Placemaking can play a role in creating awareness for and addressing systemic inequalities within urban communities and spaces, and creating opportunities for all sectors of urban life and culture. How can we leverage a placemaking approach to help citizens to achieve their fullest potential while celebrating their humanity – no matter where they are from, who they are, what their beliefs and interests are, and what they have lived through. This includes topics like gender, age, wealth, culture, creative expression and public health.

How can placemaking help to achieve a much needed balance between human culture and the natural environment? A transformation that catalyzes climate adaptation & resilience; green mobility; renewable energy transition (i.e. lowering the dependency on fossil fuels) and an increase in biodiversity is crucial to be able prevent or recover from climate-related disasters.

Innovative approaches, like place-led development, take the principles of placemaking and use them as the fundament for real estate or area development. By integrating the soul of place, social life, culture, management of a diversified ground floor use and public space with the design of the area right from the start, these approaches tend to lead to vibrant, creative, and innovative inclusive communities with long lasting value and the capacity to survive, adapt and thrive.

A fundamental aspect of placemaking is the importance of a bottom-up approach. Placemaking for Civic Engagement involves communities working together in both political and non-political actions to protect public values or make a change in a community. The goal of civic engagement is to address public concerns, resolve conflicts between groups, and promote the quality of the community, stemming from the real concerns and desires of the citizens themselves.