03-27-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

How the public changes spaces—and art—for the better

Four tips for developers to consider when designing for public areas.

[Photo: Getty Images]

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of top leaders and experts who pay dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership, and more.

Designers love intention. Architects draw immaculate plans; curators craft pristine galleries; developers imagine carefully choreographed public experiences. But once the general population shows up, those spaces tend to change. Sometimes there’s an instinct among designers to fight against it; it’s hard to let go of an aesthetic goal.

But—more often than not—the public makes spaces and designs better. It’s the people, not solely the place, who spark true imagination and inevitably shape its character. It’s the people who have the power to turn a design into something more welcoming and relevant, and push designers to think outside the box in creativity and problem-solving.

This January in New York City, at a small placemaking summit hosted by Journey, experts across art, infrastructure, food, and civic design converged around this idea: Spaces come to life once the public makes them their own.

At the Summit, Katherine Fleming, CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, for example, described how visitors reshaped the Getty Museum’s iconic steps and lawns.........

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