Placemaking: Who Does it Belong to?
shadylanesproject.substack.com
Placemaking: Who Does it Belong to?
Who gets to do placemaking? Planners, councils, designers, or you and me? Is there a relationship between placemaking and verge gardening?
The Place Man is a documentary (20 minutes) that explores the roots of the placemaking movement through the life of Fred Kent, who has devoted his life to creating public spaces for people. The film begins with Fred sharing his passion for understanding why people feel good and how that can be translated into designing public spaces that foster a sense of social connection and community.
Please watch this and share your thoughts in the comments.
Who gets to do placemaking? Planners, councils, designers, or you and me?
Is there a relationship between placemaking and verge gardening?
I love this way of building community and beauty simultaneously. I love the way Fred is with his fellow humans - I feel like he loves us all. Of course this project would have to come from a humanitarian. Thank you for including.
I'm new to Shady Lanes - only joined the other day because a member of my climate action group told me about it. We're trying to get our local council to put out a verge gardening guideline, in response to urban heating. There is a draft out now. Our group was feeling annoyed because it was taking so long, and we thought it would get shelved, but after coming across your website I can see we are part of the problem. We need to be more collaborative. We need to be more like Fred. Thank you.
Great to learn of this background to the terminology from pioneer Fred Kent. Using his definition of people designing their own future - and experiencing positive change together - verge gardening is a key, whether suburban or urban : )