Omaha By Design-What is Place Definition? Omaha By Design offers a two-step process as a service to help citizen groups improve their public spaces. The first step is The Place Game [link to “What is the Place Game?”] Next is the Place Definition Process. Both steps depend on the expertise and wishes of the community that will use the new space. The Place Game is the free-wheeling, anything-goes brainstorming that is essential to all great plans. The Place Definition process takes those ideas, organizes and prioritizes them according to the input from the community. From there a professional designer can make the community vision into a concrete plan. Place Definition is a process of laying out the challenge to the designer. That means the neighborhood group gets a plan that accurately reflects the ideas and priorities they have identified. Decisions about four aspects of the project make up the Place Definition. They are simply: Form, Function, Time and Economy. Form is the characteristics of the space. Its how the place will feel, look, sound and smell. For example, improving streetscapes and landscapes at the gateways to the district emerged as a priority in the Benson Place Game [link to Benson Place Game]. The Place Definition process set forth three primary locations: Maple Street at 58th, Maple at 65th, and Military Avenue as it intersects Northwest Radial as gateways. It was decided that the form of these intersections should be similar in their theme, with solid elements that clearly represent a feeling of transition. Another important consideration was the comfort of pedestrians and shoppers in the Benson commercial core. The group felt that one of the forms that would facilitate comfort would be “sittable” spaces such as benches, planters, walls, or even sculpture. Function is what goes on in the space. It’s about the people who use the space, how they relate to each other, and what activities they will do. At the W. Dale Clark Library Place Game [link to W. Dale Clark Library Place Game], how people use the library beyond the books was a top priority. Some of the proposed functions included a new main entrance just for kids, gift, flower, or bookshops, kiosks, a place to conduct business or conferences and a better connection to the Old Market through the use of exhibits, events, and films. Improving the way library patrons moved through the interior and opportunities to feel a sense of community were also important functions. Ways to stimulate interaction with the building and others in it included informal seating in the center, a stairwell in the atrium connecting all levels and staggering or rearranging shelving for more natural movement and browsing. Time can mean many things. Does the space have an historical significance to be preserved? Does the project logically fit into a larger master plan? What is the schedule for implementation? When should the project be completed? Will the project evolve over time? Benson may wish to consider the history of the district as a distinct town in planning its gateways. The Library may want to coordinate its plans with proposed changes to its neighbors the Gene Leahy Mall [link to Leahy Mall recommendations] or events at the Holland Performing Arts Center. Economy is simply how the project will get done. What is a reasonable budget? What are the potential sources of funds? Are there partners identified in the Place Game that can help? Many Place Game sessions have resulted in plans that have been funded by grants from the City, The Omaha Community Foundation and the William and Ruth Scott Family Foundation. Click here [link to List of Grants] to see a list of the recipients, their projects and the funding they received. If your neighborhood has participated in a Place Game and would like Omaha By Design to facilitate a Place Definition Process for your neighborhood, contact ellen@omahabydesign.org [Open new message in user’s email] or call us at 342-3458.

What is Place Definition?

Omaha By Design offers a two-step process as a service to help citizen groups improve their public spaces. The first step is The Place Game.

Next is the Place Definition Process.

Both steps depend on the expertise and wishes of the community that will use the new space. The Place Game is the free-wheeling, anything-goes brainstorming that is essential to all great plans. The Place Definition process takes those ideas, organizes and prioritizes them according to the input from the community. From there a professional designer can make the community vision into a concrete plan.

Place Definition is a process of laying out the challenge to the designer. That means the neighborhood group gets a plan that accurately reflects the ideas and priorities they have identified.

Decisions about four aspects of the project make up the Place Definition. They are simply: Form, Function, Time and Economy .

Form is the characteristics of the space. Its how the place will feel, look, sound and smell.

For example, improving streetscapes and landscapes at the gateways to the district emerged as a priority in the Benson Place Game .

The Place Definition process set forth three primary locations: Maple Street at 58 ^th , Maple at 65 ^th , and Military Avenue as it intersects Northwest Radial as gateways. It was decided that the form of these intersections should be similar in their theme, with solid elements that clearly represent a feeling of transition.

Another important consideration was the comfort of pedestrians and shoppers in the Benson commercial core. The group felt that one of the forms that would facilitate comfort would be “sittable” spaces such as benches, planters, walls, or even sculpture.

Function is what goes on in the space. It’s about the people who use the space, how they relate to each other, and what activities they will do.

At the W. Dale Clark Library Place Game , how people use the library beyond the books was a top priority. Some of the proposed functions included a new main entrance just for kids, gift, flower, or bookshops, kiosks, a place to conduct business or conferences and a better connection to the Old Market through the use of exhibits, events, and films.

Improving the way library patrons moved through the interior and opportunities to feel a sense of community were also important functions. Ways to stimulate interaction with the building and others in it included informal seating in the center, a stairwell in the atrium connecting all levels and staggering or rearranging shelving for more natural movement and browsing.

Time can mean many things. Does the space have an historical significance to be preserved? Does the project logically fit into a larger master plan? What is the schedule for implementation? When should the project be completed? Will the project evolve over time?

Benson may wish to consider the history of the district as a distinct town in planning its gateways. The Library may want to coordinate its plans with proposed changes to its neighbors the Gene Leahy Mall or events at the Holland Performing Arts Center.

Economy is simply how the project will get done. What is a reasonable budget? What are the potential sources of funds? Are there partners identified in the Place Game that can help?

Many Place Game sessions have resulted in plans that have been funded by grants from the City, The Omaha Community Foundation and the William and Ruth Scott Family Foundation. Click here to see a list of the recipients, their projects and the funding they received.

If your neighborhood has participated in a Place Game and would like Omaha By Design to facilitate a Place Definition Process for your neighborhood, contact ellen@omahabydesign.org or call us at 342-3458.