Placemaking is about creating spaces where people from all walks of life can connect and thrive. Placemaking involves local voices, creative ideas, and a collaborative spirit to transform everyday spaces — like parks, alleys, sidewalks, and community centers — into inviting and meaningful places. It’s about reimagining our public spaces to make them more vibrant, inclusive, and enjoyable for everyone.
By combining local knowledge with innovative practices, placemaking can:
Placemaking involves community-led action that builds equitable, safe, and joyful public spaces. The HCI empowered local governments, charities, Indigenous communities, and nonprofits from coast to coast to come together on a variety of creative placemaking projects including:
Placemaking is an evolving concept centred on the collective reimagining and reinventing of public spaces to enhance health, happiness, and wellbeing. From promoting physical activity with bike lanes along main streets, to reducing loneliness through accessible neighbourhood events, placemaking initiatives can shape public environments to foster healthier and more equitable communities.
Instead of thinking of residents and visitors as consumers of urban design, equitable creative placemaking recognizes the heritage, residential communities, and diverse uses of the targeted area to position people as ‘makers’ of space, defining their own neighbourhood. Project for Public Spaces states that starting a placemaking project involves:
Read the entire step by step article by Project for Public Spaces, and check out our Toolkit for Placemakers to get your next idea off the ground!
Placemaking projects range from small-scale grassroots initiatives like a community bike repair clinic, to massive government-funded infrastructure investments like Times Square in New York. For most placemakers, key funding sources include local government grants, which provide financial support for community-driven initiatives. In the private sector, businesses interested in improving their local environment may also invest in placemaking for vibrant economies. Additionally, non-profit organizations and community foundations often offer grants for projects that align with their missions. By leveraging these diverse funding avenues, placemaking projects can achieve their goals of creating vibrant, inclusive spaces.
Discover Canada’s Placemaking Community Toolkit for Placemakers to learn how to take leadership, engage community members, discover funding and evaluation framework, and more!
