What is Placemaking?

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. More than just promoting better urban design, placemaking facilitates creative patterns of

use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.

*Project for Public Spaces (PPS)

Placemaking is a multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces. Placemaking capitalizes on a local community’s assets, inspiration, and potential, with the intention of creating public spaces that promote people’s health, happiness, and well-being. It is political due to the nature of place identity. Placemaking is both a process and a philosophy that makes use of urban design principles. It can be either official and government led, or community driven grass roots tactical urbanism, such as extending sidewalks with chalk, paint, and planters, or open streets events 

The project “Placemaking for Physical Activity Toolbox” (PPAT) seeks to bring together the experience of experts in grassroots sport and placemaking sectors and develop a new concept of promoting physical activity and sport in urban settings. Although significant efforts have been made to cope with the issues of urban spaces and physical activity (such as cycling lanes, sustainable transport, walking trails), we feel more effort is needed to create an approach that will be suitable and applicable for the grassroots sport sector as the key driver of sport for all activities that promote health enhancing physical activity. In addition, PPAT will present the interested representatives of the placemaking sector a tested approach – how to design their urban interventions with relevant engagement of grassroot sport organisations.