Chicago Announces Placemaking App Winner on the Place Matters Radio Show

(PRWEB) October 27, 2011

Chicago’s Metropolitan Planning Council challenged Chicagoans to build a placemaking app to help people find, create and share vibrant public places. IBM upped the ante with a ,500 prize. Last week, a team of all-female developers, led by Pallavi Anderson from Motorola Solutions and Mindy Faber from Open Youth Networks at Columbia College won the award. They promptly donated the cash to Chicago’s Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO). The winning app, Mi Parque, was designed to engage Little Village residents in the process of transforming a 23-acre Superfund site to a neighborhood park. John Tolva and Marisa Novara will discuss how the project came about and how innovative technology can be leveraged to take placemaking efforts to the next level.

About John Tolva

John Tolva, Chicago’s Chief Technology Officer, championed the project in the city and at IBM. Tolva has a background in using technologies to develop new social, educational, environmental and cultural heritage projects.

About Marisa Novara

Marisa Novara, the Planning Council’s placemaking manager, executed the project. Novara assists Chicago communities promote revitalization, housing in job-rich areas, sustainable development and conservation, and interjurisdictional and corridor planning.

About “Place Matters”:

Place Matters airs every Thursday at 11:00 AM (EST) on 880AM in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale and online around the globe at http://www.880thebiz.com. Podcasts are available on iTunes. The show is sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami, FL and Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC.

About Placemaking:

Placemaking is the science of creating communities that are not only considered liveable, but also loveable. Dr. Loflin serves as lead project consultant and national content expert on the Knight Soul of the Community survey, which for the first time investigated what attaches people to their community and the impact on the city’s bottom line in 2008-2010 across 26 U.S. communities in partnership with Gallup. The groundbreaking findings of the project have captured national attention and inspired local action.

About Dr. Katherine Loflin:

Dr. Loflin is the lead project consultant and national expert on the Knight Soul of the Community project across 26 communities over the past four years. Since the release of the study, Dr. Loflin has become an in-demand consultant, advising politicians, planners, foundations and community leaders who are trying to improve their communities, using this model of visioning cities first as places. Through this project, she has been quoted widely in the press including Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Winnipeg Free Press, Crain’s Detroit Business, Miami Herald and LA Times.

Contact Dr. Loflin at: katherine(dot)loflin(at)mac(dot)com (305) 450-7195

Link to listen live Thursdays at 11:00am EST:

http://den-a.plr.liquidcompass.net/player/flash/audio_player.php?id=WZABAM&uid=154

Dr. Katherine Loflin on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Dr.Katherine.Loflin

Radio show archive: http://katherineloflin.podbean.com/

Follow Dr. Loflin on Twitter: @katherineloflin

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