PLACES is about the design of places, the experiences they make possible and the consequences they have in our lives. Being in places involves social encounters, immersion in the sights, sounds, sun, wind and atmosphere of a locale, and curiosity about the traces of thought, imagination and investment that have guided their construction and use over time. PLACES is about the dynamics of nature and culture and the conscious stewarding of resources.
PLACES: Forum of design for the Design for the Public Realm, and related activities, fosters discussion in multiple voices, with strong imagery and language that is clear and accessible, crossing general interests, professions and scholarly disciplines. The focus is on places of public import and on designs and proposals that embody thought in ways that deserve public discourse and continuing attention.
Goals and Obectives:
1. To foster debate about environmental design from the discussion of buildings, landscapes and art projects as singular, visual objects to the consequences they have in the environments that surround our lives.
2. To offer a forum that is equally accessible to designers, scholars, public officials and citizens - "to everybody who creates places, manages places, studies society and place and, most importantly, experiences places.
3. To explore the multiple meanings of place, and the multiple ways that ideas about place are put in service in a pluralistic society and diverse world. To cultivate dialogue among differing constructs for understanding, operating in and directing change in the built and natural environment.
4. To focus attention on the often neglected public realm. To ask how design can be a catalyst for creating neighborhoods, parks, streets, workplaces, infrastructure and other facilities and spaces that sustain our civic and social lives.
5. To change the way citizens, professionals and scholars construct their sense of responsibility to the environment. To examine how approaches to research, design and caring for places can support the well-being of individuals, our communities, our society and culture.
6. To inform and expand definitions of place and public space.