the art and science of placemaking

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“Sorry, you do what?”

So, what is Placemaking?

Placemaking is not new

It’s as old as our towns and main streets

Now making places is the work of professionals

It turns out We can be really crap at it

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“The 20th Century was

about getting around. The 21st Century will be about staying in a place worth staying in.”

James Howard Kunstler, 2004

WHERE WOULD YOU SIT?

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“It is difficult to design a space

that will not attract people.

What is remarkable is how often this

has been accomplished.”

William H Whyte

The problem is in the way we go about making places.

Its our process

© Village Well | www.villagewell.org

Three Pieces of Placemaking Advice

01Make places that are loved and owned by people (not cars, not marketing strategies, not engineers)

Local knowledge and ideas & solutions!

Ownership co-design

Partners who is the egg and who is the bacon?

Plan with communities not on behalf of communities:

Paynesville Community blitz

LoveableNot loveable

LoveableNot loveable

LoveableNot loveable

02 Make places that are active and feel safe

Plan for communities not

just homes

Less gates, lower fences, no CCTV or body corporate security guards

© Village Well | www.villagewell.org

William H. Whyte

“What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people.”

ActiveNot active

ActiveNot active

ActiveNot active

03 Make places that feel connected

The tools we use can cause problems

Plans, drawings, ACAD - not good at getting scale right

but disconnected from the city gridA beautiful object

ConnectedDisconnected

ConnectedDisconnected

Connected Disconnected

© Village Well | www.villagewell.org

In conclusion:

- Make places that are loved and owned by people

- Make places that are active and feel safe

- Make places that are connected

"Cities have the capability of

providing something for everybody, only because, and only

when, they are created by

everybody." Jane Jacobs

-The Death and Life of Great American cities

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Thank you