Front Yards to School Yards:6 Placemaking Tips to Activate Your Outdoor Spaces This Summer

Photo by Katherine O'Neil

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Are you looking for some tips and tricks to enhance your outdoor space? Summers are a great time of year to gather and bring people together to enjoy the outdoors.  Below are some helpful placemaking tips on how to easily, cheaply, and effectively transform spaces from front yards to plazas to patios.

1. Add (moveable) seating: if people can’t sit down comfortably they won't stick around. Let the user be able to place and move the seating whenever possible.
2. Protect your back: people like to have a structure behind them, so as not to be surprised, ideally with a view out to a larger space.
3. Have many things to do: if there is nothing to do, people wont be there. Be sure to consider all ages, cultures, and genders and their unique needs and desires.
4. Semi-enclosure feels good: allows users to choose whether to be social or private. Think of a good porch or a cozy booth at a restaurant.
5. Active edges make active interiors: if people don’t feel comfortable on the edge of a space, they won't venture into the middle.
6. Daylight and sunshine: sun in the morning feels good as it is cooler outside. In the afternoon the sun comes from the south and straight up above and is very hot, thus causing people to like shade. In the late afternoon and evening the sun comes from the west and is still often hot, with shade preferred. Consider what type of sun your spaces get and the type of shade (or lack thereof) most appropriate.