Gensler teams around the globe spent the last year re-imagining the concept of a Town Square. This video documents the ideas and efforts of Gensler Los Angeles, who used Pershing Square as a case study for how to re-imagine Town Squares in every community. The LA team developed an inclusive, flexible and progressive process, a process that can be custom tailored to public spaces everywhere. During our year long research project, we challenged our own preconceptions about the role of open space. We used computational methods to devise a neutral and nimble design tool that gives equal weight to the ideas of users, citizens, designers and policy makers alike. Pershing Square lies at the confluence of diverse downtown districts. Because of it’s location Pershing Square has the opportunity to knit those diverse districts together. This key position in the city makes Pershing Square an ideal test case for our methods. Our hope is to ignite discourse on how this important historic space, and all public space, can play a role in bringing the inhabitants of a city together and improving the lives of all who pass through.
A lot of the processes and decisions I see being made in this urban planning video are familiar to me from User Experience. Fascinating and beautiful.
From the video page:
"Gensler teams around the globe spent the last year re-imagining the concept of a Town Square. This video documents the ideas and efforts of Gensler Los Angeles, who used Pershing Square as a case study for how to re-imagine Town Squares in every community."
