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Home / News / Third Session of Winter Speaker Series on February 28 Will Focus on Placemaking as a Tool of Economic Development

Third Session of Winter Speaker Series on February 28 Will Focus on Placemaking as a Tool of Economic Development

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Ethan Kent of the New York-based Project for Public Spaces will discuss ways to create places in communities that attract investment and activity

Silver Spring, MDThe Montgomery County Planning Department, part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), will hold the third and final session of its three-part Winter Speaker Series on Wednesday, February 28, 2018 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at its headquarters (8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD). RSVPs are encouraged but not required.

RSVP for the February 28 Winter Speaker Series session on Placemaking.

The series, titled The Economic Future of the Suburbs: Infill, Commerce, Placemaking, focuses on the changes that are occurring in the suburbs as they adapt to market forces: infill housing added to neighborhoods of detached homes; office building conversions into residential units; digital technology’s influence on retail and commerce; and placemaking as a strategy for economic development.

The third session will feature speaker Ethan Kent, Senior Vice President of the New York-based Project for Public Spaces. Kent’s presentation will include the Power of 10, the elements of successful public spaces and why they attract investment, people and activity. He will explain the strategies of creating such places and their potential economic impact on the suburban and urban-style communities of Montgomery County.

The session, including a question-and-answer discussion, is free and open to the public and planning professionals. Members of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) attending the series can earn credit for certification maintenance.

For more information about the 2017-2018 Winter Speaker Series and its topics, go online.

About Speaker Ethan Kent

Over his two-decade-long career at the Project for Public Spaces, Ethan Kent has traveled to more than 800 cities and 55 countries to advance the cause of placemaking and public spaces. Kent has been integral to the development of placemaking as a transformative approach to economic development, environmentalism, transportation planning, governance, resilience, equity and design.

He has applied this strategy in a wide range of cities, including Chicago, Indianapolis, San Antonio, Baltimore, Seattle, San Francisco and Omaha, and led regional campaigns in Australia, Israel, Brazil and Canada.

Kent has worked on more than 200 projects, requiring comprehensive public engagement, user analysis and planning high profile public spaces on six continents. Applying lessons learned through his project work, he regularly creates and conducts placemaking training courses for professionals of various disciplines, including the staff of the Montgomery County Planning Department.