1. The community is the expert. The people who live or work near a place know from experience which areas are special to them, where children can safely plan, and where traffic moves too fast. Unfortunately, these people are rarely asked to contribute to the planning and design process.
2. You are creating a place—not a design. The design of a public place is less important to its success than how well-maintained, safe and accessible it is and what programs go on there. Yet these considerations are rarely factored in during the planning stage.
3. You can’t do it alone. A good public space requires more resources and expertise than any one organization can offer. Partners can contribute innovative ideas, financial support, or collaborate on activities such as marketing.
4. They’ll always say, “It can’t be done.” When an idea stretches beyond the reach of government or business officials, they will say, “It can’t be done.” What that usually means is: “We’ve never done things that way before.” Keep pushing.
5. You can see a lot just by observing. When you observe a space, you learn about how it is actually used. We have seen people use waste receptacles as places to sit, or even to cook clams. Actions like these frequently confound the designers and managers of public space, but they show how to make the space work for people.
6. Develop a vision. A vision for a place should be defined by people who will use it, particularly those who live and work nearby, rather than professionals or public agencies.
7. Form supports function. A good deal of retrofitting goes on in failed public spaces simply because little thought was given to how people actually use it.
8. Make the connections. The goal is to create a place that fosters many activities that support and sustain each other. This is called triangulation. For example, if a children’s reading room in a new library is located next to a playground and then a food kiosk is added, more activity will occur than if these facilities were located separately.
9. Start with the petunias. Improve the space by experimenting, evaluating and incorporating the lessons. Short-term actions, like planting flowers, can be a way of not only testing ideas, but also giving people confidence that change is occurring and that their ideas matter.
10. Money is not the issue. When money becomes an issue, this can be an indication that the wrong concept is at work—not because the plans are too expensive, but because the public doesn’t feel they will benefit from the project.
11. You are never finished. We estimate that about 80 percent of the success of any public space can be attributed to its management. No matter how good the design of a space is, it will never become a true place unless it is cared for well.
Adapted from the book How to Turn a Place Around: A Hand book for Creating Successful Public Spaces. From the project for Public Spaces Inc. 700 Broadway, 4th Floor, (at 4th Street), New York, NY 10003.
Historically Accurate?
Unsure about what your tilework could have looked like in the past? Keep in mind that, from 1890 to about 1920, most kitchens and baths had an antiseptic look: white ceramic floors and walls. After 1920, though, the influence of the Arts & Crafts Movement introduced color. Hand-painted, enameled, pottery, and terra cotta tiles gained popularity, and tile manufacturers experimented with pastels and metallic glazes. The layout of walls changed, too, with tile sometimes turned diagonally and dadoes ending in a horizontal cap. The secondary bathrooms of the house might have retained the old white-on-white motif, but the master baths, beginning in the 1920s, had colored ceramics and ultimately colored porcelain fixtures by the 1930s. Nonslip mosaic floor tile is still practical today. Unglazed hex tile or porcelain squares, for example, are slip-proof and easy to mop with bleach. (Never put glazed tile on the floor, especially in a bath.) You'll never find a tile setter with the patience to pry up mosaic tiles and reposition them. However, if you supply the border tile, a pro will be happy to lay it for you. To determine quantity, first determine the center point of your room. Then, using graph paper, figure out how many sheets of field tile and border tile your room will need. Plan for corners. Make up sheets well in advance so the tilesetter can move quickly. Mastic or Thin-set mortar sets up too quickly to allow time for fussing with individual tiles.
What could be more historically appropriate above unglazed floor tile than tight-jointed 3"x 6" subway tile? When shopping, though, remember that "subway" is an unofficial term. American Olean's subway tile is sold under the "Greenwich Village" name; Dal-Tile's goes by the moniker "Rittenhouse Square." Unless you ask a distributor for these specific product lines, chances are you will strikeout. There are too many tile products for distributors to keep track of, and these are not the trendy ones.
Remember that details are what make a historical look. Make sure your supplier or distributor can also provide the cove and base tile to help you complete the job. These generally come in dimensions of 2"x 6" or 3"x 6", and all subway tile is available in an assortment of colors: white, ebony, cobalt blue, ruby red, and sage are just a few.
