Placemaking Lab
A multi-year project to identify barriers and opportunities for placemaking as a lever for systems change in cities and communities across Canada. The project consisted of in-depth interviews with placemakers from across North America, and gatherings in Montreal and Vancouver with over 150 people, to collectively analyze the research, work together to find solutions, and strengthen the national network of placemakers.
A one-day gathering of 40 placemakers from across Canada and the U.S. to discuss challenges, successes and next steps (Dec. 4th, 2015)
We explored ...
- Developing a vision for the future of placemaking in Canada
- Identifying needs of placemakers today
- Uncovering key leverage points for action, and taking action!
- Finding champions, collaborators and allies
For a full report you can download Canadian Placemaking Overview.
Across Canada , growing numbers of placemaking initiatives are changing the landscape while increasing citizen involvement in their communities. Placemaking is being adopted by many professions and municipal governments as a new way to create and support resilient, sustainable communities. The placemaking process is being recognized for its ability to enable collaborative frameworks and the power to shift behaviour of citizens from being passive consumers of services, to actors, co-creators, and agents of change. Placemaking is an entry point to systems change and social innovation; “a shift in the way that a community makes decisions about policies, programs, and the allocation of its resources — and, ultimately, in the way it delivers services to its citizens.
