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We are the network for placemaking in Europe, connecting practitioners, academics, community leaders, market actors and policy makers throughout Europe in the field of placemaking, public space, social life, human scale and the city at eye level.
We develop and share knowledge; develop, test and use tools; exchange ideas; and actively shape projects together. We support and collaborate with organisations who want to work on placemaking, social life, human scale, and a better eye level experience.
We are a European network of front-runners, who together accelerate placemaking as a way to create healthy, inclusive, and beloved communities.
To make the spaces we live into places we love. Create a thriving, equitable, and sustainable world by joining values, passion, and action around our public spaces.
OUR BELIEFS
→ heart for better public spaces, city at eye level and cities
→ internal collaboration and ownership
→ all leaders co-create; have fun and pride in our work
→ we support and collaborate with organisations who want to work on better places
→ inclusive public spaces; inclusive network
OUR PRINCIPLES
We act as Placemaking Europe stewards and uphold standards for kindness, creativity, and inclusion. The work ethics entail no professional prejudice, simply embracing the human scale. We are playful, creative and approachable.
We connect based on mutual respect of each other’s view, a positive attitude, empathy, and honesty. We are open-minded to new knowledge and share our information and experiences open source. Thus acting as a connector who finds new people or projects to connect.
We create a platform to elevate cooperation and knowledge exchange through the sharing of stories and tools, presenting best-practices and placing open-calls for help. The Placemaking Europe Network aims to connect placemakers, practitioners, universities, cities, developers, and networks.
We collaborate within the Placemaking Europe Network because we care about joyful inner cities, attractive outskirts and inviting countrysides. Through the platform, we invite the board, the leaders and the other participants to reach out to one another and help out where possible.
We commit to action and do not make promises we cannot keep. We aspire to scale up thoughts, skills, and the execution of placemaking projects to help the network grow.
Project Highlight...
Pursuits and projects that Placemaking Europe works on include Placemaking Week Europe, PlaceCity project, local training workshops, and the creation of an open-source placemaking toolbox – a process in which the board as well as partners from Bulgaria, Slovakia, Sweden and the United States have been participating. The creation of this toolbox is accelerated by the PlaceCity project; a cooperation co- financed by the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) including partners from Austria, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium, together with Placemaking Europe.
The Network...
Over 3.000 followers use the knowledge offered by the network, share ideas, come up with suggestions, and take the lead in activities. Placemaking Europe is connected to a worldwide network of gathered placemakers including the PlacemakingX global network and regional placemaking communities.
Placemaking Europe is a not-for-profit organisation and, logistically, is facilitated by STIPO and managed by an international board, comprised of 6 members from Greece, Hungary/Austria, Bulgaria, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands and with 2 Directors of Organisation – Charlot Shans and Ramon Marrades.
Placemaking is…
The quality of the public space defines the participation of citizens. Cities need great streets which connect to even better places. A public zone has to be intuitively useable. Users should want to stay and feel home. The urban architecture has to provide good plinths (active ground floors) in the human scale. Placemaking Europe is connecting a growing number of practitioners, academics, community leaders, market parties and policy makers throughout Europe. The members employ placemaking tools and work on public spaces. The network shares knowledge, exchanges ideas, and actively shapes projects together.
With the popular work of Jane Jacobs and William H. Whyte placemaking started to become a movement in the 1960’s. Instead of the modernist idea of car-cities, they aimed to design cities for people in the first place. In the 1990s the nonprofit organisation Project for Public Spaces (PPS) from New York the focus was laid on building communities. Project for Public Spaces (PPS) began using the term “placemaking” to describe their approach of building communities around a place. People are invited to reimagine and reinvent public spaces collectively. PPS introduced new narratives, like ”the power of ten”, “zealous nuts”, “triangulation.” Placemaking connects economic and social well-being, as well as, quality of life strategically. Builds on the human need for prosperity, sociability and security. The movement builds on more than 40 years of experience in 47 countries. The listed Placemaking Leaders are a good entry point for local networks and contacts in specific countries. In Europe Barcelona and Amsterdam achieved notably status in the Placemaking world.
Placemaking Week Europe is…
Placemaking Week Europe is a tradition conceived during the Placemaking Europe Network launch at the Cities for All Conference in Stockholm in February 2018. From the eager support within the network, volume of participation, and demand for quality long lasting placemaking solutions in cities throughout Europe, we decided it was time to organise a routine festival/conference for all the placemakers across Europe to meet, share knowledge, and work tactically towards solutions for a specific case city. We are proud that Placemaking Week Europe is Europe’s biggest conference and festival celebrating the impact of placemaking on the urban fabric.
Placemaking Week Europe is intended to occur annually, although due to the coronavirus pandemic, of course international travel and gatherings are at a standstill. We will share more information on the plans for Placemaking Week Europe 2021 in the coming time, we ask you to please stay tuned and we appreciate your patience in this challenging period.
The first ever Placemaking Week Europe was held in 2019 at La Marina de Valencia, Valencia, Spain. This conference was instigated and organised by Placemaking Europe, LaMarina de Valencia, STIPO, and The Creative Bureaucracy Festival.
In 2019, approximately 400 placemakers, including a diverse mixture of professionals working on creating a better public space and a city at eye level, met in Valencia from June 12 -15, 2019. During the four days of activities and sessions, placemakers – civil servants, activists, developers, big and small companies, politicians – from all over Europe and beyond will not just share their own stories, we also spent part of the conference, learning from, collaborating, and working with local challenges in La Marina and in and around the city of Valencia through interactive workshops. Participants were able to test, adapt, and implement placemaking tools for future use. Placemaking Week Europe is a unique way to get to know professional peers and the case city through the lens of placemaking.
