Peter Kageyama Inspires Local Government Leaders at 2025 OCMA Annual Conference
The 2025 Ohio City/County Management Association (OCMA) Annual Conference started on a high note with an insightful and engaging keynote address from renowned urbanist and author Peter Kageyama. His presentation left local government professionals with fresh ideas on how to strengthen the emotional bonds between residents and their communities.
A Powerful Message on Community Engagement
Kageyama, known for his best-selling books For the Love of Cities and Love Where You Live, emphasized the importance of fostering emotional connections between people and the places they call home. He shared compelling stories and real-world examples of cities that have successfully created vibrant, engaging spaces by focusing on small-scale, high-impact projects that spark joy and civic pride.
Throughout his keynote, Kageyama provided practical insights on how city and county managers can tap into the power of citizen engagement to create places that people truly love. Some of the key themes included:
• Love Your City We need to help people learn to love the places within our cities. Every pothole in a city can be fixed, but fixing potholes doesn’t instill love in our cities. Work from Anywhere has opened up a conversation about where we live that increases the importance of placemaking. People are now choosing where they live based on the communities that they love, and having unique places and elements is a large part of these perceptions.
• Where is the Fun? As communities think about placemaking, the question they should be asking more is “Where is the Fun?” The goal should not just to be to create a community that is sustainable, but also to create a community that is loveable, that “grabs you by the heart and doesn’t let you go”.
• Placemaking on a Budget – Peter offered numerous examples of low-cost, high-impact projects that make communities more engaging, such as interactive public art, pop-up events, and beautification initiatives. Mill Ends Park in Portland, ferry doors in Ann Arbor and McKinnley, Texas, and a playground sized for adults outside the Boston convention center were some of the examples he cited. Stencil examples included “It’s Good To Be Here” statements in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and Rain Works in Seattle that includes messages that only show up when the sidewalks are wet.
• Good Public Art Invites Engagement – Having artwork that people want to play with is a sign that people love the art. Public art is about the interaction, the playfulness, and the photo-op potential. We should be asking prospective artists, how would you feel about people playing with your art?