The pleasant experience of visiting a local, public market is one that will not be replaced by the conveniences of the suburban super store.

All neighborhoods should have a basic marketplace that is well scaled for the locale and easily accessible as people travel about their daily lives. The market can be the simplest of civic moments in a town or city, but what it gives back in excitement, discovery and taste is monumental to the lives of its citizens.

The scale of the market is just as important as the location. A small parking lot, long forgotten as a place for anything more then cars, with some good management and design can be transformed into a neighborhood amenity. If properly located, a neighborhood market can begin without any permanent structure at all. The public space for the market should be on or at the very least visible from a well traveled street. The public space must also be well connected to its surroundings. A collection of paths, streets and alleys connecting to the market should be present to ensure multiple approaches into the space are possible. If the market will be served by people traveling to it by car ensure that these vehicles do not take precedence over the pedestrian flow into and out of the market.

A simple structure is needed to define the aisles and stalls and to give some shelter from the elements. This can be accomplished with tents at first, but logically a public market should have some permanent structure built. Simple columns and canopies with many entrances and a well placed head house to locate the rest rooms, management office and market storage can become a great civic building for a neighborhood.

Two types of building patterns are present in America. The linear markets in Philadelphia and Charleston are good examples of the simplest type. A more complex basilica type exists that can be found throughout Europe as well. The delivery and setup of vendors is essential to a well-designed market. But, these loading areas and patterns must again not degrade the pedestrian environment.

Flexibility throughout the market is critical for allowing many activities to exist in the space over time.

A renewed tradition of creating markets as great civic buildings is occurring throughout the country. These neighborhood markets are an important physical and social piece of our cities and towns.