By Donald Gilpin

Princeton’s small public spaces — how do they work, and how can they be valuable? That’s the focus of a Princeton Future event on Saturday, April 5: a public walk-through beginning at Hinds Plaza at 10:30 a.m., moving on to 25 Spring Street and the plaza behind Angelo Italian Market, then proceeding to 185 Nassau Street adjacent to the Thomas Sweet ice cream shop.

Those small areas where people come together in the heart of town, “places where people can take a break, or engage in a conversation with a neighbor have always been important in Princeton,” states a press release from Princeton Future, an independent nonprofit that encourages community participation in planning issues.

“For people moving into apartments, these informal gathering spots become even more important. The public space becomes another form of the backyard fence or the corner store — where people can formally and spontaneously engage with a neighbor without a formal invitation,” the press release continues.

Princeton Future is inviting area residents to evaluate three downtown public spaces, within a short walk of each other, with expert volunteers Anton “Tony Nelessen, author of Community Visioning for Place Making and urban planning professor emeritus at Rutgers University, and Richard K. Rein, author of American Urbanist, the definitive biography of William H. Whyte, taking the lead.

At 185 Nassau, the final stop, the participants will share their evaluations with the group, comparing the three spaces in terms of the various criteria presented.

“These observations will give participants a better understanding of how public spaces work and why they are important to our town,” said Princeton Future Executive Director Sheldon Sturges. “We hope the April 5 event participants will help shape the design of new public spaces or old ones as they are renovated.”

Rein cited Whyte’s observation that people are capable of turning some unlikely places into useful public spaces. “We should encourage that,” said Rein. “We’re not trying to develop a grading system for public spaces. And we’re not trying to rank order these three spaces. We are trying to make people aware of how public spaces work and how they can be valuable.”

Rein went on to compare the town’s approach to preservation of spaces on the edge of town to its frequent lack of attention to smaller spaces close to the center of town, where development is focused.

“People living in apartments will appreciate a small park or play area,” Rein wrote in an email. “So will people who live in small single-family houses with virtually no yards. I’m one of them — when my kids were small I took them up to 185 Nassau to kick a football around.”

In the spirit of Whyte, the urban design pioneer and the subject of Rein’s acclaimed 2022 biography, who urged planners to get beyond their offices — “You have to get out and walk” — Rein is eager to share with participants a firsthand exploration of the three public spaces on the April 5 itinerary.

“By walking the walk, you see things and experience the process in a way you can’t from reading about it in an article or a book. And on Saturday you will be doing it along with a nationally known urban planner, Tony Nelessen,” said Rein. “It’s rare when you get to see a guy like Nelessen in action and you usually see something in a way you haven’t seen it before.”

Noting that he has been thinking and writing about public places for the past seven or eight years, Rein pointed out that public spaces can be the embodiment of DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) without the need to mention it, and he recalled how much everyone appreciated local public spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This town expends a lot of energy debating the design, the location, the size, and bulk of every new building that comes along,” he said. “Then we noodle about how much parking they should have and whether the residents are going to send kids to the schools. We spend almost no time thinking about the spaces between the buildings or the public places that are included with the buildings.”

He concluded, “The hope is that people will walk away on Saturday with a better appreciation for these spaces and their potential.”

The April 5 walk is free and open to the public, and will take place rain or shine.

In more Princeton Future news, one other prominent Princeton public space, smaller than the three spaces noted above and not on the April 5 itinerary, is Dohm Alley, just off Nassau Street across from the Princeton University campus. An exhibition recently installed there, sponsored by Princeton Future and featuring “Townscape Sketches” by Nelessen, provides multiple visions of the town’s future in four large panels and an assortment of drawings and photos.

Nelessen’s text describes the exhibition as “a series of rough unfinished human-drawn sketches of concept ideas or visions for the future of Princeton, N.J., to allow more people to afford to live, shop, and work here, while making it more fulfilling for everyone who currently lives and visits here.”