Fred Kent is the founder and president of the nonprofit organization

Project for Public Spaces Project for Public Spaces (PPS) is a nonprofit organization based in New York dedicated to creating and sustaining public places that build communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of people) with a shared socia ...

. The organization is dedicated to creating public places that foster communities. He studied with

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist, author and speaker, who appeared frequently in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Col ...

and worked with William H. Whyte on the "Street Life Project," assisting in observations and film analysis of corporate plazas, urban streets, parks, and other open spaces in New York City.Fred Kent « Project for Public Spaces - Placemaking for Communities
In 1968, Kent founded the Academy for Black and Latin Education (ABLE), a street academy for high school dropouts. He was Program Director for the Mayor's Council on the Environment in New York City under Mayor

John Lindsay John Vliet Lindsay (; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, the mayor of New York City, and a candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regu ...

. In 1970, and again in 1990, Kent was the coordinator and chairman of New York City's

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network) includin ...

. Kent is also an avid photographer, shooting thousands of photographs of public spaces and their users.

Education

He attended Columbia University, where he studied geography, economics, transportation, planning, and anthropology.

References

Project for Public Spaces

External links

Listen to an interview with Fred Kent on CBC’s "The Current," October 24, 2005
"Some exciting new solutions to bad city planning and urban design are being discussed this week in Regina. It's called "Building Our Communities: A National Conference on Community Sustainability." One of the speakers is Fred Kent. His company, the New York-based Project For Public Spaces, teaches cities how to create a sense of place within their bleaker blocks. For instance he's responsible for the redesign of Bryant Park in front of the New York Public Library. It used to be a haven for drug dealers and thieves and now it's a hugely popular public gathering spot." {{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Fred American urban planners Columbia University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people