How can we build the confidence and capability of people to create better places?
Our online courses and resources explain it all!
This is the place to learn about placemaking.
Placemaking.Education collects and curates the most important placemaking concepts, tips and lessons learned into one place to make it easier and faster for you to learn.
We provide inspiring and practical self-paced online learning that you can fit around your busy schedule.
Learn at your own pace, when you want, where you want.
"Placemaking is like turning a house into a home."
Placemaker leader, David Engwicht
Placemaking is a philosophy and an iterative, collaborative process for creating public spaces that people love and feel connected to.
Placemaking is a mindset, an attitude that brings people together to create positive changes in a place or area. It aims to improve not only the physical elements of a space, but also the way people think about and connect with the world around them.
It is a response to the car-dominated, unattractive and unsafe environments found in many urban areas, but it also has deep roots reaching back to the way communities and citizens used to be created pre-World War 2.
Placemaking empowers people to act, not only as an ethical principle, but also because it is a real way to improve the way a person relates to themselves, their neighbours and their world.
Placemaking in just 12 minutes
The free Placemaking in 12 Minutes course will provide a quick overview of placemaking in 12 and a half minutes!
It provides:
- A better understanding of what placemaking is and is not
- Some ideas on the benefits of placemaking
- A few examples to show you what it can look like
We have created this course to be accessible to anyone just like you, including professionals, local businesses and people who want to improve their community.
Placemaking aims to create places for people to connect, participate and thrive - 'social habitats'. Unfortunately, when you look around, there are so many streets, public spaces, neighbourhoods and even whole cities that seem to be anti-social, where people do not feel comfortable, safe or included.
The two most important problems that placemaking works on are:
- Streets and public spaces that are unsafe, unsociable, uncomfortable, inaccessible, bad for local businesses, unsustainable or car-dominated.
- Cities, towns and neighbourhoods that are disconnected, lonely, car-dominated, unsafe, unhealthy, unsustainable or where people feel disempowered.
Placemaking doesn't provide all the answers upfront, but its principles and collaborative, iterative approach can help to discover and trial ideas in order to try to find potential answers that might be appropriate for the place.
Why is placemaking important?
Here are 4 of our Top 10 reasons.
Placemaking is about connecting people and organisations and fostering belonging
Placemaking is about building relationships and trust
Everyone to make a contribution to
creating great places
Placemaking creates competitive advantages for local businesses
Online placemaking training courses
Placemaking.Education has various online courses that you can take anywhere, anytime!
The course content includes topics such as:
- What is placemaking?
- Why is placemaking important?
- What are the principles of placemaking?
- What are some examples of placemaking?
- Who can be a placemaker?
- Where can placemaking be done?
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How can you make it happen?
Latest News
Free training for all Western Australian local governments
In an Australian-first, the WA Government is providing free online placemaking training to local government staff in WA – over 22,000 people!
Sponsored by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, this training package is the first time a State Government agency has provided practical, front-line training to a whole sector on place-based approaches. It builds on the existing work of some local governments and helps to scale these kinds of initiatives across the state.
To receive instructions on how to access the training for free if you work for a local govt in WA, email [email protected].
We're for people and places!
Placemaking.Education is a collaboration between Town Team Movement and PlacemakingX. We are both non-profit social enterprises.
All funds raised via the Placemaking.Education platform go back into delivering our visions and purposes. Help us to promote the placemaking movement!
Town Team Movement is a very social enterprise – a non-profit company on a mission. We are building a movement of positive ‘doers’ (people who create positive change in their community).
We enable local communities and governments to connect, organise and act to regenerate the fabric of their neighbourhoods and to create better places.
Our 4 key focus areas are:
1 - Inspire, support, connect and promote local Town Teams
2 - Deliver innovative and engaging consulting services
3 - Work with positive partners
4 - Provide education and training, particularly placemaking training
This has all grown from a simple, but powerful idea discussed by volunteers sitting around a kitchen table in 2016. The idea is to make it easier for local people to create the positive change they want to see in their communities. Surprisingly simple!
Find out more at www.townteammovement.com
PlacemakingX is a global network of leaders who together accelerate placemaking as a way to create healthy, inclusive, and beloved communities.
Our vision is to make the spaces we live into places we love. Create a thriving, equitable, and sustainable world through the convergence of values, passion, and action around our public spaces.
We are a network of placemaking thought leaders, public space activists, regional network leaders, and professionals from all over the world. We have diverse experiences and backgrounds but share a common purpose. PlacemakingX is currently formed by 100+ leaders and 1,300+ advocates from 80+ countries around the world.
Find out more at https://www.placemakingx.org
Contact Us
If you have any questions, please email [email protected].