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Placemaking is a malleable term, open to interpretation. Whether it’s physical design characteristics, land values, job creation, biodiversity, new amenities or simply a sense of well-being, people assign different values to areas. Everyone knows a good place when they’re in one, but there’s no magic ingredient or singular approach. Future of London’s major 2017 programme set out to understand how different stakeholders value the impacts of placemaking and how to foster greater common among their views.
While it is relatively straightforward to assign a numeric value to commercial and economic impacts, qualities that are ‘softer’, such as well-being or social connectivity, can be more difficult. Formal impact frameworks steer practitioners towards this focus, but things are changing. Policy is already nudging practitioners towards more holistic valuation, and practitioners from all sectors are developing their own models and metrics.
Running throughout 2017, the programme brought together over 500 people from the public, private and community sectors, and included a debate, senior roundtables, practitioner workshop, full-day conference and six field trips to places undergoing change across London.
The final report for this project offers case studies, calls to action for stakeholders and guiding principles for more holistic placemaking valuation. Download the report.
Making the Case for PlaceThe executive summary outlines our major 2017 project and highlights our guiding principles for placemaking valuation. Download the summary.
Making the Case for PlaceOur 2017 conference on placemaking brought together 50 speakers and 200 delegates. Their contributions to seminars and workshops are summarised here. Download the summary.
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Future London Leaders 28 wrapped up in October 2021 with candidates presenting their Proposals for London on the theme of public space in webinar format. A virtual audience of colleagues, mentors, sponsors, alumni and course contributors tuned in to cast their votes from home.
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Many councils are under pressure to fill budget gaps and sell their owned or managed buildings. But more are becoming ‘market makers,’ pushing for a longer-term stake and turning vacant or under-used buildings into community-managed assets
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