This pdf summarizes the results of a six-month research effort where Project for Public Spaces in association with Partners for Livable Communities took a fresh look at public markets that serve low- and moderate-income, ethnically diverse communities. This research allowed us to address specifically how public markets enhance the potential for social integration in public spaces—attracting diverse income levels, ages, and ethnicities—and thereby create a sustainable vehicle for upward mobility and individual empowerment for low-income communities.

Magma Flow is a stimulating urban activation of a pedestrian street from a newly built commercial and residential area in the port city of Ningbo, the second-most populous city in Zhejiang Province, China. One of the most characteristic features of this place is the presence of grand stairs that serve as pedestrian access to the open second floor of the commercial street. In order to activate this pedestrian junction and turn it into an eventful and eye-catching public space, colonizing the stairs extending and detaching the proposal from the horizontal plane of the floor was early identified as a key action to gain visibility, and from which the rest of the proposal could be articulated.

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