Video: "Placemaking and Public Spaces"

Placemaking and Public Spaces

Presentation delivered by Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, PP, Commissioner, New York City Parks & Recreation, at the AARP Livable Communities National Conference, November 14, 2018

About MITCHELL J. SILVER

An internationally recognized planner, Mitchell J. Silver specializes in comprehensive planning, placemaking and implementation strategies. 

Get Creating Parks and Public Spaces, a free guide by AARP, 8 80 Cities and The Trust for Public Land

Read "5 Questions for ... " interview with Mitchell J. Silver

As New York City’s parks commissioner since May 2014, he oversees the management, planning and operations of nearly 30,000 acres of parkland, which include parks, playgrounds, beaches, marinas, recreation centers and wilderness areas. 

Prior to returning to his native New York City for the position, Silver served as the chief planning and development officer and planning director for Raleigh, North Carolina, where he led the comprehensive plan update process and a rewriting of the development code to create a vibrant 21st-century city. His career has included roles as a policy and planning director for New York City’s Department of Planning, a principal of a new planning firm, a town manager in New Jersey, and deputy planning director in Washington, D.C. He is a past president of the American Planning Association.

Silver is a contributing author and editor of the International City/County Management Association’s textbook Local Planning: Contemporary Principles and Practice. He’s been elected to Planetizen’s list of the 100 Most Influential Urbanists and named an honorary member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences, an honorary fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia and an honorary lifetime member of the Royal Town Planning Institute. He has been honored as one of the top 100 City Innovators in the world by UBM Future Cities. In 2012, the Urban Times named Silver one of the top international thought leaders of the built environment. 

Silver has taught graduate planning at Hunter College, Brooklyn College, Pratt Institute and North Carolina State University and is the Dunlop Lecturer in Housing and Urbanization at Harvard University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Pratt Institute and a master’s in urban planning from Hunter College.