How to Design Magnetic Public Spaces That Attract People
In today's urban landscape, public spaces can no longer afford to be passive, uninspiring, or overlooked. The most successful master‑planned communities and urban hotspots today are not just about buildings—they’re about life between them. Thoughtful placemaking design and deliberate public space engagement are transforming how developers, municipalities, and planners create spaces where people want to be—not just pass through.
As Phil Myrick—respected placemaking expert—puts it: “Places that are really energetic… are just hotspots.” That magnetism is no accident; it’s built with purpose and vision. Using insights from Phil on his guest visit on the Alosant Communities Connected podcast, this article outlines how to design compelling spaces that pulse with life, support local identity, and invite meaningful social interaction.
Let’s unpack the real‑world methods and philosophies that power these thriving spaces—and show how tools like Alosant Apps can help developers and placemakers deliver on these visions with clarity, consistency, and community in mind.
Reimagining Space with Life First, Then Buildings
Before any design or materials are discussed, we must shift our mindset. Rather than beginning with bricks and roads, we start with people and activity. This is where true placemaking design begins—it’s not about the architecture first, but about imagining the living, breathing use of the space.
Phil challenges developers to start not with blueprints, but with people: “Let’s just imagine what kind of life… you would love to see happening in that project.” He encourages asking not what will the building look like? but how will people use this place? That question reframes the project.
- This mindset flips traditional planning on its head: you see the gathering, the conversation, the play before you commit to walls.
- Start by visualizing families playing, seniors mingling, artists performing.
- Envision the daily rhythm, the spontaneous meeting, the serendipitous encounter.
- These are the elements that make a place vibrant—and they anchor public space engagement in a far more effective way than just benches or signage.
When you build from the human experience outward, you breathe life into the design. At that point, tools like the Alosant community platform help you validate, refine, and coordinate that vision. With Alosant, you can engage residents, invite their input, and build momentum with you, not just impose a plan on them.
Understanding Behavior Settings and Social Infrastructure
Once you’ve centered life and activity, the next step is to design “behavior settings”—dedicated zones where people know what to do—and to support the social infrastructure that underpins vibrant public life. This is where placemaking design shifts from abstract to tangible.
Phil explains: “A playground is a good example… you know what you’re going to do there.” That clarity of purpose draws people. The space communicates: “Come here to play.” In contrast, a vague, undefined plaza may invite confusion or avoidance.
- Dining patios signal togetherness.
- Shaded benches cue conversation.
- Music corners invite pausing and gathering.
- Event lawns invite programming, not just open turf.
These behavior settings make the space usable—and usable in a way that supports public space engagement. When people feel comfortable in a setting, they stay longer, interact more, and feel a sense of belonging.
Social infrastructure—things like lighting, wayfinding, shade, seating, WiFi—are the unsung heroes. They enable connection. When well done, they support urban hotspots that thrive throughout the day: morning coffee chats, lunchtime meetups, evening concerts.
The Alosant platform can help you manage the social infrastructure digitally: share wayfinding, promote events, collect feedback, and ensure your behavior settings remain relevant and active. Built with you, the platform amplifies your community —not our brand—and helps you deliver on the promise of truly engaging spaces.
Designing With Intent: Creating Urban Hotspots
Designing a space that draws people in and keeps them there—the essence of a successful urban hotspot—requires intention. It’s not accidental. It’s methodical. Intentional placemaking design means aligning every corner, pathway, and gathering space with a clear goal.
Phil says, “What you need is clearly legible behavior settings that have intention.” The word “legible” is crucial: people should immediately understand what the space is for, how to move through it, and where to gather. When you achieve that, the area becomes a destination.
Key elements in designing urban hotspots:
- Understanding your audience: Who are the people you want to draw? Young professionals? Families? Seniors?
- Mapping movement patterns: Where do people walk, pause, gather, linger?
- Aligning spaces with programming: Are there plazas for events? Cafés for casual meet‑ups? Lawns for families?
- Creating layers of use: morning, afternoon, night—each with its own draw.
- Thinking of adjacency: Places that are near each other can reinforce each other—cafés by markets, benches by performance spots.
Take, for instance, a lively master‑planned community with a mixed‑use village core. That core becomes an urban hotspot when the placemaking design aligns with social rhythms and the physical form invites strolling, stopping, and staying.
