People For Plazas!
Give the public spaces we deserve.
What's so great about plazas?
Plazas present a unique opportunity to exist peacefully within your community.
They are a place where you can linger for free. You can run into your neighbors. You can pass the time reading or people watching.
There may be shops and cafes surronding the plaza that you can stop into on your way through. There are often fountains, sculptures, other works of art, or beautiful building facades that make the space inviting, delightful, and unique.
There is nowhere like a plaza and they are worth prioritizing.
But where are all the plazas?!
The USA is significantly lagging behind fellow developed nations in its prioritization of high quality public spaces.
We have favored private interest over public good, and we are paying the price. Most Americans are more isolated than ever before, lacking spaces and opportunities to connect with each other during day-to-day life, craving those simple moments of marvel and spontaneity that are only possible in a place like a plaza.
Plazas can renew a vital part of life.
In a Society becoming steadily more privatized with private homes, cars, computers, offices and shopping centers, the public component of our lives is disappearing.
It is more and more important to make the cities inviting, so we can meet our fellow citizens face to face and experience directly through our senses.
Public life in good quality public spaces is an important part of a democratic life and a full life.
- Famed planner, Jan Gehl
What people are saying...
about plazas.
" Spaces filled with familiar faces
A place to see your favorite bassist
Welcome all, and come to gather
A public square to see what’s the matter?
Connect, embrace, relax, and chill
Come to the plaza to get your fill"
- Caroline Wagner
" A+ product. What a feeling it is to be surrounded by others, emersed together in this thing called life. People on their way to work, friends catching up at a bench, strangers conversing with each other. Can’t wait to see more."
- Andres Perez
" Plazas are the best! Where else can you have a delicious ice cream, walk in the park, and meet with a friend for people watching all in one place? Plazas really offer the best of all worlds, and we need more of them in our cities."
- Erica Martelly
" The plaza is a place to just be, in public. In an era where people are consistently growing more lonely and isolated, we need places to be invited into casual connection with each other, especially without the barriers of class between us. We need to let kids play and dogs sniff and girlies show off their outfits and songwriters test out their new music. We need plazas."
- Ella Rasp
" Five years ago, I moved without knowing a single person. I remember looking around at lots of unknown faces, and I had to work hard to seek out places to meet people. A turning point for me was the first time that I saw someone I knew out and about in my neighborhood. They recognized me, and we talked for a few minutes. Moments like that turn a place you live into a neighborhood. However, the only way these interactions can happen is if we create spaces for people to interact with each other. I love People for Plazas and their mission! "
- Amy Goldstein
" Plazas are full of people and make me slow down. For this alone, I love them."
- Matt Murray
Speak up!
Call or email your representatives and ask them to prioritize plazas.