Conversations: Different Views of Placemaking

Participating in this sort of conversation can add new insights and shift, widen, or fine-tune our own views. It certainly did for me...

Does placemaking really build community, regenerate local economies, and make our lives better? Sometimes? Always?

Our ACF Brisbane Northside community group explored this question in their April Conversation, “Creating better places: What is placemaking anyway?”

Thanks to Robyn for writing the report on the event on the group Substack here…

Creating better places

Three group members with very different personal and professional backgrounds started the conversation, describing place and placemaking and what it means from their perspective— Penny with architecture and the built environment, David with transport and urban design, and me with gardening and nature.

Participating in this sort of conversation can add new insights and shift, widen, or fine-tune our own views. It certainly did for me, and the questions and wide-ranging discussion suggested it did for others too.

Verges are edge spaces and connectors, thresholds between public and private places, and part of our daily lives.

Issues surrounding the built environment, transport, and greening our cities all converge in this space. Conflict is inevitable. Who gets to decide the priorities of the placemaking? Who pays for it? Who benefits most? Who and what is included and excluded?

Careful and considered conversations, like the one we had at the meeting, can transform conflict into opportunities for collaboration among diverse participants and unlikely allies.

Within well-managed collaborations, the diverse perspectives move from being competing to being complementary. Each view will enrich the conversations, expose additional opportunities, and lead to more and better outcomes.

The conversations needed for collaborations are different to those needed for consultation and persuasion. They need courage, curiosity, and commitment.

The emphasis on the role of conversation in collaborations is why I incorporate many of the practices of Strategic Doing into verge garden group projects. We learn and practice the skills while doing the projects, then go on to use the skills for more.

Resident-planted native verge gardens supporting council street trees is the fastest, cheapest, and doable way to increase shade and biodiversity. If we can learn to collaborate to do this on our local commons, we can collaborate on the global commons.

The conversations needed for collaborations are different to those needed for consultation and persuasion. They take courage, curiosity, and commitment.

Join the conversation

Do you see a connection between verge gardens and placemaking? Do you think your background and priorities make a difference to the way you approach verge gardening? Please share your ideas with others in the comments.