Creative Placemaking Symposium

Creative-Placemaking-Tactical-Urbanism

Landscape Architecture, Tactical Urbanism, Public Art, Popup Parks: 
The Power of Design to Transform Our Neighborhoods
Creative Placemaking is the art of turning urban renewal projects into collaborative opportunities for community created public art. The mission of this symposium was to begin a dialogue and momentum, inviting community stakeholders to the goal of turning our neighborhoods into artistic, vibrant and creative places once more. One of the projects that was born out of this symposium was H.A.R.P., the Holyoke Alleyways Revitalization Project.

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Our wonderful array of speakers:
• City Planner, Jessica Allan, City Planner for Easthampton, speaking about “Tactical Urbanism, and Popup Parks”.

Lisa DePiano, of Mobile Design Lab presenting on “Participatory Design: The Art of Organized Chaos”

Nancy Howard, MLA presenting on:
The Canal Creature Crawl:
Playing with night-terrors of the post-industrial landscape and

The Dinosaur Garden:
An Educational Jurassic Landscape in Holyoke

Joseph Krupczynski, / Associate Professor, Architecture + Design Program at Umass Amherst presents on the Envision Depot Square project he did with his graduate students.

James Kitchen, Sculptor and Evan Plotkin, Sponsor and Benefactor, presenting on “Springfield of Dreams”:
Featuring James Kitchen’s 35′ tall sculpture, “Birdicus Gigantium”, made of recycled steel and installed in downtown Springfield at One Financial Plaza.

Marcos Marrero, City Planner for Holyoke, and Jeff Bianchine, Creative Economy Coordinator for Holyoke:
“Revitalize Holyoke”, speaking on collaborative revitalization initiatives for the city of Holyoke.

Lisa Hoag , artist, designer:
Pop-up, Art, Community-Inspired Placemaking”, talk on the origins of the High Line project in New York City and it’s success in helping to transform the Lower West Side neighborhood (the former meat packing district), into a new and emergent district for galleries and the arts.

Rich Stewart, a talented designer, and colleague from New York:
“Creating Virtual Representations of Environmental Designs in Photoshop”, as well as “Integrating Photovoltaic Structures into Landscape Designs”, and some successful urban revitalization projects such as PS1 in New York that could be used as models elsewhere.

Steve St. Pierre of Co-ex Corporation:
“Outdoor Daylighting Shelter Projects in Public Spaces”, including a non-attached polycarbonate shelter structure for a local farmers market, and an arched structure to bridge an open air space between two buildings, using his company’s translucent structural multi-wall polycarbonate material.