Great public spaces are those places where celebrations are held, social and economic exchanges occur, friends run into each other, and cultures mix. Recall your college canteen, libraries, parks & that famous street in your city.

Some places bring community together, while some communities make creative, engaging places. Placemaking inspires people to collectively re-imagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community. Strengthening the bond between people and the places they share, Placemaking is a collaborative process by which we can nurture humanity & humility.

Though the term is new, the basic concept of Creative Placemaking has been around for a long time. If you talk about the central role of community, culture and art to make a great place, people will get it.

As an active citizen, a good way to begin is to re-imagine your neighborhood, a park or a junction. Many communities are still devastated by poor governance, safety issues, traffic, crime, but signs of hope are sprouting everywhere as neighbors roll up their sleeves to restore a sense of place. it’s heartening to see involvement of people over a common community issue and collaborating to voicing it and sometimes resolving it through the collective act of Placemaking.

Art in Transit project by the Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology acknowledges the rapid pace of growth, movement, and development in Bangalore. It’s an attempt to facilitate a dialogue between people and the urban spaces they inhabit. These conversations stimulate a range of meaningful artistic interventions in spaces of transience. The project creates a platform for diverse voices in contemporary public art practice to converge within the rich urban context of Bangalore.

I Got Garbage project worked with women volunteers in Basavanagudi, Bangalore to make 1000+ houses donate their dry waste, compost wet waste at home and make the neighborhood clean, responsible and more inclusive to waste-pickers.

With community-based participation at its center, an effective Placemaking process capitalizes on a local community’s assets, inspiration, and potential, and it results in the creation of quality public spaces or special bonding to existing places that contribute to people’s health, happiness, and well being. Placemaking shows people just how powerful their collective vision can be. It helps them to re-imagine everyday spaces, and to see anew the potential of parks, downtowns, waterfronts, plazas, neighborhoods, streets, markets, campuses and public buildings.

In evaluating thousands of public spaces around the world, PPS has found that to be successful, they generally share the following four qualities: they are accessible; people are engaged in activities there; the space is comfortable and has a good image; and finally, it is a sociable place: one where people meet each other and take people when they come to visit. PPS developed The Place Diagram as a tool to help people in judging any place, good or bad:

 

Imagine that the center circle on the diagram is a specific place that you know: a street corner, a playground, a plaza outside a building. Call your neighbors, friends and folks – get started!

As a part of “The Leader’s Journey” program, the University of Commons attempts to practice Placemaking principles.