they aren't "bread and circus" urban thinking. When was "placemaking" not a part of architecture and urban design? My own education was very heavy on a system that connected buildings to the urban environment from the ground level. In fact most of these urban projects combine architecture, ititiated by architects, built by architects with the drive of local residents. The system of architecture creates many tangible solutions, "things," wheras this new digital/placemaking movement is only parasitic in a way. Just like this program.
Giving up on buildings as a part of this system is an ominous and cynical move from people that should know better. Doesn't bode well for the future of the AIA Center either. Perhaps it would be more fitting to create a branding program to better fit the true objectives of this PR industrial complex.
Perhaps they will give detention for any mention of the influence of a physical thing....
In 10 years, the AIP will start a media campaign to combate the negative perception of the "placemaking" industry, after the media fetish of "star-placemakers" destroys the public image of the placemaker. A PR agency will rediscover the rarely used "architecture."
It's just capitalism at work in education. If a school find find out "new and fresh" ways of extracting money from students to pay exorbitant salaries to their administrators they'll trumpet it from the mountaintops. I just see another ruse from a 7 figure a year provost to put more money in her pocket...
Everything gets corrupted by industry that sells. Doesn't mean one should discard the idea, assuming one has any interest in it. Also, I don't think Pratt has my definition in mind but That's the definition from whence the term arose. That being the urbanists crowd..
sounds like a new way to package/rebrand urban design. Bullshitting and war are possibly the 2 things humans are best at.
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