What could we do with this neighbourhood? How can we make public space more welcoming? How do we bring local communities, institutions and new ideas together? How can international experience help us move a local project forward?
Over the past editions, cities such as Pontevedra, Rotterdam and Reggio Emilia have used the festival to explore questions like these. Looking back at their experiences, three benefits stand out: economic value, international visibility and knowledge that stays in the city.
A festival that works with the city
Hosting Placemaking Week Europe gives a city the chance to put its own priorities at the centre of an international programme.
In Reggio Emilia, five Local Challenges brought international practitioners together with local communities and institutions to work on real places. The challenges covered the railway station area, the former Gasometro, Via Roma, Piazza della Vittoria and Via Premuda. Participants visited the sites, listened to local perspectives and developed proposals for immediate actions, short-term experiments and longer-term visions.
Rotterdam followed a similar approach. The city aligned the festival with its Placemaking Manifesto and involved local partners throughout the programme. Local placemakers also developed a side programme for residents, helping the festival connect with the wider city.
For Pontevedra, the festival created four strategic proposals around issues that mattered to the city, while connecting local challenges with international expertise.
The result is a programme shaped around the host city, its people and its current priorities.
International attention, with a local story
Each host city becomes a meeting point for people working on cities across Europe and beyond.
Pontevedra welcomed 489 participants from more than 40 countries. Around 50 municipalities were represented, alongside professionals from government, academia, business and non-profit organisations.
Rotterdam welcomed more than 700 placemakers and received a host-city rating of 4.8 out of 5. Participants also gave the festival an overall rating of 4.7.
Reggio Emilia welcomed 622 participants from more than 50 countries. The city became a shared learning environment, with workshops, walks and conversations taking place across public spaces, schools and community hubs.
The benefit continues after the last session. Visitors leave with a deeper understanding of the city. They share its projects and ideas with their own networks. The host city becomes part of a wider European conversation.
A measurable economic contribution
The festival also brings direct economic activity through accommodation, food, local services and event production.
In Pontevedra, the estimated overall economic impact reached €909,259, with an estimated return of €4.20 for every €1 invested.
In Rotterdam, the estimated impact reached €1.07 million, with a return of €4.94 for every €1 invested.
In Reggio Emilia, the estimated impact reached €1.33 million, with an estimated return of €9.49 for every €1 invested.
These figures sit alongside a less visible form of value: the knowledge, relationships and ideas that remain with local institutions and communities after the festival.
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What remains after the festival?
Perhaps the strongest lesson from previous hosts is the legacy.
Reggio Emilia identified the knowledge legacy as one of the festival’s key forms of impact, with methods and insights remaining within the municipality, universities, associations and community networks involved in the event.
Rotterdam used the momentum of the festival to raise awareness of placemaking among councillors and municipal management and to develop an action plan linking placemaking initiatives across the municipality.
Pontevedra described the festival as a way to bring international talent and ideas to local challenges while embedding placemaking knowledge among local stakeholders.
A host city therefore gains a moment of international attention, a reason to bring local actors together and a platform to explore the issues already shaping its future.
Could your city be the next host?
We are now inviting European cities and municipalities to submit their proposals to host the next edition of Placemaking Week Europe.
