With the largest real estate footprint in downtown Portland, our campus is this city’s bright, beating heart. We are so closely linked to our city: A strong Portland contributes to a stronger Portland State and a strong Portland State means a stronger Portland.
That’s why we are launching a competition to generate some bold ideas for better connecting our campus to the city and to all of us. The Place Matters Design Competition is all about making connections stronger.
Placemaking is defined as a process for shaping public space that harnesses the ideas and assets of the people who use it. It’s a way of making cities more humane and enjoyable. In my mind, placemaking is an extension of how we Let Knowledge Serve the City. PSU is committed to serving the city by helping to energize post-pandemic downtown Portland and building a safer, more culturally vibrant and more community-focused central city.
What does placemaking look like? The range of ideas we are seeking is wide. Placemaking runs the gamut from events to parks to infrastructure to public art to creative signage. The upcoming Portland Winter Light Festival, which has close ties to PSU, is a great example of placemaking. So are the PSU banners that hang throughout campus. Making room for a food cart pod on a vacant lot is another example of placemaking.
The design teams that participate in the Place Matters competition will think deeply about the civic, educational, cultural and economic roles that PSU plays in our city and then come up with ways to elevate those aspects through creative use of our campus spaces.
We hope that enhancing PSU’s campus will bolster students’ sense of belonging, improve their learning experiences, and strengthen their lifelong connection to Portland State and to Portland.
Everyone on campus will have the opportunity to participate in the design review process. We’ll get a chance to meet competing teams — which I expect will come from our own campus community in addition to others from farther afield — this spring and then see their proposed ideas before the end of the year.
We have selected a jury of 12 experts made up of individuals from our own community and our partners throughout the city. They will review and recommend the leading design, which we’ll look to implement during the next academic year with support from philanthropic contributions.
As Portland’s anchor institution Portland State is seizing every opportunity to bolster and
revitalize the city. Place Matters is just one more way to make that happen.
To learn more about the competition, including how to register a design team, visit the Place Matters webpage.