Placemaking in Context: Honoring the Culture and History of Communities

Placemaking strengthens the connection between people and places. Join us as we examine placemaking through a lens of arts and humanities with transportation, elevating the history of local communities and encouraging safe, active transportation through the built environment.

This workshop, Honoring Communities' Cultures and Histories, is open to municipalities, planners, and anyone else interested in learning about placemaking. Speakers represent a variety of projects and places with different goals and outcomes—remembering events of the past, preserving community memories, acknowledging changing landscapes, and celebrating communities that occupy spaces in the present.

Attendees will walk away with:

• Examples of diverse types of placemaking, demonstrated by the variety of speakers, projects, and locations
• The integration of arts and humanities into placemaking through public history, landscape architecture, and storytelling.

• Placemaking and active transportation through presentations about Strollology (the science of walking), public art, and safety.
• An opportunity to share their own ideas and troubleshoot issues in their communities through a hands-on workshop.

Keynote Speaker:

• Nina Cooke John, Founding Principal, Studio Cooke John Architecture + Design

9:00 to 9:30: Registration and Networking

9:30 to 9:40: Welcome – David Behrend, Executive Director, NJTPA

9:40 to 10:00: Morning Keynote - Nina Cooke John

Nina Cooke John will discuss the development, design, and installation of Harriet Tubman monument in Newark, NJ.

10 am to 11:00: Panel Presentation - Honoring the Past

This presentation brings together experts from community-based organizations in New Jersey. Led by Dr. Kristin O’Brassill-Kulfan, the panel will discuss topics such as collaborative knowledge production about local history, stakeholder mapping, and historical resource auditing for community history projects. The panelists will provide case study examples from New Brunswick, Asbury Park, and Newark.

Panelists and Moderator

• Dr. Kristin O’Brassill-Kulfan (moderator), Assistant Professor, Rutgers – AIR Collaborative
• Jennifer Soulder, Founder, Asbury Park African American Music Project (AP-AMP)
• Diane Shelton, Community Outreach Specialist, Interfaith Neighbors
• TBD: Representative from the City of Newark

11:00 to 11:15: Break

11:15 to 12:15: Placemaking Presentations – Honoring the Present

Two presenters will share their expertise in placemaking with a focus on everyday users of the space. Dr. Anette Freytag will discuss the concept of Strollology – the science of walking – to experience and identify the typical planning errors of a car-based society. She will also discuss the charm and opportunities of in-between and peripheral spaces and the way creative placemaking and aesthetic care may activate public spaces. Anette will present on a transnational project centering the importance of planners and public administrators to take walks at project sites.

Dan Swern from CoLab Arts will share their work on murals as traffic calming interventions, demonstrating the impact of arts and placemaking on transportation and safety.

Presenters

• Dr. Anette Freytag, Professor, Rutgers – AIR Collaborative
• Dan Swern, Co-founder and Producing Director, CoLab Arts

(end of main program)
12:15 to 12:45: LUNCH

Break for lunch on your own. A list of local lunch options will be provided.

12:30 to 1:30: OPTIONAL Workshop

Attendees with placemaking projects in their own communities are invited to stay for a collaborative discussion with experts from the Vibrant Places Program and the AIR Collaborative. This session provides an opportunity to ask questions about local initiatives or share ideas with other placemakers looking to implement projects.

Host or Publisher NJTPA Vibrant Communities Initiative