Placemaking Week

Innovation Districts and Placemaking work towards a relationship that connects new economic realities, such as the recent Opportunity Zone funding, to the appropriate cultural contexts that will provide new purposeful outcomes for our communities. How might the “Chattanooga Way” serve as a learning and collaboration model for demonstrating these possibilities for smaller and mid-size cities? The City of Pontiac, Michigan, with a population of 60,000, is one example having recently exited Emergency Management and also designated as an Opportunity Zone. Our session utilizes our PHIN-CO Digital Design Thinking platform to serve as a tool for collecting and weaving together disconnected local narratives, ideas, projects, problem solving insights, creative expressions and hidden talents inherent in our local communities in the facilitation and activation of their public spaces. Design is a process for value creation while Design Thinking has emerged to become a process to capture the experiential observation and creative synthesis of broad data sets to solve complex problems resulting in new innovative products and services across organizations. This workshop will take place inside the PPS Placemaking Bus emanating from Miller Park, and will demonstrate the power of Chattanooga’s “Gig City” technology and its marriage to a robust social infrastructure. We’ll network with a group of collaborative organizations (e.g. Chattanooga Public Library, the Edney Innovation Center, Tennessee Aquarium etc.) in a live video conferenced exchange with parallel efforts and infrastructural assets in Pontiac’s Opportunity Zone (e.g. The Pontiac Public Library, Phoenix Center Campus and additional Downtown sites). Youth driven engagement will be emphasized. Audience interaction with cell phones, tablets and touchscreens will be facilitated.