Why is placemaking important?
This page provide a quick summary of why placemaking is important at various levels.
Why it is important at the strategic level
Broad trends evident around the world emphasise why cross-disciplinary and more integrated approaches are needed. They include:
1 - Expectations of what governments and institutions can and should do keep increasing
2 - Loneliness and mental health issues are rising
3 - Complex environmental, economic, political and social are growing and there are no easy answers
4 - Volunteering is declining. People are less willing to get involved in civic life
5 - Trust in governments and institutions is declining
Placemaking provides a practical, adaptable, cost-effective and implementable approach that can be tailored for each context, community and opportunities and challenges present in a place or city.
The real value lies in how it can:
- promote active citizenship
- create social habitats
- support a participatory democracy and reduce political polarization
- lead to flourishing people and neighbourhoods
At the place level
Placemaking aims to create places for people to connect, participate and thrive - 'social habitats'. Unfortunately, when you look around, there are so many streets, public spaces, neighbourhoods and even whole cities that seem to be anti-social, where people do not feel comfortable, safe or included.
The two most important problems that placemaking works on are:
- Streets and public spaces that are unsafe, unsociable, uncomfortable, inaccessible, bad for local businesses, unsustainable or car-dominated.
- Cities, towns and neighbourhoods that are disconnected, lonely, car-dominated, unsafe, unhealthy, unsustainable or where people feel disempowered.
Placemaking doesn't provide all the answers upfront, but its principles and collaborative, iterative approach can help to discover and trial ideas in order to try to find potential answers that might be appropriate for the place.
2 more reasons why placemaking is important
Governments can act by doing things To, For, With or enabling action By communities
Governments, agencies and institutions play important roles, but strong institutions doing things To or For communities can reduce individual and collective flourishing and weaken the spirit and resilience of the place, whilst doing WITH or enabling action BY locals through the enabling mindset and use collaborative processes is more likely to encourage the flourishing to emerge/occur.
With thanks to Cormac Russell for this powerful framework!
Addressing the 'Epidemic of Loneliness'
The Surgeon General of the United States has described the extraordinary individual and societal costs of the 'epidemic' of loneliness and isolation.
The way we design, build and manage urban areas is killing us.
Placemaking plays an incredibly important role in making connections and encouraging social interaction.
We can all play a role in addressing these issues.
Some of the 20 potential benefits
Turning principles and ideas into action
Placemaking is all about action, but also who is involved and how it is done.
Each place and group of people are different. What works in one place may not be appropriate nor work in another place.
Our courses are packed full of inspiring and practical tactics, tips and lessons learned from a range of placemakers
with decades of experience. Investing time upfront in learning more will save a lot of time, stress and money
in the delivery of a future program or project.
These are some of the courses we offer, with all our courses and resources available via this webpage.
