Placemaking Education

When you focus on #people and #places, you do many things differently. This includes #project leadership and management. Too often, we rush to finish a project, only to see it not funded, opposed by the local community, subject to cost blowouts and/or forgotten in a fast-moving world. Conventional project management methods are generally designed for and well-suited to capital works and infrastructure-focused projects. But, these approaches don't always work well in more social, complex and fluid situations, such as neighborhood improvement, economic development, main street revitalisation and community building. Our next online group learning session and the online course: 💡 Explain how the 'placemaking mindset' can help you to plan for and manage your project 📝 Compare #masterplanning approach with #StrategicDoing ⌛ Look at key project management concepts such as time, cost, quality and scope 🚨 Warns of some common mistakes to avoid #Places should influence #projects, rather than projects influencing places. Register for the online session via https://lnkd.in/g_APqffa Learn at your own pace, when you have time via the online course https://lnkd.in/gHbsdXzu Town Team Movement Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries WA Local Government Association (WALGA) WA LG Placemaking Network Melissa Shaw Jenny Marslen Megan Humble Anthony Vuleta David Doy Garry Fisher Michael Swanepoel Emma Snow Mike Fisher

Our surroundings are not neutral. They shape our moods, influence our thoughts, and quietly dictate how we feel about our lives. When we design cities based purely on cost or efficiency, without regard for beauty, comfort, or joy, we shouldn’t be surprised when people feel disconnected, anxious, or downright sad. We’ve underestimated how deeply our environment affects our mental health—and we’re paying the price. If the goal were to design places that make people feel like crap, then mission accomplished. We’ve built neighborhoods and streetscapes so soulless, so unlovable, that we now sit through countless public meetings wondering why no one cares, why no one shows up, and why civic pride feels out of reach. The truth is, it’s hard to care about a place that doesn’t care about you. It doesn’t have to be this hard. If we want to inspire civic engagement, connection, and joy, we have to design for those outcomes. Think of the city as a stage, and ask yourself: What kind of play do you want your residents to live out? If you’re aiming for a love story, maybe skip the parking garages and six-lane arterials. But if your ideal narrative is a gritty crime drama, then by all means—bring on the Brutalist municipal buildings and half-empty lots. The choices are ours. Design is never just about aesthetics or costs. It’s about emotion. It’s about setting the tone for daily life. The way a street feels, the materials we use, the presence of trees or the absence of benches—these are not neutral decisions. They are emotional cues. They tell people how much they matter. City leaders, planners, and designers must begin every project with this question: What feeling do we want this place to evoke? Because whether you plan for it or not, every corner of your city is already telling a story. The only question is: Is it the one you meant to tell?

This month we are celebrating 50 years since the inception of Project for Public Spaces, our first organization and the predecessor to the global #Placemaking network PlacemakingX and Social Life Project. As we are at this key moment in the history of our movement, we want to look back at the last half century of work we've done and then set our sights forward to the next half century of goals. https://lnkd.in/eknYFhvn Article by Fred Kent, Kathy Madden, Steve Davies and Tayana Panova, PhD

We launched our first Placemaking Education e-newsletter last week. You can read it via https://lnkd.in/gDNBDtAn If you'd like to receive future editions, sign up at https://lnkd.in/gfNNQaUR

You get what you plan for, act on and enforce. 👇 Some #urban #planning frameworks require 👀 #car #parking to be the dominant land use. A common minimum car parking policy standard of 10 car bays per 100m² of restaurant floorspace means that the development outcome being enforced is 350m² of car parking for every 100m² of restaurant. This kind of rule would require a land area 3.5 times larger than the actual business, because the average area of a car parking bay is estimated to be about 35sqm, including the driveway, aisles and maneuvering areas. In urban planning-speak, car parking becomes the major land use, while the restaurant is just an ancillary use. That seems ... weird. Is that really the outcome we want for our urban areas? Our FREE 10 Car Parking Myths Busted takes about 20 minutes to do. Give it a go via https://lnkd.in/gMuPZN5m. Town Team Movement PlacemakingX Complete Streets Victoria Walks Gil Penalosa Steven Burgess Strong Towns Better Streets Better Block Foundation Parking Reform Network People, Places & Parking Process Edward Erfurt Michelle Prior Brooke Wharton Alison D'Costa Ed Steane Sara Stace Rory Murray Remco Deelstra Jack Hobbs Lisa Rooke Rik Adamski Jacob Martin Fiona Goodbody Eleanor Glenn Alison Hetherington Dusty Moore

As technology becomes ever more compelling so must IRL (in real life) activities. The competition is just that much greater. Placemaking has a well established track record of taking on this challenge. But can we go further and add play to the mix? Can we turn public spaces into play spaces? Alternatively, can we make places for youth more playful so that we draw more kids off of their phones and back into play-based activity? We have not yet begun to even consider all the possibilities here. Imagine parks with more creative play stations? Neighborhoods with more opportunities for compelling youth - and adult - play opportunities? Schools with better places for play in and after school? Companies that use play to boost retention and strengthen their ties with their neighborhoods or cities? Towns who boosted their sense of place and increased tourism simply by making their locales a good destination for play? I offer five suggestions below via Ryan K Rosen: 1) Start small 2) Add quick, low-cost tweaks as you gain momentum 3) Incorporate play into many more activities throughout the day 4) Design play into infrastructure 5) Go big by building an one-of-a-kind community game that turns a place into a destination Do you have more ideas? Or do you have examples of specific places that offered compelling play opportunities? I would love to hear your thoughts. #happiness #community #neighborhoods #loneliness #health #placemaking #play Placemaking Education Cormac Russell Frances Kraft Usha Srinivasan Jennifer Prophete Michael Skoler Kara Revel Jarzynski Democracy Policy Network Sam Pressler Tracy Hadden Loh PlacemakingX Olivia Reingold Richard Young Kevin Ervin Kelley, AIA Lory Warren Noah Baskett Zach Rausch Dr J.R. Baker Lenore Skenazy Jonathan Haidt Daniel Shuchman Ethan Kent Tate Wilson

