The summit gathers community leaders from local government, business, non-profits and associations discussing and learning ways to cultivate their communities and neighborhoods as vibrant places.
Travis Alden is Senior Director for Community Development at The Right Place.
“Obviously, West Michigan, you have very urban areas like Grand Rapids proper, but then some really rural areas and sort of everything in between, and so placemaking can mean very different things to different people depending on the community.”
Placemaking, or community development, explores new and exciting ways of bringing people together from surrounding communities through economic development, beautification projects or social outreach.
“How do you leverage existing assets to make them more vibrant places?”
Allyson Brunette is a consulting firm owner and the summit’s keynote speaker.
“I really am hopeful that people realize it’s a call for action that we need these important, vibrant public spaces in our communities so that we can all have our best human experience.”
