Power of placemaking: Community conversations

Written By Emma Avery

Six community stories provide practical tips on how placemaking can support health, reconciliation, economic resilience, climate action, safe spaces for youth, and more.

Illustration depicting various community activities, including people playing music, playing table tennis, gardening, and enjoying outdoor spaces, all interconnected by circular shapes, possibly representing community unity or engagement.

Over the summer of 2024, Happy Cities and Canada’s Placemaking Community co-hosted eight community conversation sessions, where we invited placemakers from across Canada to connect, share their experiences, and learn from one another about the power of placemaking. The conversations how placemaking can strengthen community connection, wellbeing, and inclusion. Practitioners also shared the challenges they experience, and brainstormed solutions to overcome these challenges. Together, we collectively imagined ways to deepen the impacts of place-based initiatives for communities coast to coast to coast.

This article series shares what we learned through the community conversations, providing inspiring examples and practical tips to support Canada’s Placemaking Community moving forward. 

Explore the stories below!

Stories
Low barrier, high impact: The value of community placemaking
Low barrier, high impact: The value of community placemaking

How to measure success of public space transformations.

The business case for placemaking
The business case for placemaking

To strengthen local economies, create places that people want to spend time in.

How can placemaking contribute to reconciliation?
How can placemaking contribute to reconciliation?

Indigenous community members are shaping placemaking and urban design projects to share their histories of place and create stronger communities.

Placemaking for our planet: How community projects fight climate change
Placemaking for our planet: How community projects fight climate change

Community gardens, food co-ops, bike programs, and more are tackling climate resilience at the neighbourhood scale.

Making space for youth in our communities
Making space for youth in our communities

How city staff, community organizations, and placemakers can create better places for young people.

How placemaking positively impacts our health
How placemaking positively impacts our health

How shared spaces can support physical and mental health for people of all ages.

The power of placemaking

These conversations built on our Power of Placemaking research and engagement with over 100 placemakers from coast to coast to coast, collecting evidence and stories on the role that placemaking plays in our community wellbeing. From Tuktoyaktuk to Dawson City, and from Vancouver to Montreal—discover the power of placemaking!

Explore a selection of the snapshots below, or download the full resource to learn more.

Emma Avery
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