Why do some public spaces and buildings endure—or even get better with age—while others fail to adapt to the ever changing human use? In this talk, Nate Storring offers a tour of the complexity of urban life and some of the strategies necessary to navigate it successfully. Co-Executive Director of Project for Public Spaces, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating community-powered public spaces around the world, Storring has spent his career documenting and promoting participatory approaches to city building. His latest book Hyperlocal: Place Governance in a Fragmented World (Brookings Institution Press, 2022) explores the ecosystem of organizations that steward the public realm in American cities and towns. Storring’s first edited book Vital Little Plans: The Short Works of Jane Jacobs (Random House, 2016) is a collection of essays, speeches, and interviews by the iconic 20th-century urbanist.

Co-Sponsored by the IU ServeDesign Center.