by Ethan Kent  Governance, on every scale, is not set up to
create great places. Indeed, the current culture and structure
of government and civic infrastructure may actually be the
greatest obstacle (more than money, ideas, talent,
infrastructure, etc.) to successful Placemaking. As ingrained as
government, and its relationship to communities, might seem, we
are finding that these obstacles are ones that all parties are
poised to overcome.  Governance, whether formal or informal,
strong or weak, top-down or bottom up, has great potential to
redefine and refocuses itself around Place. Inherently bound by
place, and tied to the success of the places it governs,
government is still largely missing a coherent focus on
enhancing its places.  Siloed Governance  The siloes of
government not only ignore place, but often degrade it’s
potential value.  Currently, no department or community
organization is in charge of creating good places. Even when
everyone is doing their job masterfully, great places generally
fall