“Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community. Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm to maximize shared value. More than just promoting better urban design, placemaking facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.”
– Project for Public Spaces
Placemaking is a community-driven, collaborative, destination-focused process that pays attention to the interactions between the physical, social, ecological, economic, and cultural qualities of a space. Placemaking is not focused on constructing buildings, attracting great businesses, or designing a plaza… it considers all those things. From redevelopment to streetscape improvements to events and programs this project focuses on placemaking in downtown Tinley Park. An important piece of this placemaking is Harmony Square.
Harmony Square is a key component of the Village’s recently completed branding initiative that puts music at the core focus of Tinley Park’s brand. This downtown public space will be programmed at least 250 days of the year and will be a destination for residents and regional visitors alike. Through Harmony Square and downtown redevelopment, the Village of Tinley Park aims to create a sense of place and a sense of community in Tinley Park and to meet the goals of reducing leakage of locally earned money being spent in neighboring communities, increasing the investment and tax base in Tinley Park and dramatically increasing visitor spending locally.
We invite you to help us Envision Harmony Square.
The Village of Tinley Park is coordinating this effort which is led by The Lakota Group, a planning, urban design, and landscape architecture firm from Chicago, Illinois. Lakota is assisted by Kristi Trevarro, Executive Director of Rochester Downtown Development Authority.
This engaging, interactive process features multiple opportunities for the community to shape the final outcome of Harmony Square.
A community open house was held on the 6th of December at the Kalsen Center at Village Hall. More than 50 people attended, including residents, business owners and other stakeholders shared their feedback on the three presented concepts for Harmony Square. All information presented at the community open house – including the planning team’s analysis of Downtown Tinley Park and the three proposed concepts- can be found under the documents section of this website (PDF link).
This placemaking process resulted in a preferred design concept for Harmony Square, which is now moving forward into schematic design and design development. Stay tuned as the Harmony Square becomes a reality!
Placemaking is a collaborative, community-driven process. We encourage you to participate in this process and offer a variety of ways for you to submit your thoughts along the way. Your feedback is important as we envision the future of downtown Tinley Park and Harmony Square.
Check back regularly to find out how you can participate in the Envision Harmony Square process.
The Lakota Group specializes in Downtown Master Plans, Comprehensive and Strategic Master Plans, Community Engagement, Implementation Strategies, Landscape Architecture, & Historic Preservation.
Kristi Trevarrow is the Executive Director of the Rochester Downtown Development Authority (DDA), a Great American Main Street award-winning community. She has over 20 years of experience in downtown development and destination marketing. Her duties include business recruitment & retention, marketing, site development, community relations, fundraising and administration of the award-winning holiday event, The Big, Bright Light Show which annually attracts over one million visitors to Downtown Rochester. Ms. Trevarrow also serves as co-host of Main Street Nation Radio, a monthly radio show dedicated to telling the success stories of downtowns across the nation.