In such environments, the role of the digital platform becomes vital: Alosant offers you communication pathways, analytics on usage, event scheduling, and resident engagement—so you shape the space, but also continuously nurture its vitality.
Public Space Engagement Begins With Programming, Not Paving
A frequent mistake in development is to complete the hardscape—paving, seating, landscaping—and assume that the space will magically come to life. In reality, the activation comes from programming—the events, the people, the culture. That’s where public space engagement truly thrives.
Phil warns: “If you do that, you miss most of the opportunities.” In other words, building the physical infrastructure without planning how it will be used early on misses the core of placemaking.
Here’s how to layer programming into your design from the outset:
- Identify desired uses: Will there be markets, concerts, pop‑up art?
- Mix formal and informal: Organized events plus casual drop‑in activities.
- Match timeframes: Daytime lunch concerts, evening film screenings, weekend farmers’ markets.
- Use programming to invite non‑user groups: Engage seniors, families, remote workers, visitors.
- Evaluate and iterate: Use resident feedback to refine programs and ensure ongoing relevance.
The digital layer from Alosant helps you orchestrate all this: you can share upcoming programs, track participation, invite feedback, and integrate the data back into the design process. In other words, the platform is your technology‑enabled layer of public space engagement, built with you, amplifying your community, supporting your long‑term strategy.
Triangulation: The Science of Serendipity
One of the most powerful concepts in creating magnets for people is triangulation—placing three or more complementary elements in proximity so that they generate energy together. This is a hallmark of effective placemaking design and increases the chances of spontaneous interaction and lingering.
Phil offers this insight: “If you get three things close enough… they can spark this energy.” In other words: “Three things near each other” that serve different purposes but intersect in a shared zone can create an environment where something magical happens.
How to apply triangulation:
- Identify three distinct activity types: e.g., performance, food & beverage, seating/rest.
- Place them close enough to spill over into each other: someone gets ice cream, then sits, then watches a street performer.
- Use scale and spacing intentionally: not too far apart, so interaction is natural.
- Create sight‑lines and movement paths that draw people through the triangle.
- Let the design support overflow and flexibility: benches facing the performer, café tables adjacent, open space for others.
In established neighborhoods and even in retrofit situations, triangulation can revive underused zones and help create new urban hotspots. It becomes the engagement catalyst that helps draw residents to the hotspot, highlighting what’s already happening there and supporting the connections that continue afterward.
Life‑Driven Development: From Outcomes to Outputs
Good placemaking turns the traditional developer mindset on its head. Instead of focusing on outputs—buildings and infrastructure—it starts with outcomes: what kind of social life, what kind of community, what kind of story do you want your space to tell? This shift is central to both placemaking design and high‑quality public space engagement.
Phil reminds us: “What are the goals and the outcomes for the experience?” He emphasizes the importance of thinking about people meeting, connecting, exchanging, not just existing side by side. “I want the doctors from this building to meet the scientists from this building.” That’s a goal of social infrastructure.
Here’s how you can operationalize outcome‑driven design:
- Define the experience: what feelings, connections, interactions you want to enable.
- Map spaces to those outcomes: meeting venues, open lawns, cafés, art nooks.
- Program with intention: tasks like “increase inter‑building interaction” become measurable.
- Market the spaces & programs: Create excitement and anticipation for joining.
- Iterate: adjust elements when outcomes aren’t achieved.
And again, the Alosant platform becomes your partner: it allows you create a digital layer to compliment the space by connecting the people in your community to your spaces. In this way, your urban hotspots aren’t just existing in the space, but they are woven into daily life, becoming vibrant touchpoints where residents gather, explore, and engage.
From Assets to Energy: Daylighting What Already Exists
Often the best part of a new design isn’t entirely new. Many sites already have hidden flows, under‑recognized assets, or latent energy that simply needs activation. Phil uses the concept of “daylighting” to describe this—bringing buried value into the open through smart placemaking design and energized public space engagement.
He asserts that a lot of master planners build buildings, roads, parking—but neglect the life between them. Daylighting turns that around.
- Identify hidden flows: footpaths, informal gatherings, local landmarks.
- Bring them into the design: strengthen those paths, highlight those spots.
- Use programming and events to activate latent zones.
- Support the transition with digital communication: alerts, event invites, maps.
- Monitor success: see which “daylit” spaces attract people, and why.
