Sociologists predicted that it would be a long time before anyone found a silver lining in the Great Recession, but they were wrong. At a presentation about the plan for overhauling downtown’s Nollen Plaza, someone in the audience told New York landscape architect Ken Smith that it was a good thing we teetered on the edge of economic collapse for a while.

It gave the designers time to come up with better ideas.

This sounds a little like being grateful for the Black Death because it gave Europe some down time to sketch designs for the Renaissance, or realizing that the war in Vietnam was an excellent opportunity for America’s young men to do some traveling. By this logic, every business plan should include this item somewhere in the middle of the agenda: “Now refrain from taking action for two years.”

Still, it might be a valid point in this case. A few dozen people showed up in the middle of the day at Stoner Theater to hear Smith lay out the latest ideas, and those who spoke up after his presentation certainly seemed pleased with the result.

Gone are the “chunkier” ideas of 2008, when there was talk about installing a substantial-looking arch for a water feature and a cube for electronic art. The new plan calls for a flat, bright and accessible site.

It also calls for sawing down about half of the trees on the block’s southern half, creating a pleasant place to enjoy a snack in the grove. The way it is now, people venture in only to search for lost treasure or hide from federal authorities.

A diagonal strip across the site would lead toward the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines’ main entrance, and it could be paved in red stone. It would be like the city’s “red carpet” for important visitors, Smith said, which sounds like a very cool concept.

Columns 50 feet tall would line the south edge of this strip, loaded with LED lights that could be programmed to show pictures or messages, whatever’s needed at the moment. This also sounds great, although probably expensive.

Civic Center President Jeff Chelesvig characterized this moment as being step two, if the project has 10 steps, and the next steps involve calculators and arm-twisting. The dozen people in Greater Des Moines who are programmed into every fund-raiser’s cell phone might as well get ready.

The other, less-conventional problem that seemed to be trying to take shape last week was a fight about peace.

Part of the plaza is now considered a “peace garden,” and several of those present pushed for a larger emphasis on that concept. For one thing, they want a peace pole. Apparently every peace garden or peace park should have a peace pole, specially designed to attract good thoughts rather than lightning or strippers. And, of course, it has to have a peace-related name.

But one thought automatically comes up in this age of “corporate naming opportunities.” After the event, one peace supporter jokingly asked another what she would think of “Principal Peace Park.” She seemed to be against it.

Smith, who grew up in Waukee, seemed daunted by only one thing. For decades, downtown Des Moines has tried to persuade hundreds of crows to spend their winter nights somewhere else, and the crow union has rejected every proposal. Imagine a beautiful new Nollen Plaza after a winter’s worth of the things big birds do.

Landscape architects have their own specialized vocabulary for discussing space and form, but Smith was easy to understand when he evaluated our crow problem. He called it “disgusting.”

Sometimes it’s really, really hard to find the silver lining.

Jim Pollock is the editor of the Des Moines Business Record. He can be reached by e-mail at jimpollock@bpcdm.com