The Anatomy of a Public Square
This article is the first in a series of reflections on the role of public spaces as places of meeting and civic identity. Public squares, in particular, provide the necessary space where individuals of like mind can come together to express their convictions and give voice to their deeply held concerns. A public square can also be the venue where the wider urban community can discover and celebrate a sense of common purpose and shared identity.
Pioneer Courthouse Square
PIONEER COURTHOUSE SQUARE IN PORTLAND
Pioneer Courthouse Square is located in the heart of downtown Portland and serves as the city’s central gathering place. Commonly known as "Portland's Living Room," the Square draws some 10,000,000 visitors each year. While the Square is a city-owned park, it is operated and managed by a nonprofit Board of Trustees in a public–private partnership.
A number of years ago as a new member of the Board of Trustees of Pioneer Courthouse Square, I quickly learned that the stewardship of a public space like the Square requires the bringing together of a diverse range of perspectives and stakeholders. It was some years later, during my term as President of Board (2013-2015), that I first tried to capture some of this complexity in what I have come to call “The Anatomy of a Public Square.” This “anatomy” is a layered look at what elements and questions are involved in the effective governance of a public-private partnership.
The Anatomy of a Public Square
With each of the six elements or layers, beginning with the foundational "physical" layer and continuing up to the "iconic" layer, there are essential questions that need to explored. And with each layer and each question there comes a slightly different set of stakeholders who need to be both informed and engaged in the conversation.
WORKING WITH THE STAKEHOLDERS
As the primary corporate entity responsible for the continuing health and vitality of a public space, the board of a square needs to see that part of its oversight role is to arrange for these ongoing conversations whether formally structured through board representation or informally arranged by staff and board leaders.
THE RELATIONSHIPS ARE DYNAMIC
Each layer builds upon the layer below it, contributing to the overall vitality of the public space. These layers or elements, however distinct, should not be seen as separate “silos,” but as having dynamic relationships to each of the other layers.
Ways of visualizing these dynamic relationships between the layers became clearer to me after exploring this “anatomy” with two colleagues, The Rev. Dr. William Lupfer (Rector of Trinity Church, New York City) and Fred Kent (President of the Project for Public Spaces). They helped me to see that further insights into the dynamic nature of a public square could be gained by two other displays of the six layers.
PAIRINGS
The first display involves reorganizing the six layers into three pairings: joining the top and bottom layers, the two middle layers and the two remaining layers with the following result:
The Physical and Iconic layers
The Sustainable and Economic layers
The Programmatic and Narrative layers
These parings reveal some essential commonalities that could be creatively explored. For example, you might see how the specific program activities of a square contribute to the broader civic narrative.
A PIE CHART
A second way of looking at these relationships is to see them in the form of a pie chart where each one of the layers touch each of the others at the center. This is an important reminder that conversations and actions addressed in one layer or aspect of governance has ramifications for all of the others.
EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE
This “Anatomy of a Public Square,” while brief, is I hope a useful reminder that the effective governance and management of public squares involves careful, consistent and creative attention to these six elements or layers, each of which has its own distinct “language,” analytic skills and networks of interested parties.
