Nate Storring is the Co-Executive Director of Project for Public Spaces, where he helps shape the organization’s strategy and leads its work in placemaking, communications, and development. Over the years, he’s been a driving force behind PPS’s publishing and research—including How to Turn a Place Around and new explorations of inclusive placemaking that expand how we think about belonging in public life.

In 2025, Nate is helping steer PPS through its 50th anniversary—a milestone that invites both reflection and re-imagination: fifty years of creating people-centered places, and a future that centers justice, connection, and resilience.

In this conversation, Nate talks with Chip about his own path into placemaking, the legacy and evolution of PPS, and the passing of co-founder and placemaking pioneer Kathy Madden—just days before the interview. Together they explore how our understanding of public space has changed over five decades, what still holds true, and how the next era of place will be defined by the complex realities of place governance and the ever-shifting boundaries between public and private space.

Also in this episode, Abra Allan revisits an innovative exploration into coexistence in public spaces developed in 2020 by SPUR and Gehl.

Episode Links

https://www.pps.org/people/nathan-storring

http://www.nathanstorring.com/

https://www.placemakingweek.org/

https://www.urbanspacegallery.ca/

https://www.spur.org/publications/spur-report/2021-01-25/coexistence-public-space