Throughout 2020, Placemaking Europe has enthusiastically collaborated with The City of Helsingborg. Together with the city’s Urban Planning Department and the project leader  Moa Sundberg, Ramon Marrades and Vivian Doumpa have looked deeply at Gustaf Adolfs Torg, a south central square located in the Söder district of Helsingborg, as a case study.  In this investigation, we have examined the place - considering the hardware, software, and orgware, the users, potential alliances, and opportunities contributing to the implementation phase with tactical interventions. During the first of 6 workshops, a brief introduction of the square shared a historical timeline and key challenges for the Söder area and Gustaf Adolfs Torg. During the 1800s, Söder rapidly expanded due to the railway and harbour industries and the square was created in 1878. Soon thereafter, a new church was adjacently built and the square was operating as a vibrant market. Currently, key challenges for the area include too densely populated, a competition between many different identities and opinions about how to use the public space, a lack of accessible green space, and a lack of sound buffers from the encroaching vehicle traffic. We are excited for next steps to improve the quality of the area, and specifically Gustaf Adolfs Torg through co-creating with the users and looking back to our deep research.

As such, now in 2021,  we are pleased to announce Placemaking Europe is launching an official partnership with The City of Helsingborg! Ramon and Vivian continue their work with the City's Urban Planning Department, and notably, Placemaking Leader Mustafa Sherif, founder and host of the Urbanistica Podcast, has been an integral team member in this collaboration.

Helsingborg, Sweden is boldly progressing their city wide approach and thus acting as an international example for others to follow by incorporating the placemaking process in their public space work. They are actively and genuinely striving to create loveable places that users keep wanting to come back to. H22, a major initiative by Helsingborg, Sweden is aimed at improving quality of life in a smarter, more sustainable city, works in joint with the ongoing  placemaking approach they are taking on for public space. Coalescing with this movement, next year in 2022, H22 will hold a City Expo pointedly identifying innovative solutions for everyday life - for everyone living and working in Helsingborg.

Now, over the course of the year, with Placemaking Europe, we will collaborate to develop placemaking tools born from Helsingborg, support public space initiatives happening there, as well as, guide a customised workshop covering context specific challenges in order to provide advice on public space city strategies. Stay tuned for exciting updates and developments along the way.