Speakers

Kona Gray, FASLA, PLA, Principal, EDSA / President, The American Society of Landscape Architects (Fort Lauderdale, FL). Strong leadership and a sense of purpose are part of Kona’s DNA. With experience in 30+ countries, his global management sense has positively shaped the outcomes of many award-winning assignments. He successfully integrates creativity and regional resources into functional environments that invigorate the imagination. With an uncompromising dedication to quality, Kona creates welcoming public places that bring a strong sense of vitality back to neighborhoods. Blending sensitivity with innovative design solutions, he unites a client’s vision with his own vanguard designs to produce programs with purpose and presence.

Carolyn Levine, Senior Manager of Civic Engagement, Downtown Denver Partnership (Denver, CO). Carolyn Levine is the Senior Manager of Civic Engagement at the Downtown Denver Partnership where she is responsible for developing year-round engagement opportunities that educate, connect, and inspire. She is the founder of This Must Be The Place, a bi-monthly newsletter that shares placemaking opportunities. Carolyn holds a Master’s degree in Urban Placemaking and Management from Pratt Institute.

Emily Ahn Levy, Interim Academic Director, Urban Placemaking Management; Visiting Assistant Professor, Pratt University (Brooklyn, NY). Emily Ahn Levy 안은옥 (they/them, she/her) is an educator and cultural organizer based in Lenapehoking / New York City for more than 20 years. Their practice is situated at the intersections of community arts and culture, social justice and the public realm. As a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Urban Placemaking & Management graduate program at Pratt Institute, Emily has been awarded the Taconic Fellowship and the inaugural DEI Faculty Fellowship where they created a social justice resource library guide for department faculty. Emily has curated and produced more than 100 public programs, peer exchanges, and place-based events with Arts & Democracy and Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts NY (NOCD-NY). As a member of the American Planning Association New York Metro Area’s Diversity Committee, Emily co-curated and produced the Hindsight Conference, an annual convening focused on equity in planning. Emily is on the Board of Directors of Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership in their neighborhood of Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Kady Yellow, Vice President of Placemaking & Events, Downtown Jacksonville (Jacksonville, FL). Kady comes to Jacksonville from Michigan where she hosted a national conference as part of the global Placemaking Week series. Under her leadership,120 pop-up projects were implemented that prioritized the riverfront, public parks, sidewalks, streets and alleys. Yellow brings almost fifteen years of experience in creative placemaking as part of a global portfolio in New York, Louisiana, Texas, California, Alaska, Portugal, France, Canada, England, and Ireland. Her writing has been featured in FlintBeat and My City Magazine (Michigan), Street Art United States (Boston), CURBED (New Orleans), and she published her first book on the subject matter in 2019. Kady has also received special training in Federal Resources for Creative Community Development, and from City Repair Project, National Endowment for the Arts, and Project for Public Spaces. She earned her master’s degree in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans in 2018 and dual bachelor’s degrees in Graphic Design and Mathematical Sciences from Binghamton University in 2012.

Moderator

Nate Storring, Co-Executive Director, Project for Public Spaces (Brooklyn, NY). Prior to his current role, Nate led the production of several resources on district revitalization and placemaking, from the second edition of the placemaking handbook How to Turn a Place Around to guides on innovation districts, inclusive placemaking, and balancing transportation and placemaking on main street. He is also the co-editor of two books on participatory city building, Hyperlocal: Place Governance in a Fragmented World and Vital Little Plans: The Short Works of Jane Jacobs.

Pricing

Historically, placemaking as a profession has only been accessible to a privileged few. To that end, we are offering a sliding scale of registration pricing so that this event can be accessible to individuals and organizations of varying budgets.

The suggested registration rate is $30 USD, however we are also offering registration at the rate of $15 USD and $45 USD. Please pay what you can, and consider contributing more to cover the cost of those who can afford less.

Questions?

Please contact us at events@pps.org.

About Project for Public Spaces

Project for Public Spaces is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that brings public spaces to life by planning and designing them with the people who use them every day. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, Project for Public Spaces has spent the past five decades bringing some of the most successful public places in the world to life. Today, we remain committed to putting community participation at the center of everything we do, from placemaking partnerships with corporations and foundations to our workshops, trainings, conferences, and more. Our interdisciplinary team has helped over 3,500 communities in 52 countries create inclusive places that change our society for the better. Together, we can build a world where every public space is community-powered.

Made by All: Building a Career in Placemaking

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