Instagram Takeover: Exploring Helsinki with Päivi Raivio – from Rocks to Welcoming Winter Spaces
During her Instagram takeover, Päivi Raivio guided us through the places, stories, and events that make Helsinki vibrant, engaging, and full of character. We visited her favorite spots, explored the […]
Wroclaw opens its story for Placemaking Week Europe 2026
Report from site visit in December 2025 Arriving in Wroclaw in the evening was the best moment to plunge into the Christmas Market that was spanning across all of the […]
Rotterdam, unpolished love
When I return to Rotterdam, I feel my feet land on something firm and familiar. Perhaps it’s the design ambition that lives openly across the city: visible, imperfect, and unashamed. […]
The Bike-Led Makeover of Paris
Insights from the ReGreeneration project meeting on how Paris combines bold political will, tactical trials, participation and advanced know-how to accelerate climate-led urban change
Inclusive City: Reclaiming Urban Spaces Through Care, Reflection, and Connection
What does it mean to design an inclusive city? Is it about adding more benches, planting trees, or creating bike lanes? While these elements matter, InclusiveCity reminds us that inclusion […]
Designing Public Life After Dark: Helsinki’s Tactics for the Dark Season
Read about the five-day takeover summary from Timo Hämäläinen regarding public space in northern cities on the winter season
Public Space and Inclusion in Oslo: The Unseen City Walks
What makes a public space inclusive? Inclusion is a central topic in EU discourse and planning. Public space is one of the main arenas where social cohesion can be fostered […]
Philippe Aghion and the caring city
When innovation and inclusion meet: notes on the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics
Design to Connect x Placemaking Europe: A Week of Reflection on Healing and City-Making
Many of the cities we live in today are shaped by worldviews built on separation, control, and extraction. These ways of thinking have influenced not only how we design, but how we see ourselves, each other, the world around us, and the relationship we hold with all three.
Making change from inside city hall? Join the European partnership reimagining how cities plan, collaborate, and care
At Placemaking Europe, we support the people who make cities more human. Practitioners who work with communities, listen, test, translate, and build bridges between daily life and public institutions. Increasingly, […]
