Placemaking Week

Rather than focusing on a placemaking success story, this session will showcase a growing trend called “placebreaking”. We will discuss the initiatives, policy changes and targeted steps a city can inadvertently take to minimize opportunities for streetscape vibrancy, decimate a night time economy, and promote the development of inequitable public space (sarcasm intended). Sydney will feature as a key case study as a city which has experienced global praise as the 2000 Olympics host city to being considered the ˜least fun” city to live in the world (Timeout, 2016) nearly two decades later. We will explore how placebreaking can lead to the development of exclusive ˜high rise” communities who enjoy private open space whilst leaving the street level experience cold, clinical, and contained to the interests of the immediate catchment. The learning objective of this session is to educate fellow placemakers on the prevalence of placebreaking, how it has adversely impacted cities, and how to advocate against it.