When placemakers meet.. they may become inspired by one another. This occurs daily when people in the Placemaking Europe network reach out to one another or post their impressive projects. In Oslo, Anna Bradley and Jeroen Laven got inspired by their hosts Helene Gallis, Laura Martinez and Clara Reich from Nabolagshager who orchestrated the first-ever Placemaking Pils event. They completely loved the event and wanted to try it out for themselves.

It was the answer to the question: “how to share the amazing placemaking projects with other placemakers in order to create a supporting group and make it accessible to people from the outside.” Sharing best practice projects that make better streets gets people excited. This is how Placemaking Pils was born.

Placemaking Pils creates an informal atmosphere where beers (pils) and great stories flow freely. A place to show how the speaker helped transform a public place into a space where people want to spend time. Thursday 12th and Friday 13th of September, Rotterdam had their first two editions, facilitated by Stipo and Placemaking Europe. A total of 20+ placemakers, a 5-minute presentation each.

The air was filled with anticipation and cheery chatter. The audience struck silent when the presenters came up. A reminder from Daniel Radai entailed that painting a bike lane on the pavement can change the whole look of the street. Or Todor Kesarovski, who touched the public with presenting that Placemaking is an emotional process. The projects introduced occurred all over Europe and even touched base in other countries such as Egypt.

Certain elements within the placemaking should not be forgotten about stated Cornelis Uittenbogaard, such as the safety of women using public lavatories or, showed by Anna Sommardal, that taking ownership of music brings the community together.

We want to make you feel as if you were also there, partaking in our Placemaking Pils; so we documented it! If you want to see the presentation videos, click on the story link! By clicking on the speakers' pictures , you will be directed to their videos! Make sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel:)

Lots of attendees might have heard of each other’s name, but did not know about the project behind the face. Personal phone numbers, business cards and hugs were exchanged with the hope to draw upon each other’s expertise once everyone arrives back home. Up and foremost the Placemaking pils paved the way towards meaningful connections within the Placemaking Europe Network.

History will now tell that it all started in Oslo and hope that Placemaking Pils will be a new tradition from the Placemaking Europe network. If you want to organize your own Placemaking Pils download the manual here. And don’t forget to share your stories on the Placemaking Europe Facebook page and website.