Your Place. Our Place.
#LansingPlacemakers
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Placemaking is CREATING enticing spaces! Anyone can envision a creative place and collaborate to make it happen. Here are 75 ideas to get you started!

1. ​Create small inviting seating spaces that encourage conversation and engagement  
2. Transform alley space into beer gardens or picnic areas with artsy picnic tables and murals 
3. Install fire pits and seating areas for chilly days near public gathering spaces 
4. Build community urban garden spaces with art pieces and benches 
5. Use pallets to build a pop-up library on the street 
6. Use chalk to make a number of hopscotch boards on the sidewalks 
7. Make “parklets” in front of your place of business to create activity on the street 
8. Put a piano outside of your business and have an artist paint it and a musician play it 
9. Paint a crosswalk and invite residents to participate in the painting 
10. Put chalk out on the sidewalk to encourage people to create their own street art 
11. Paint blighted buildings with graffiti art to improve the appeal in a district 
12. Build a life-size chess board and encourage individual or tournament play
13. Place easels and canvases out in a scenic space to encourage people to paint 
14. Start a front-porch concert series 
15. Organize free yoga in the park or street 
16. Invite neighborhood residents to artistically paint trash cans  
17. Hang bird cages, umbrella’s or paper lanterns in alleyways to create a unique exhibit
18. Make a sense fence 
19. From fallen trees, create wood sculptures and seating 
20. Activate old newspaper kiosks with works of art
21. Create a food-truck court 
22. Invite artists/musicians to your local farmers market 
23. Show movies in a park, parking lot or storefront window 
24. Take a picture--leave a picture 
25. Hire a busker to occupy a street corner or other sidewalk space 
26. Paint a blank wall with chalkboard paint and invite people to use it 
27. Create a yarn-bombing exhibit 
28. Have a pumpkin decorating contest in front of your business 
29. Have a scheduled community weeding and outdoor store-front clean-up 
30. Paint and decorate benches in the neighborhood 
31. Turn stop signs into flowers by yarn bombing a stem and petals on the pole 
32. Go Christmas caroling to local businesses and in densely populated areas 
33. Host a live poetry/spoken word event in a park 
34. Put a piano keyboard mat at a bus stop 
35. Make a walkway out of tiles that people in the community can paint 
36. Make hanging art from recyclable materials to hang from trees 
37. Grow an environmental labyrinth 
38. Install swings at bus stops  
39. Put twinkle lights in trees and bushes along walkable areas 
40. Place outdoor ping pong tables near your business or food truck 
41. Illuminate windows in tall buildings with cool designs 
42. Creatively paint electrical panel boxes  
43. Host a multicultural community dinner on a public street for neighborhood residents 
44. Place human “mannequins” in empty storefronts  
45. Create a beach on the street with sand, pails, folding chairs and umbrellas  
46. Schedule an event for dancing in the streets  
47. Flood the sidewalks (Freezeways) or a plaza for winter ice skating 
48. Set up a community holiday tree display in a local park  
49. Create a curiosity project; place something out of the ordinary on the street that causes a reaction 
50. Start a sidewalk poetry program, stamping poetry into fresh cement
51. Install a community-post wall for people to share why they love where they live
52. Create a garden of botanical living sculptures 
53. Create a free-hug campaign with people in funny costumes holding free-hug signs 
54. Build a life-size scrabble board 
55. Organize a story time in the park event 
56. Host a conversation on creative community enhancements 
57. Hold a treasure or scavenger hunt to find public art around the city 
58. Invite the community to stargaze in the park and make lanterns of recycled materials
59. Host photo meet-ups in designated areas  
60. String lights in alleyways 
61. Attach simple large picture frames to outdoor walls (with room to stand behind) to encourage photo opps
62. Host an outdoor market in front of your business 
63. Make outdoor stairs fun by artistically painting them 
64. Let Sunday morning be times in which certain streets in the city become pedestrian only 
65. Host a porch or block party 
66. Put out tables with chess board/checker board tops 
67. Add first-floor commercial window boxes to storefronts and plant flowers or vegetables
68. Hold a storefront window-painting event during holiday seasons
69. Add picnic tables to parks that encourage residents to color on them 
70. Create a “corn maze” in a parking lot 
71. Create a makeshift dog-washing station near a dog park, serve coffee
72. Host a chilly-morning coffee huddle for local cyclers on their way to work
73. Work with urban planners to create a communal fruit orchard 
74. Host a sand-castle competition 
75. Set up a pop-up living room of recycled furniture in a walkable neighborhood

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Need more placemaking ideas?
View our Placemaking board on Pinterest for more ideas!