The Place Bureau

The Place Bureau 101 In our work, we meet a lot of people who ask, “I’ve heard of The Place Bureau, but what do you actually do?” It got us thinking… What do we actually do? At our core, we’re innovators – every project is different, but our approach follows a clear structure: Insight, Imagination, and Impact. INSIGHT – Understanding a place’s potential through research, foresight, and engagement. IMAGINATION – Crafting future-fit visions and strategies that inspire design. IMPACT – Turning vision into action through branding, spatial concepts, and masterclasses. We’ll be breaking down our tools and methodology in detail over on Substack over the next nine weeks, give us a follow: https://lnkd.in/eBqp_TER We’ve developed a Collaborative Place Futures Toolkit based on these methods to help teams apply these ideas in their own projects. You can: - Purchase a copy of the toolkit from our online shop  - Sign up to our Place Futures online course at The School of Critical Design  - Get in touch to ask about bespoke CPD training for your team #PlaceFutures #UrbanInnovation #Placemaking #ThePlaceBureau

We want your take on 💚 THE LOVE LANGUAGE OF PLACE 💚 With some places it's love at first sight. Others grow on us slowly as we get to know them, until we realise we can’t live without them. Whatever your relationship with the places you love, we want to know more. We’re making a talk on ‘The Love Language of Place’ — and we’re curious to know what it is you love about the places you feel most connected to — those that move you most. Join our experiment, as we gather 100 images of your Love Languages of place. We’re using the ancient Greek concept of the 8 forms of love (see below) as our starting point. EROS / érōs / Έρως — Passionate, romantic love PHILAFTIA / philautía / Φιλαυτία — Self love, care. Sometimes negative. PHILIA / philía / Φιλία — Friendship and camaraderie STORGE / storgē / Στοργή — A feeling of pure and tender love and devotion AGAPE / agápē / Αγάπη — Selfless, altruistic love for others LUDUS / lūdus / Παιχνιδιάρικη αγάπη — Playful noncommittal love PRAGMA / pragma / Πρακτική αγάπη — Mature, practical and enduring love MANIA / mania / Μανία — Intense, often obsessive and possessive love Here’s how to get involved… 1. Take a photo of a place you love (or you have fallen in love with) 2. Tell us where it is 3. Tell us how it makes you feel, why, and which of the 8 types of love language this is for you. The easiest way to do so is by… 👉 Or clicking the link: https://lnkd.in/eHMc2yjT which lets you upload image, video, and text. Upload them by… Tuesday 18th March To say thanks first step towards the book, we will make a zine to gather all these and if you’ve contributed, you’ll get a copy. p.s. this may sound lighthearted and it should be. But it’s also backed by over 15 years of action-based research through the Urban Lexicons project. If we understand our emotional connection to a place, we can design for better relationships. Props to Jasmine Palardy for a fun conversation in Bilbao that sparked these thoughts, and to Marcus Willcocks for many years of research on the subject. #consciouscities hashtag #urbanlexicons hashtag #placemaking hashtag #urbanism hashtag #cities hashtag #landscapedesign hashtag #place hashtag #citizenscience

Bringing Place Strategies to Life Through Conceptual Design Meet Christos Koukis, an architect with bold ideas and a passion for reimagining places. Hailing from Peristeri, Athens, and holding a Master’s in Urban Strategies from Die Angewandte in Vienna, he’s worked with architectural legends like Zaha Hadid Architects and Studio Fuksas, shaping projects from Greece to China, Italy, and the UK. Christos brings a wealth of experience in designing the future of destinations — from the redevelopment of one of Europe's major coastal rivieras, through to a science museum in Shenzhen, island eco-resorts and music venues in Athens. At The Place Bureau, we’ve long collaborated with some of the world’s best architects. Now having Christos on our team since the start of this year, takes things to the next level – transforming our strategies into spatial experiences and ensuring we knit into wider architectural teams. His expertise enhances our work in: • Spatial Storytelling – Bringing a deep understanding of how narrative and environments shape human experiences. • Visual Communication – Crafting drawings, models, renders, and animations to bring ideas to life. • Interdisciplinary Collaboration – Ensuring our strategic visions translate seamlessly into our collaborators work. Christos is fascinated by how public spaces evolve – how people, culture, and energy shape their character beyond design. He’s driven to create places that don’t just look good but make you feel something. We’re thrilled to have him on board! Say hi 👋 in the comments or get in touch to learn more about how we’re expanding our offer with conceptual design. #Architecture #Placemaking #UrbanDesign #ThePlaceBureau #SpatialStorytelling #DesignInnovation

