What is Placemaking?

"Good placemaking makes use of underutilized space to enhance the urban experience at the pedestrian scale" -- Wikipedia.

The cover image shows a "parklet" near 30th and University which has for years provided a place to relax, read, talk to other visitors, and have something to eat or a cup of coffee. People in pleasant public spaces stay longer, spend more across multiple neighborhood shops, and build street vitality.

Parklets aren't the only way San Diego can make life better by more engaging use of its spaces. Pocket Parks can be installed in dead-end rights-of-way, stubs of streets that were truncated by highways, rail lines, or geography that serve no real driving purpose but attract trash and dumping. At minimal cost, the city could install bollards and amenities such as picnic tables and native plant containers, transforming an eyesore into a neighborhood gathering spot.

Concrete retainers, utility boxes or windowless side walls of commercial buildings produce a "dead zone" for pedestrians. These can be considerably enlivened with murals or vertical wall-planters without great expense.

All these ideas rely on interim materials (paint, planters, bollards, modular decks). Because they are cheap and non-permanent, local governments are far more willing to issue pilot project permits or administrative exemptions rather than requiring lengthy environmental reviews or heavy zoning approvals.

Fun fact: the city of San Diego has an office that has information on placemaking and how to get the permit you need: https://www.sandiego.gov/economic-development/business/starting/placemaking