Place-making is a funny old term really. It’s not like there are a whole lot of places sitting in lever-arch files in planners’ offices just waiting to be ‘made’. Places are already everywhere of course and the best we can really do is affect people’s experience in those places. The built form of a place is important too: design, planning and construction are all big components. But for me, places are essentially about people. I find it easiest to consider place in the three categories below.
IMAGE: ‘Officially Designated Busker Area’ … yikes!
Arts labs, cross-sector collaborations, made-for-place projects that embrace the histories and social memories of sites. For me this is the most rewarding work – and in a time of increasing ‘sameness’ in a globalised world, an area that is going to be increasingly important for creating distinctive urban environments. Look here for some projects that have been grown from the get-go with the specific aim of telling stories about their places.
Since 2004 I have led cultural programmes for organisations whose mandates are about urban renewal, place development and management. Sometimes this work is about bringing life back to city environments in change. Sometimes its about encouraging communities to see their places in new ways. I founded an important cultural programme in Newcastle NSW called L!ve S!tes, which staged over a hundred days of events each year in 6 city locations…
Events and cultural projects affect places and the people that visit them. In turn, places (and people) affect the events and projects that are staged there. Many of my projects look for ways to really map into the physical character of the places where they are staged. The results are powerful associations with place and the creation of experiences for visitors that cannot be had anywhere else.
Michael Cohen 