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Gathering Places
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The term "gathering place" has become popular among developers and public sector entities, and their design consultants, in describing one of the great goals in creating and/or retrofitting places. Gathering places have also been described as places that allow people to "gather and stare."
A gathering place is anywhere that people can congregate, to allow group interaction, whether for entertainment, informal recreation, debate, decision-making, worship, commerce, or simply, camaraderie in sharing a life's moment - a graduation, recognition, retirement, a passing.
Gathering places may be the most essential aspect of building communities of people. People enjoy being among other people, it is part of what defines us as human beings.
There is also an interesting relationship of gathering places, to the lifetimes of those people that enjoy them. Gathering places are the places where many of our memories are created. We remember the parade we attended as a child. We remember the ice cream and fireworks we enjoyed with our own children at the same gathering place. We fondly recall the sports team celebration held in this same place. Gathering places are a fascinating repository of the collective life's experiences of a host community, the place of communal memory.
Requisite attributes for effective gathering places are common areas that:
- are based on particular local guest "trip motivations." That is there is a natural constituency that can be attracted to and accomodated;
- feature a compelling designed environment. There are now architects, landscape architects, sponsorship consultants, property developers, and city planners, each of which consider themselves to be "placemakers." There is now a record of built gathering places, and those that have evolved over time, and from this, an array of well-studied best practices for such places. That fact is that gathering places to require a multi-disciplinary sensibility - places are at once about the site plan, the architecture, the edges, the activities, and so many other factors, that all combine and integrate for the experiential effect - the feeling one gets when in the moment, in the space;
- offer ample "things to do" - there are many beautiful places, but to work as a gathering place there must be sufficient ways to linger in the space, to keep people occupied in an enjoyable manner;
- feature structured and unstructured activities - people are attracted "to the commons" to see parades, listen to music, attend an event. But people also enjoy unstructured activities - strolling looking at shop windows, enjoy coffee and conversation with friends. Both structured and unstructured make for a successful gathering place;
- ensure safety - a gathering place must be safe, but also be perceived to be safe;
- are comfortable - gathering places need to provide protection from wind, sun, cold, or heat, through proper shelter, convenient and clean restrooms;
- offer food and beverage - most adults choose to consume food and/or beverages when they head out-of-home in their leisure-time. A successful gathering place will typically provide some type of access to such refreshments;
- are desirable for lingering - perhaps lingering attractiveness is a byproduct of all of the above-referenced factors, but a gathering place must be a wonderful place to linger.
- encourage a return visit.
The process of creating successful gathering places, is part of a discipline that is known as "placemaking" or place making. A terrific gathering place is the physical product resulting from effective placemaking.
Gathering places can be both public and private. Public gathering places includes parks, airport terminals, main streets, historic districts, and town squares.
Privately-owned gathering places include stadiums and arenas, shopping malls, theme parks, and the like. Real estate and entertainment facility developers have become particularly interested in gathering places as essential components of their projects. Entertainment companies such as Universal Studios, Disney, and SONY, among others, have created specialized facilities steeped in gathering sensibilities - in particular, theme parks and urban entertainment centers.
Related Topics
About Great Streets
About Placemaking (Place Making)
About Urban Entertainment Centers
About Guest Trip Motivation
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Stonecreek Partners Resource pages are provided freely and without limitation for personal, private, non-commercial use, and may be linked to as a source page. All resource page information is based on 30 years of practitioner's experience of Stonecreek Partners' principals, in the retail, entertainment, hotel, residential, and commercial real estate industries.
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