In a master‑planned community, this means using the Alosant digital layer to engage residents, collect stories of where they already gather, and then amplify those places. The result: a living, breathing urban hotspot that doesn’t feel imposed—it feels discovered.
The Software of Space: Where Alosant Comes In
Finally, we must recognize that a public space isn’t just physical—it’s also digital. The best public space engagement happens when the physical and digital merge to serve people. Here, Alosant becomes your partner , helping you deliver lasting value.
Phil underscores: “A lot of master planners… go about their business completely in the hardware world and they don’t even know there’s a software world.” That software world is where resident engagement, event scheduling, and amenity amplification live.
Alosant’s platform, built with you, does the following:
- Offers white-label community apps so you can share information connected to your vision and branding.
Amplify your spaces with configurable pages, event schedules, and maps. - Supports ongoing iteration: you can adapt programming or design based on registration numbers, and feedback.
- Helps create the digital glue that binds the physical assets together into high‑functioning urban hotspots.
By aligning physical placemaking design with digital engagement tools, you support public space engagement that is dynamic, measurable, and resilient. The combination brings your master‑planned community to life, fosters loyalty, drives visitation, and creates value that lasts.
🎧 Continue the Conversation: Listen to the Podcast
Want to hear more directly from Phil Myrick on what makes spaces truly magnetic? Tune into Communities Connect: A Land and Lifestyle Podcast powered by Alosant, featuring the episode “Life Before Buildings: Insights from a Leading Placemaking Perspective.” In this engaging conversation, Phil unpacks how placemaking shapes communities—and why starting with life, not layout, is the key to success.
👉 Listen Now on Apple Podcasts
This episode is a must for developers, planners, and community leaders who are ready to elevate their spaces—and their impact. Built with you. Trusted by communities. Powered by purpose.
Conclusion
Designing magnetic public spaces isn’t about guesswork—it’s about intention, behavior, and connection. By embracing placemaking design, focusing on public space engagement, and intentionally creating urban hotspots, communities can become more than built environments—they become beloved destinations.
With tools like Alosant in your toolkit, you step into the role of trusted advisor, building spaces that feel alive, personal, and lasting. And because Alosant is built with you—amplifying your community, supporting your brand—you create results that matter: deeper engagement, stronger loyalty, vibrant public life.
The best public spaces aren’t just seen—they’re felt.
FAQ’s
What are urban hotspots?
Urban hotspots are vibrant public areas that naturally attract people due to thoughtful placemaking, active programming, and a mix of social, cultural, or commercial activities. These areas often include plazas, markets, or mixed-use centers that feel lively, inclusive, and purposeful.
What is an urban hot spot?
An urban hot spot is a strategically designed location within a city or community that draws people in through amenities, events, and design that supports social interaction. Examples include downtown squares, food halls, and walkable community hubs like San Antonio’s Pearl District.
What are hot spots?
Hot spots refer to areas that experience high levels of activity or interest. In an urban planning context, hot spots are places where people gather due to strong public space engagement and placemaking design. In other fields, “hot spots” may also refer to technological or thermal zones.
What are urban heat areas?
Urban heat areas, or urban heat islands, are zones within cities where temperatures are significantly higher due to dense construction, limited vegetation, and heat-absorbing surfaces like asphalt. These areas benefit from cooler design interventions, such as shade, greenery, and water features.
What is placemaking design according to Phil Myrick?
Placemaking design, as described by Phil Myrick, is the intentional creation of public or shared spaces that prioritize social life and community interaction. He emphasizes starting with the question: “What kind of life do you want to see happening here?” before any physical planning begins.
Why is “life before buildings” important in placemaking?
“Life before buildings” is Phil Myrick’s philosophy that social experience should guide urban design. By imagining how people will use a space—before designing it—developers create places that feel authentic, functional, and loved by the community.
Can technology support better placemaking design?
Yes. Tools like the Alosant community branded app help developers and planners activate spaces through resident feedback, event scheduling, and digital engagement. It turns passive environments into living, evolving urban hotspots.
Further Reading
- The Smartest Resident Engagement Solutions for New Communities
- Smart Ways to Improve Community Communication
- Connecting People to Place: Services That Make Communities Thrive
- Placemaking Strategies for Master-Planned Communities with Heart
- PropTech for Community Living That Pays Off
- Phil Myrick
- Project for Public Spaces
