Writing Competition
2018-2019
Creative Placemaking
In partnership with the National Consortium for Creative Placemaking, the Urban Design and Preservation Division hosted the Creative Placemaking Writing Competition.
The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking, the Urban Design and Preservation Division, and the National Endowment for the Arts define creative placemaking as, “when artists, arts organizations, and community development practitioners deliberately integrate arts and culture into community revitalization work—placing arts at the table with land-use, transportation, economic development, education, housing, infrastructure, and public-safety strategies.”
All submissions responded to the following:
Describe a creative placemaking project that you participated in or observed. Participation can be at any level, from community member to project manager. Provide an answer in 500 words or less. Entries may also include up to three images with clear captions. Finalists, chosen for their creativity by the Division Leadership, will be featured in a final publication at the 2019 National Planning Conference, on the Division's website, in the Division's newsletter, and on our social media platforms.
Our podium winners were Yuriko Jewett, Eric McAnally, and Antonio Moya-Latorre:
Yuriko won our first-place prize for her piece on the Lemonade Stand Parklet in her community of Oakland, California.
About Yuriko: Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Yuriko Jewett spent many childhood hours navigating the water’s edge — which may explain why these days she is employed as a shoreline development analyst with the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC). She holds a master’s degree in urban design from the Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York and a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University. She currently lives in Oakland, California, with her husband, two cats, and a flock of backyard chickens.Eric won second for his piece on a Go Human installation in Walnut Park, Los Angeles, California.
About Eric: With a background in psychology and prior experience working abroad, Eric McAnally realized that the built environment psychological and sociological impact on communities. This drove him to become a Master of Planning (MPL) candidate at the University of Southern California (USC), garnering experiences in urban planning, urban design, and consultancy. Eric is seeking opportunities as a design strategist on both a domestic and international level, overall, desiring collaboration to create, facilitate, and implement innovative and sustainable ideas, spaces, and places in which to live, work, heal, and play.
And Antonio Moya-Latorre won third place for his piece on the Fazendinha Project in São Paulo, Brazil.
About Antonio: Antonio Moya-Latorre has a background in architecture and music. Mr. Moya-Latorre researches and works with urban processes based on a transversal vision about public space to respond, in the context of new technologies, to the growing demand for citizen participation. Antonio is committed to developing a contemplative attitude towards the environment inspired by art to help construct solid cultural basis seeking the sustainable progresss of societies through time. He believes that the contemporary world, full of challenges and difficulties, but also of new possibilities and reasons for optimsm, requires collective work to enhance the public services and social conditions in the communal project of the city.
Thank you to all who participated. We look forward to our next competition, which will be announced to members as soon as details emerge.
2011-2012
The Third Place
The Third Place is a concept espoused by Urban Sociologist Ray Oldenberg in his book The Great Good Place. It refers to the notion that social surroundings are separate from the tacit social environments of home and work—the first two places. Oldenberg's premise is that third places provide for, and contribute to, civil society, creating a sense of place, democracy, and civic engagement.
As part of the 2011-2012 writing campaign, the Division extended the following question to its membership and other like-minded professionals:"What is your Third Place?"
The winning author Mike Agnew, AICP of Wausau, Wisconsin, received an iPad courtesy of the Urban Design and Preservation Division for his submission "Tom's Skelly Service."
See a Compilation of Top Submissions
2010-2011
My One City
The My One City writing campaign sought to expose and stimulate planners' thoughts on discovering their favorite city—in 300 words or less.
The winning submission was "St. Louis" by Alexandra Reisman. Ms. Reisman was awarded a free registration for the 2011 National APA Conference in Boston.