Community #organising is crucial if you genuinely want to involve and empower local people to be #placemakers and #doers. That's why we created the Kickstart a Positive Community Group online course, which is crafted by years of experience accrued by Town Team Movement staff and local groups in hundreds of communities across Australia and New Zealand. It compares different ways of organising, including: 🚶♂️ groups dominated by 1 or 2 people who do most of the work ⌨️ formal groups 🤝 groups with distributed leadership and #doership By the end of this course, you will be able to: 🔥 Get started on creating your own positive community group 🌳 Make the change you want to see happen ❤️ Deliver amazing results, even with tiny budgets It's only A$80 for professionals, or free for genuine community volunteers via https://lnkd.in/gaS-YqdY. #actlocal #togetherwecan Patrycja Rosinska Esther Bliss Megan Humble Gabrielle Major Alyce Ventris Rory Murray Julian Canny Caroline Robinson Jimmy Murphy David Snyder Dean Cracknell Fiona Miller Ryan Smolar K J Gardner Singleton Olivia Stamp New Citizen Project Tamasine McCaig Jon Alexander Locality Chippenham Town Team and Chamber MIPM Lucy Byrne (GAICD) Alexis Baum Anthony Judge Rik Adamski Mathilde Riou Joel Backwell Microforest Collective Eric Smith, MA Mikaela Carroll (Kerwin) Dan Baisden Sarah Lindenmayer

As potholes hit the headlines in the UK again, research from the The Manchester Metropolitan University colleagues in 2020 reminds us: poor maintenance of our places isn’t just a cosmetic issue it’s a place management challenge that impacts wellbeing, especially for older people. Drawing on interviews with over 100 people aged 60–92 across Manchester, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, the research - led by Dr Jenny Fisher and Professor Rebecca Lawthom - found that noise, litter, potholes, traffic, and uneven pavements create anxieties that limit mobility, social contact, and confidence to leave home. Participants described feeling unsafe, fearing falls, and encountering public spaces that simply didn’t reflect their needs. As Professor Lawthom notes: “We need to broaden our understanding of safety - beyond policing and crime stats - to include accessibility, usability, and community connection.” Whether you're a planner, local councillor, urban designer, or part of a BID or town team, this is a call to action. A place management approach recognises that maintaining streets, kerbs and public spaces isn’t just about appearances - it’s about creating inclusive, welcoming environments that support dignity, connection, and healthy ageing for all. https://lnkd.in/eN8jMvbV.

#Placemaking is referred to in a range of disciplines and contexts - urban #planning, design, #health, marketing, #economic development, #community development and more. As a philosophy and process, placemaking seeks to bring separated disciplines together to work for a common vision of creating better places. People and place are always at the heart of the process. There are at least 7 components: 1. The people and the place 2. Placemaking as the mindset and process to weave things together 3. Place storytelling 4. Place designing and constructing 5. Place managing 6. Place activating 7. Place organising and governance Our online courses unpack it all and explain how it can be done - https://lnkd.in/gYhRs4NQ. Of course, how it is done is really guided and made by the people and the place. When places thrive, people can thrive too. What are other key components that are important to you? Please share your ideas in the comments below 👇 Town Team Movement PlacemakingX Social Life Project The Place Institute Ethan Kent Guillermo Bernal Madeleine Spencer Ryan Smolar Lucinda Hartley David Engwicht Emma Snow David Snyder Dean Cracknell Cate Baker Mike Fisher Ulf Andersson Graham Galpin Chris Wade FIPM Ian Harvey SFIPM FRSA Cathy Parker MBE, SFIPM Institute of Place Management Jen Heal Jane Ellery Peter Ellery Peter Smith Mike Fisher Stu Speirs

Our next online group learning session is on how to set up and manage a place-based project for success. Project management techniques have often been designed for linear, infrastructure-focused projects. Projects that involve people or places need different principles and techniques to be successful. This 90-minute online group learning session will cover: 🤝 Some of the key skills needed 🚇 Masterplanning approach compared with the agile, iterative 'Strategic Doing' approach 📝 Key project management concepts, such as: time, cost, quality and scope 🗑️ Common place project mistakes to avoid WHEN Choose your preferred session - Monday 7 April 2025 or Wednesday 9 April 2025 1pm AEST / 12.30pm SA/NT / 11am WA / 3pm NZ for 1.5 hours PRICE $110 (incl GST), which includes 5 months access to the How To Lead Place-based Projects online course (worth $95) https://lnkd.in/gHbsdXzu, plus this online training session. FREE for Western Australian local governments thanks to the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, which has engaged Town Team Movement to deliver free training for all WA local government staff and Elected Members. Register your tickets at https://lnkd.in/g_APqffa