Street art at Hosier Lane , City of Melbourne
IS THERE AN ECONOMIC CASE FOR PLACEMAKING IN OUR CITIES ?
Helen Sheedy , Senior Placemaker , Hobsons Bay City Council
‘ Placemaking ’ is the current go-to buzz word , especially within the local government sector where community consultation is involved . More and more Local Government Areas ( LGAs ) are adding Placemakers to their Economic Development , Infrastructure or Community Development teams , and while many in the community still haven ’ t heard of the concept , Councils are banking on a return on their investment . So what exactly is Placemaking and is it a sound investment ?
Placemaking is a term which has been around for over half a century , widely believed to have originated in New York in the 1960s and then became more commonly used globally from the 1970s in the Urban planning and architectural fields . In Australia , however , the term placemaking remains a bit of an enigma with many people not quite understanding its meaning . The problem may lay in that there is no set agreed definition of the term .
The Collins Dictionary has Placemaking as a new word , still pending approval , with a proposed definition as “ designing or redesigning public places to be more useful , communal , safe , etc . especially with input from communities using them ”.
Perhaps the most well-known placemaking organisation in the world , the Project for Public Places says ‘ placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community . Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share , placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm in order to maximize shared value .’
Jim Walker from Social Alchemy sheds further light on where placemaking begins , saying Placemaking ‘ comes from considering the short-term action for long-term change .’ The pop-ups , the temporary installations , the trial closing of streets , the activations and street art that act as a test for a bigger theory on a better way to operate our cities and then gauge the impact of the trial determining the result . Placemaking is experimental , the lighter , quicker , faster theory behind it means ideas can be quickly adjusted , changed or stopped with little ongoing impact . Successful Placemaking initiatives start with community engagement and can lead to some of the most incredible urban and social infrastructure we are seeing developed around the globe .
2021 research from the University of California indicates that the amount of
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL VOL 15 NO 1 2022 15