The City of West Hollywood, like most highly urbanized environments, must adapt rapidly to change. The desire to be an attractive and welcoming urban destination for visitors as well as a thriving, active community for residents and business necessitates forward thinking and creative adaptation to new conditions, technologies, and relationships. One of the most fundamental relationships, between public and private space, is undergoing a profound and unprecedented shift. High-quality outdoor space to meet and mingle, or to just walk and be outside is a critical amenity. This is especially true here- in one of the densest cities in the nation, where this resource is in very short supply. The city’s two spacious, heavily programmed parks help fill this need. However, in a bustling city home to a diverse population with more than 18,000 people per square mile—not including thousands of visitors any given day or night—there is an imperative to integrate additional public space.
The line between public and private spaces and activities has become increasingly blurred in cities like West Hollywood. Privately owned outdoor dining on sidewalks, billboard projections, valet stands at curbsides, rideshare drop zones, e-bikes and scooter corrals, and delivery robots weaving along rights-of-way—are all examples of private enterprise benefiting from use of the public way.
Given this changing dynamic, might a closer examination of the value of publicly focused space on private property be worthwhile? Over the last century in America, a particular type of public urban space that is privately owned and maintained, yet publicly accessible, has emerged. Also known by the acronym “POPS”, these spaces are focused on public use and enjoyment, not private enterprise. Examples include community gardens, pocket parks, botanical gardens, urban plazas, arcades or paseos, exterior exhibition or event space, observation decks, greenhouses or atria, laneways, and micro-forests or wildlife sanctuaries.
Creatively situated and designed, high-quality public space can provide a wide array of social, cultural, and economic benefits to individuals, businesses, and the community at large. Psychologically, they can aid in larger goals for civic health and wellness. When designed in concert with nature, and in relatively small footprints, these spaces can have a significant impact in restoring ecosystems threatened by new development.
This POPS + PARTS Symposium will examine, through multiple lenses and perspectives, the value captured and larger societal benefits of integrating privately-owned public spaces into commercial contexts and will analyze how these spaces might fit into the City of West Hollywood in the future.
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