Creating Great Downtown Public Spaces

Last week Concentrate, along with the Ann Arbor DDA, hosted a speaker event where we invited a trio of guests to talk about the planning, challenges, and complexities of creating a public space in our downtown.

The talk kicked off with observations by urbanist film maker Kirk Westphal and Ann Arbor park planner Amy Kuras. They were followed by our featured speaker Bob Gregory, President of the Detroit 300 Conservancy, which oversees the development and ongoing management and programming of Detroit's $20+ million Campus Martius Park. Bob spoke about what it took to create the park, how the site was selected, as well as the challenges of sustaining and maintaining Campus Martius as an active public space.

If you missed the event, well, we've got you covered. Though not nearly as exciting as being there, we captured the speakers on the magic of video. Click on the YouTube video  and be a part of the action!

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