Community of practice: Connecting strangers in public space
Port St. Lucie completed a year-long partnership with the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation( BCPI) at Johns Hopkins University as part of its community of practice on connecting people in public spaces.
The City piloted small, low-cost interventions that encouraged strangers to connect, each designed to be simple for residents and easy for staff to deliver. A key lesson from the 17 participating cities showed that great public spaces alone don’ t guarantee connection; people also benefit from a clear, authentic invitation to engage. The most effective
invitations felt organic to the moment, offered an easy way to join in and included a supportive host.
BCPI will compile lessons from Port St. Lucie and partner cities into a national playbook on how cities can pair strong public spaces with meaningful invitations to foster belonging.
Trust for Public Land Ecosystems for Engagement speaker event
This month, Civic Designer Nikki Zheng presented at the opening session of Ecosystems for Engagement, a community of practice focused on maximizing municipal land as spaces for connection and belonging.
Nikki walked more than 60 public space practitioners through the City’ s work at the Whispering Pines neighborhood green space, highlighting engagement strategies, collaborations and intentional design elements piloted across six events. By listening to residents and designing with intention, the City brought together more than 200 residents and volunteers to
activate and steward a once-overgrown neighborhood lot.
Participants closed with one-word reflections such as connection, intention, ownership and creativity, signaling that PSL’ s neighborhood-rooted approach resonates with practitioners exploring similar questions in their communities.
Naturally PSL earns 3CMA Savvy Award of Excellence
Naturally PSL: Green Spaces and Places has received an Award of Excellence in the Resident Engagement category of the 3CMA Savvy Awards, the City-County Communications & Marketing Association ' s national recognition for excellence in government communications.
This accomplishment was made possible by collaboration with eight city departments, alongside more than 1,000 residents as co-designers to protect and expand the City’ s green spaces. Building on this success, the SII team will continue bringing departments together to innovate and tackle the next challenges our resident raise.
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