Insight on Business

January 2014

Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/233760

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 22 of 60

UPFRONT connections By Margaret LeBrun The power of place InDevelopment keynote: 'Turning everything upside down to get it right-side up' InDevelopment 2014 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 27 Radisson Paper Valley Hotel, Appleton Tickets: $55 through January; $70 starting Feb. 1. To register, go to www.insightonbusiness.com/ indevelopment. I f you've been to Times Square in New York City in recent years, you probably noticed it's mostly closed to traffic now – it's all about people. "So many people were coming to Times Square before, but they were walking in the street and it was a hazard," says Fred Kent, founder and president of the Project for Public Spaces, which was involved in developing the concept that transformed one of the world's most iconic places, among many others worldwide. "It was a place you would come to look at – and then leave, because there wasn't anything to do. The plan for Times Square was really breaking out of the 20 | Insight • J a n u a r y 2 014 COURTESY NY DOT For more information, call Insight Publications at (920) 882-0491. The Project for Public Spaces, led by founder and president Fred Kent, was involved in the transformation of Times Square in New York City. Kent will keynote InDevelopment 2014 on Feb. 27 in Appleton. mold that 'a street is for traffic.'" Kent will keynote Insight's fifth annual InDevelopment conference on Thursday, Feb. 27 at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton. His talk, "The Power of Place," sponsored by First National Bank Fox Valley, will offer insight into the future for transforming downtowns into multiple-use gathering places. Such places stir excitement, build a strong sense of community, and, ultimately, increase property values – all desirable ideas for commercial and community developers expected to attend InDevelopment, Kent says. "From a Realtors' point of view, if it's walkable and has a sense of place, the value will be higher," Kent says. "It's very much a partnership between public and private developers. "This is what we call turning everything upside down to get it rightside up," Kent adds. "What's really fun is you can explain to people why a place needs to be turned upside down – when you show them development isn't about isolated institutions with parking lots." Led by Kent, the New York Citybased Project for Public Spaces has developed transformational ideas for cities worldwide. During the past 37 years, Kent has worked on hundreds of projects, from Times Square, Rockefeller Center and downtown Detroit to Vancouver, B.C., and Cape Town, South Africa. He has trained developers in Singapore, Hong w w w. i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Insight on Business - January 2014