Our work in Bristol on Harbour Hopes has been recognised by the Quality of Life Foundation as an example of Good practice. We're delighted to have this work recognised as this project has inspired and informed so much of the work we have done since. The QOLF self assessment tool is a useful framework to understand how your engagement work stacks up against their code of practice principles. #creativeengagement #qualityoflifefoundation #harbourhopes #bristol #regeneration

The Magnetic Energy of Snæfellsnes Snæfellsnes is a place where energy can be seen, felt, and heard. This rugged peninsula on Iceland’s West Coast is home to a unique family of municipalities – each with its own distinct character. While the landscapes are showstopping – glaciers, volcanoes, and rugged coastlines – it’s the warmth and tenacity of the people that truly defines the region. The Place Bureau partnered with Snæfellsnes Regional Park, Alta, and graphic designer Susanna Foppoli to shape a destination brand with purpose – one that attracts the right kind of tourism: travellers who slow down, connect, and immerse themselves in the place. Beyond tourism, the brand also positions Snæfellsnes as an exciting and cultural place to live, especially for young people. Through a place safari, workshops, and close collaboration with locals, we developed a brand that reflects their identity. We also worked with the community – food producers, tour operators, and more, all brilliant storytellers in their own right – to help them use the brand effectively and communicate what Snæfellsnes truly stands for. At The Place Bureau, we believe placemaking is meaning making. Destination branding is more than just a visual identity – it’s about building consensus and telling a story that resonates with both locals and visitors, that encompasses both the promise of the destination and the experience on the ground. As placemakers first, we work with clients through the lifecycle of a project, weaving a single, distinctive narrative through from visioning to design, helping to craft stories about places that matter to people. Get in touch to find out more about our destination branding offer and visit https://snaefellsnes.is/ to find out more about this unique region. #Snaefellsnes #DestinationBranding #Placemaking #Iceland #MeaningMaking #ThePlaceBureau Susanna Foppoli

Futures Lab 2024: A Synergy of Intelligences The Fondation USM Futures Lab is an experimental innovation programme, with a mission to explore, envision, and advocate for possible futures that can create a positive impact on our world. With a steadfast commitment to modularity, flexibility, and sustainability, we strive to guide society towards a brighter and more resilient future. The Place Bureau have been working alongside For Everyday Life to steer this programme through 2024 and beyond. Last year, we gathered visionaries, designers, and strategists from around the world to explore transformative themes, from reimagining urban resilience with Henning Larsen’s Scaling Empathy project, to Studio ThusThat’s Fire, Walk With Me, which revives fire as a sustainable design tool. We also witnessed Material Library of India harness the power of local textiles with Cotton 2.0, and Daphne Lundi introduce the Department for Communities in Climate Transition — a governance model empowering communities in the face of climate change. Our Futures Lab event in Münsingen, at the home of USM, was the culmination of these efforts — bringing together design partners and our Advisory Panel to interrogate these ideas and drive them forward. We are incredibly proud of the collective intelligence and creativity that emerged and want to say a big thanks to the team at For Everyday Life for this collaboration. 🔗 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e5Zvmnmg 📢 Join the conversation and follow @fondationusmfutures as we continue to explore the frontiers of design, sustainability, and social innovation for the next iteration in 2025. 📖 The Futures Lab journal is due for release any day now. If you’re keen to understand more about the projects from 2024, or would like to support the work we’re doing in 2025, get in touch! #USM #fondationUSM #nonprofit #foundation #futures #collaboration #foresight #creativity  #FuturesResearch #SocialInnovation

Rosanna has summed up a busy year for us at The Place Bureau. Thanks to all our clients and collaborators for coming along for the ride in 2024.

Para nuestra red de urbanistas y futuristas latinos — un adelanto de nuestro toolkit 'Futuros Colaborativos : Diseñando Lugares Juntos.' Decidimos conscientemente crear este toolkit en español e inglés para su lanzamiento, porque creemos que es esencial compartir estas ideas ampliamente y reconocer la importancia del pensamiento urbano en América Latina y las comunidades de habla hispana por todo el mundo.

Is there a difference between designing places and designing experiences? 100% Join Bureau Chief Rosanna Vitiello at Wrld City this Thursday to find out more.

Very much enjoyed this walking book launch - such a brilliant format, whilst learning about the natural history of Bristol. I’ve already dug a little into The Place Bureau’s new book ‘Natural Futures’ and it so eloquently brings together concepts, case studies and discourse on collective imagination and place-making, framing local Nature as something we all belong to, rather than something we own. Congrats to The Place Bureau team! 🌿🐝🦋🪲🦫🌸🌻✨