The power of place

Camden Town, a bustling London neighbourhood filled with small shops, makes me feel special. Everywhere you look, locals and tourists are talking and walking, shopping and dining. Buildings are unique and handsome, the energy welcoming and high.

Contrast that with many post-industrial towns I’m familiar with in North America. There are few pedestrians but many vehicles, and all the streets look the same. Storefronts lack a certain je ne sais quoi. I realized the difference between these grey settings and the vibrancy of Camden Town: the practice of place-making.

Place-making means designing the built environment with an eye to form and function. It means considering buildings, plazas, streets, safety, affordability, activity, and recreation with an eye to quality. A focus on place-making produces tangible positive benefits for people, commerce, and culture.

Successful places use the built environment as a brand to attract people and investment. Popular European cities and towns are renowned for networks of narrow streets that are active day and night. These streets are places where pedestrians feel safe and comfortable, and where they want to eat, relax, and wander. Grand urban spaces such as St. Mark’s Square in Venice and Plaza Hidalgo in Mexico City are known for major events and as hubs for civic life.

Attention to detail requires the skills of artists and architects, and creates a distinct sense of identity and pride of place. In Paris, Metro stations designed by architect Hector Guimard bring an Art Nouveau flare to the public realm. Telephone booths in Japan are destinations. Drainage covers in Budapest have intricate artistic details that enrich local culture. While place-making is about more than decorative street features, it still means details are part of the overall experience.

Yet form and function of the built environment alone will not create thriving sustainable communities. The old adage holds true: people make the place. So people must be central to every design process. Around the world, new participatory design approaches are emerging. They incorporate the professional’s tools for problem solving with citizens’ day-to-day experience. The results are context-appropriate solutions that attract and retain people and investment, trigger positive growth, and enhance quality of life. They are viable solutions.

Middlesbrough, in northern England, recently hosted more than 80 schools, groups, and organizations—and thousands of individuals—to address problems of food security. As a result, urban farms and community gardens were developed, increasing economic viability for local food producers, creating relationships, and fostering local innovation.

We have a golden opportunity to make our communities more sustainable socially, environmentally, and economically. Through participatory design approaches, we can engage citizens, businesses, and government to find innovative and appropriate solutions to our challenges. We can generate a much stronger sense of identity and pride in place. To do this, our design direction must have foresight. Beginning with a shared vision and tools for the future, we can become a region of inspired active citizens and a place where future generations can prosper. The power of place is in its design.

Rachel Caroline Derrah is a community designer and part of a team working to establish a non-profit planning and design centre in Halifax.