ULI NEWS

For more information, contact: Trisha Riggs (202) 624-7086; email: priggs@uli.org

WASHINGTON (November 19, 2002) – What makes a great place? The art of creating places that bring people together, places that attract, delight, excite and comfort, is explored in Place Making: Developing Town Centers, Main Streets and Urban Villages, a new publication from the Urban Land Institute (ULI).

The book, authored by Charles C. Bohl, focuses primarily on place making in suburban areas – areas that have long been identified with segregated-use, isolated, auto-dependent developments. The concept of place making in the suburbs developed in response to consumer demand for communities with more urban, walkable facilities that provide gathering places for socialization, and which is achieved through the development of focal points, the author explains. Successful place making in the suburbs, whether on a small or large scale, involves creating mixed-use, clustered developments that provide a of sense of community through a cohesive, integrated design, Bohl says.

Place Making offers several case studies as examples of "great places": CityPlace, West Palm Beach, Fla.; Easton Town Center, Columbus, Ohio; Haile Village Center, Gainesville, Fla.; Market Square in Kentlands/Lakelands, Gaithersburg, Md.; Market Street at Celebration, Celebration, Fla.; Orenco Station Town Center, Portland, Ore.; Southlake Town Square, Southlake, Texas; Town Center Drive, Valencia, Calif.

"By whatever name the projects are called – village center, urban village, town center, transit village, or main street – the developers of these projects all shared an ambition to create unique places with lasting value, rather than standardized developments to be quickly built and sold…These are projects that have challenged long-held assumptions about consumers, retailing practices, street standards, building design, parking arrangements, housing types, office space, marketing and a host of related issues," Bohl says.

The opening chapter of Place Making identifies and discusses key factors driving the development of town center and main street projects. In addition to rising consumer demand in general, other factors are changing demographics; market forces spurring innovative design; and new public policies oriented toward such developments. The second chapter offers a historical perspective on the evolution of place making in America; and the third chapter offers basic design ideas for creating a great place.

Various formats for town centers, urban villages and main street developments are included in the fourth chapter, and financing is covered in the fifth.

"Breakthrough" projects and case studies are analyzed in the sixth and seventh chapters, while the final chapter sums up what works and what doesn’t for different types of projects.

Place Making " brings together the collective wisdom and experience gained from the first generation of town center and main street projects to be built in over five decades," Bohl says. "Together they represent…real world examples of how developers, designers and communities can create sustainable, livable and profitable alternatives to sprawl."

Place Making: Developing Town Centers, Main Streets and Urban Villages is available free of charge to the media, call Trisha Riggs at 202-624-7086 or email priggs@uli.org to order a copy. Copies are available to ULI members for $59.95; for non-members, $69.95; order from ULI’s online bookstore at www.uli.org or call 800-321-5011. Use order number P45.

The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide responsible leadership in the use of land in order to enhance the total environment. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 17,000 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.