Placemaking – Milwaukee, Featuring Fred Kent – Project for Public Spaces
A day to talk about Placemaking in Downtown Milwaukee with Plenary Speaker: Fred Kent, President – Project for Public Spaces
Click here to download the program.
Registration is closed.
You will not be able to register at the door.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
8:00 AM – 4:30 PM
We Energies
231 W. Michigan Street
Milwaukee
8:00 – 8:30 AM Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30 – 10:00 AM
- Welcome to We Energies – Joan Shafer, Sr. Vice President, Customer Service, We
- Welcome to the Conference – Steve Hiniker, Executive Director, 1000 Friends of WI
- Welcome to Milwaukee – Mayor Tom Barrett
- Introduction to Placemaking – Fred Kent, President, Project for Public Spaces
Placemaking is a quiet movement that reimagines public spaces as the heart of every community, in every city. It’s a transformative approach that inspires people to create and improve their public places. Placemaking strengthens the connection between people and the places they share.
Fred Kent, Founder and President of the Project for Public Spaces, will discuss Placemaking as a movement, and as it applies to Wisconsin and Milwaukee. Revitalizing our nation’s communities will take more than a traditional, top-down planning approach – it needs an approach rooted in community-based participation.
Placemaking facilitates creative patterns of activities and connections that define a community and support its ongoing evolution. More than just creating better urban design of public spaces, Placemaking is how people are more collectively and intentionally shaping our world, and our future on this planet.
10:15 – 11:45 AM Workshops
Placemaking Workshops descriptions:
1. 30th Street Corridor Placemaking
- Leaders – Gloria Stearns. ED, 30th Street Industrial Corridor Corporation
- Kein Burton, Development Manager, Redevelopment Authority – City of Milwaukee
- Karen Sands, Sustainability Manager – MMSD
The 30th Street Industrial Corridor is undergoing extensive revitalization with investments from:
City of Milwaukee – $35 million in the success of Century City, MMSD – $40 million in stormwater remediation. M-WERC – emphasizing alternative energy and technologies, Transform Milwaukee – impacting housing in the area.
In this session we will discuss three design considerations in the corridor.
+ Garden Homes is an historic neighborhood in Milwaukee’s central city with a community park space. How can this community park space be used to reconnect social fabric in the area?
+ City Neighborhood Association / Triangle Neighborhood has a great park resource. The neighborhood wants to reclaim its park and ensure it remains under the informal social control of residents.
+ The City of Milwaukee is investing in the Century City Business Park to attract manufacturers. At 35th & Capitol, retail and/or light industrial opportunities abound. What placemaking elements can be added to the mix to “give back” to the community?
This workshop will take place inside
2. Wisconsin Avenue from the Lakefront to Marquette University
- Leaders – Rocky Marcoux, Dept. of City Development Commissioner – City of Milwaukee
- Maggie Kuhn Jacobus, President & Executive Director – Creative Alliance Milwaukee
Wisconsin Avenue is historically the center of Downtown Milwaukee’s commercial marketplace. In spite of the high numbers of office workers and pedestrians there has not been a strong coordinated effort to create a synergistic sense of place along the corridor. As a partial result, commercial uses have moved away from the Grand Avenue, but have started to return recently. This bus tour will discuss the recent successes and efforts to return the Grand to Wisconsin Avenue.
This session will cover the stretch of Wisconsin Avenue from the lakefront, by O’Donnell Park, and travel west to the junction with Marquette University. We will stop at a number of the focal points along the route. There may also be opportunities to un-board the bus to get a closer look at the locations.
Bus tour
3. Placemaking through Programming your Corridor
- Leaders – Jeremy Fojut, Chief Idea Officer – NEWaukee
- Sara Daleiden, Director – MKE <-> LAX and Creative Placemaking Consultant – Greater Milwaukee Committee
A necessary component of a successful placemaking strategy is creating programming to activate corridors and neighborhoods. Simply designing or defining spaces is not enough. The actual use of spaces needs to be further instigated through programming activities and events.
Successful placemaking events do not happen by accident. They require a thorough understanding of what makes a location unique, what attracts people to a location, and how the experiences will draw people back again. As an organization that creates signature experiences, NEWaukee’s leadership will discuss the process it undertakes to successfully placemake through programming.
With Milwaukee as its laboratory, we will discuss several of NEWaukee’s successful events and programming. This session will also discuss how results are measured to gauge the success of events as well as national trends that are informing local placemaking activities.
This workshop will take place inside
4. Creating the Downtown Historic District – Milwaukee’s Newest Oldest Neighborhood
- Leaders: Josh Jeffers, – Jeffers & Co.
- Matthew T Jarosz – UW-Milwaukee
- Dan Casanova, Economic Development Specialist – City of Milwaukee
The two-block stretch of North Broadway between E. Wisconsin Avenue and E. Clybourn Street is home to some of Wisconsin’s most iconic buildings and has the potential to be one of the most attractive, vibrant, and successful places in Downtown Milwaukee. The existing vacancies and surface parking lots are on the brink of substantial new investment that will build on downtown’s momentum and create a stronger connection between downtown and the Third Ward while respecting the historic buildings in the district.
Leaders and stakeholders will provide historic context for the area and an overview of their plans for this new historic downtown neighborhood. Participants will walk east 4 blocks from the WE Energies Public Service Building to the Mackie Building to view a model of the Downtown Historic District to begin discussing the master plan concepts for the area.
Walking tour
Noon – 1:45 PM Lunch and group discussions
2:00 – 3:30 PM
Fred Kent with a panel of local leaders will further discuss and evaluate Milwaukee Placemaking.
- Facilitator: Beth Weirick, – CEO, Downtown Milwaukee, BID #21
- Kein Burton, Development Manager, Redevelopment Authority – City of Milwaukee
- Teresa Cano – Public Ally, NWSCDC
- Barry Mandel – President, Mandel Group
- Sara Daleiden – Director, MKE <-> LAX Creative Placemaking Consultant – Greater Milwaukee Committee
- Larry Witzling – Principal, GRAEF
3:45 – 4:15 PM Wrap-up including inspiring words to carry on!
4:30 – 5:30 PM Reception – Drinks & appetizers
Hosted by 1000 Friends of Wisconsin with support from Milwaukee Downtown, BID #21
Thank you to our sponsors!
We Energies
Foley & Lardner, LLP
Godfrey & Kahn, SC
GRAEF
Marcus Hotels & Resorts
Milwaukee Downtown, BID #21
NEWaukee
Northwest Side Community Development Corporation
Mandel Group
Greater Milwaukee Committee
Transit Express
FAQs
Where can I contact the organizer with any questions?
Please contact Deb Nemeth at dnemeth@1kfriends.org or call at 608-259-1000.
Is there parking?
Yes, please view this document for details.
Can I register at the door?
No.