For the last 6 years, 1000 Friends has worked with Leopold Elementary School to coordinate actions that would help create a more welcoming schoolyard and alleviate flooding issues on the blacktop. In the last few years, we started the Leopold Green Schoolyard Committee – made up of parents, staff, and community partners that is still […]
Read more about "Leopold Green Schoolyard – Video Tour and Final Update!"
In our series on how to measure and interpret the sustainability and livability of our communities, we continue today on the theme of public space priorities. We know that walkability is important and that creating a better pedestrian environment improves the economy and vitality of our communities. Making choices for better walkability also goes hand […]
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As we continue our research into what makes a community healthy, sustainable, and livable, we can use maps and geographic data to reveal new underlying trends and identify areas where our communities need improvement. We are using our home base of Madison, Wisconsin, as our test case, but the types of analysis we are doing […]
Read more about "Parking Space Or People Space?"
An important element of livable communities is how much space we devote to different modes of transportation. It is no secret that most American cities strongly favor cars. This picture shows how much space in downtown Detroit is devoted to space for storing cars. Parking garages and lots aside, many streets have been engineered to […]
Read more about "Paved Roadways or People Space?"
For our very last placemaking recommendation for the impending redesign of the 700 and 800 blocks of State Street and UW’s Library Mall (and we think we have saved the most important one for last), we strongly encourage the City of Madison and the UW-Madison to work together to create a programming coordinator position for […]
Read more about "Great Placemaking Idea #8: Programming Coordinator"For a few weeks, we have been sharing what we think are good ideas for improving the lower State Street experience for bicyclists as part of our broader series on placemaking ideas for the upcoming renovations. For the last of our bike-related recommendations for improving the State Street and Library Malls as quality public spaces, […]
Read more about "Great Placemaking Idea #7: Bicycle Service and Repair as an Enduring Feature"