As a concept, the definition of placemaking may not seem all that complex. What else could placemaking be, after all, other than actions that make a location feel more like a unique and interesting place? When it comes to identifying what those actions are, or measuring their value, things get a little stickier.
“Placemaking fits into vibrant communities and neighborhoods,” says Gilbert White, member and past president of the
Michigan Association of Realtors (MAR) “It’s all about shifting from the manufacturing sprawl of the old economy into a changing market.”
A key piece of placemaking, White says, is physically changing habitats. While this task often falls to local volunteers or nonprofit neighborhood associations, those groups don’t always have the funding available to make impactful changes. Fortunately, MAR has been thinking about how to overcome this placemaking challenge for some time.
“We thought, ‘how do we involve the private sector in placemaking?’” White says. “It’s the realtors. We sell place. This model is based on involving the realtor community in placemaking.”
That model is the Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper (LQC) grant program. The idea is to award small grants, between $500 and $2,500 to a number of neighborhood programs to quickly move a placemaking idea into action. After a visit and successful pitch to the National Association of Realtor’s Conference in May of this year, White and the MAR walked away with $20,000 to launch a pilot version of the program right here in Lansing.
All told, nine grants were awarded to local projects this fall, including the South Lansing Community Development Association’s Farmer’s Market Expansion, Reutter Fountain Park Weekly Features, Genesee Neighborhood Art Installation, Trowbridge Village Neighbor's Station, Fab Acres Neighborhood, Barnes Street Community Garden, among others.
“The philosophy is that you’re the experts in your neighborhood,” says White,”and you best know at the neighborhood level what would make your public spaces better.”
That was certainly true in Old Town, where the Old Town Commercial Association (OTCA) was awarded a LQC grant for the Old Town Honorarium Sculpture Park, a project the organization has been raising funds for since 2007.
“The great part of doing something like this is how you can get so many hands involved,” says Louise Gradwohl, executive director of the OTCA. “And those involved hands suddenly take ownership of what they have helped accomplished, and realize that these things can happen and are then encouraged to do more. It’s a domino effect.”
The definition of placemaking is fairly broad, says White, and therefore includes not only physical change to the environment, such as a sculpture park, but also the presence of events and activity. That’s why Tony Beyers and a group of local volunteers applied for a LQC grant to bring entertainment the Reutter Park in Downtown Lansing.
“The idea at first was to entice local musicians to come to the park at lunchtime and play for an hour or so for tips,” says Beyers. “Without a lot of people already visiting the park at that time, that wasn't working out very well. We needed some money to pay the musicians to get things started.”
The LQC grant did just that. For the final two months of nice weather in 2012, weekly musicians attracted visitors to the park, something Beyers hopes will make visiting the area a more regular occurrence.
“It is important for people of the neighborhood, whether they work or live there, to have a place to congregate,” he says. “We have a lot of restaurants and other interior places but there's not a lot of green space downtown. We hope to add more events next summer including evening events to bring in different crowds.”
For White and the MAR, placemaking is about more than warm fuzzies. The LQC grants may be small, but they’re meant as investments.
“If it makes a neighborhood a more attractive place to live in, you should see greater value to the residential real estate,” he says. “It’s a core quality of life thing.”
White cites the
Knight Foundation’s “Soul of the Community” study as evidence of the trend.
“What they found was that in all 26 [cities studied], the community attachment variables scored highest, ahead of the most traditional variables,” he says. “The ones with the highest community attachment variables also had the highest GDP values. When you talk about placemaking, it’s moving beyond the fluffy stuff.”
What does that fluffy stuff translate to value in the neighborhoods themselves?
“Old Town has worked hard to transform itself, says Gradwohl. “This park and garden will add to what Old Town is trying to create; A place where art and creative minds live and where those creative minds welcome the entire community to share in our joy. I definitely know that the fact we are investing in rejuvenating a piece of blighted land will only add to the livable, workable and walkable community we have.”
That’s exactly what White hopes to see – and more.
“I’d like to plant seeds,” he says. “Seeds of placemaking. As people plant the seeds of social capital, then they’re able to take the next step. This is about taking people, articulating a vision, and implementing small, incremental steps. It’s a great way to engage and empower people.”
With nine such seeds planted throughout the Lansing area, there’s no telling how each neighborhood could continue to grow with the small boost from each placemaking project. With plans for a second round of grant for next year underway, the future will certainly hold even more projects adding their progress.
See a complete list and videos of the LQC recipients
here.What is placemaking? And what does it look like? Thanks to the Michigan Association of Realtors Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper Grant, we now have at least nine great examples of placemaking projects throughout the Lansing area. Take a look at what these projects mean to their respective neighborhoods, and how placemaking will play a role in Lansing’s future.