Key Takeaways

Reshaping our socially and economically fragmented nation requires bold interventions.

By focusing on a collection of civic assets—rather than a single public space—and on achieving key social, economic, and environmental outcomes, cities can fundamentally shift how they revitalize shared public places. This approach leads to cross-silo, collaborative leadership, more strategic operations, and greater innovation.

Achieving a shared vision for reimagining assets systemically and inclusively requires collaborative leadership from various sectors, departments, and disciplines, as well as local residents.

There is no one-size-fits all approach to this work. Cities can elevate the value of public places and their role in a community by rethinking and prototyping different models of public space operations and co-creating the design, programming, and revitalization of public spaces with everyone from frontline staff to neighborhood residents.

Reimagining the design and programming of a city’s shared public spaces requires an “innovation mindset,” with room for leaders to iterate an idea, stumble, or even fail. This approach means that a community’s changemakers—policymakers, neighborhood residents, entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders—continuously learn from and reflect with each other, and measure the impact their investments are making on people’s lives, their neighborhoods, and the broader community. Continuous learning and reflection, aided by systematically tracking outcomes, helps build more flexible and vital civic assets that lead to equitable social change.