Placemaking Week

How do you create a place that is comfortable, inspired and thriving where the people that live there have lost all desire to engage and view their "home" as nothing more than walls on buildings on a street? The task of making connections and supporting a place's innovation and evolution require a redefining of what a place is and how it comes to have meaning for the people that live there. We will share our experiences working in a low-income community and the journey of true community engagement, rediscovering how the power of people and connection can truly define a place.

This session will also explore the practical use of placemaking strategies for the greening and re-naturalization of degraded public spaces in Ado-Ekiti and Port Elizabeth, South Africa to promote equity and inclusiveness. In Ado Ekiti, there is a high tendency to develop public spaces into commercial structures without permission, while in Port Elizabeth, some public spaces are misused or degraded. Against this background, this session proposes to understand the cause-effects of encroachment and inequitable use of public spaces in the cities.