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Concurrent Education Session

The Future of the Public Realm

SAT-B08: Symbolic Streets: Catalysts for Urban Resilience, Economic Recovery and Civic Transformation

Saturday, October 11, 2025
2:00 PM – 3:15 PM CT
1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW

Streets are vital public spaces that shape local community and identity through collective experience. Yet overburdened and under-designed streets are often seen as indicators of a city’s misfortune. This session will explore how design innovation, strategy, and partnerships can reposition streets as primary canvases for economic recovery and civic expression.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Explore the role of symbolic streets in the regeneration, recovery, and reinvigoration of towns and cities across the country.
  • Learn about the process of engaging local stakeholders and ground-floor businesses, and redesigning key streets and corridors, to meet modern public needs and cultivate a dynamic urban life.
  • Understand how designers balance needs for immediate street improvements with long-term transformations across multiple scales and timeframes, including using quick-build and tactical urbanism strategies to advance economic development and recovery.
  • Discuss the importance of creative collaborations between professions—particularly landscape architects, urban designers, engineers, and public agency representatives—to achieve innovations in the design of symbolic streets.