Developer and planner James Rouse helped reshape American thinking about downtowns, public markets, and urban gathering places. His vision of city life as a kind of ongoing festival—animated by people, food, culture, performance, and encounter—helped inspire projects including Baltimore’s revitalized Inner Harbor.

Rev. Cristin Cooper is a pastor, chef, entrepreneur, and founder of Coop’s Soups, a social enterprise that grew from her experiments gathering neighbors around soup and bread as an unconventional form of ministry. Her work uses food, hospitality, and everyday encounters to build relationships, combat loneliness, and create a deeper sense of belonging and community.

Coop's Soups is a community-focused social enterprise and ministry founded by pastor Cristin Cooper in Olney, Maryland. It uses locally sourced, vegan, and gluten-free soups packaged in reusable mason jars to fight loneliness, build local connections, and support a participatory dinner church gathering known as Soup Church.

Ann Markusen and Anne Gadwa’s landmark 2010 report helped define creative placemaking: using arts and culture as active tools in shaping communities. Drawing on projects across the country, it examines how cross-sector partnerships can animate places, strengthen local economies, and build community identity.

Trauma Informed Placemaking offers an introduction to understanding trauma and healing in place. It offers insights that researchers and practitioners can apply to their place-based practice, learning from a global cohort of place leaders and communities.

This Handbook is the first to explore the emergent field of ‘placemaking’ in terms of the recent research, teaching and learning, and practice agenda for the next few years. Offering valuable theoretical and practical insights from the leading scholars and practitioners in the field, it provides cutting-edge interdisciplinary research on the placemaking sector.

Cara Courage is a researcher, writer, curator, and practitioner whose work explores placemaking, public space, arts and culture, and community participation. A leading voice in the international placemaking field, she has written and edited extensively on how creative practice and citizen-led approaches can shape more inclusive, connected, and meaningful places.

Detroit SOUP brought neighbors together over a shared meal to hear local ideas, pool small contributions, and collectively fund projects making Detroit better.

Amy Kaherl is a Detroit-based community organizer who helped build and lead Detroit SOUP, the celebrated microgranting dinner that brought people together over a shared meal to hear ideas for improving their city and collectively decide which ones to fund. Building on a participatory dinner model that originated in Chicago, Amy and her collaborators helped turn Detroit SOUP into a powerful local institution—and an approach that would itself inspire similar gatherings around the world—demonstrating how food, small amounts of money, and a simple act of gathering can create meaningful opportunities for civic participation and connection.

Community builder and entrepreneur leading the Seattle Chamber of Connection, creating programs and shared experiences designed to strengthen belonging, relationships, and civic connection across the city.

U.S. Chamber of Connection — A national nonprofit working to rebuild social connection, trust, and belonging in American communities. Through local Chambers of Connection, research, events, and its “Six Points of Connection” framework, the organization brings together residents, employers, and community builders to strengthen relationships across differences and make connection a more intentional part of civic and community life.

The Santa Cruz Warriors are the NBA G League affiliate of the Golden State Warriors and have played in downtown Santa Cruz since 2012, when they brought professional basketball to the city for the first time. Playing at Kaiser Permanente Arena, the “Sea Dubs” have become deeply embedded in the community while also serving the G League’s developmental role—helping players, coaches, and staff make the leap to the NBA.

Chris Murphy is the President of the Santa Cruz Warriors and Senior Vice President of Franchise Development for the parent club, the Golden State Warriors. He has spent over two decades with the organization, rising from entry-level ticket sales to leading the NBA G League franchise since the fall of 2015.

Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love by David Talbot is a sweeping history of San Francisco from the turbulent 1960s through the early 1980s, tracing the city’s transformation from a center of counterculture and idealism into a place shaken by violence, political upheaval, and profound social change.

Chip Heath and Dan Heath explore why certain experiences become disproportionately memorable—and how we can deliberately create more of them. Their framework of elevation, insight, pride, and connection offers a useful lens for designing places, events, and encounters people carry with them.

Molly Alexander is a downtown revitalization and economic development leader with more than three decades of experience across the public and private sectors. Through Imagine The Possibilities Consulting and her own retail businesses, she works with communities on retail, redevelopment, and downtown strategy.

Nolan Marshall III is a civic leader and place-management professional whose career spans public policy, economic development, and community building. Now President and CEO of Downtown Los Angeles’ Social District, he brings experience from New Orleans, Dallas, Vancouver, and two decades of work making cities work better for people.

A 52-block Downtown Los Angeles district working at the intersection of place management, community building, and one of the city’s largest sports and entertainment destinations.

PICO is the canine face of the Social District in Downtown Los Angeles and the inspiration behind Pico’s Corner, the district’s collection of resources for neighborhood dogs and their people. The guide connects residents and visitors with dog parks, the district’s Barklets, grooming, veterinary care, pet stores, and doggy day care—an unusually delightful example of a business district treating four-legged residents as part of downtown life.

The Minnesota Justice Research Center (MNJRC) is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to driving meaningful change to Minnesota’s criminal legal system through rigorous and community-centered research, education, and policy development.