Perspectives

How can placemaking practices establish a call and response that is both listening to the city, and encouraging greater opportunities for local people to speak back?

We're seeking to establish a more equitable, ongoing iterative processes, where conversation remains open, where place is afforded, appropriated, and repeatedly recreated between community members, not just produced between professionals and managers. How can chances to hear diverse active-voices become long-term normals, and different horizons, rather than sporadic opportunities? In our desire to learn from different voices, we've shared our questioning with other practitioners and peers. Their responses veer from the technical language used when speaking about the ‘built environment, an lean upon an emotive vocabulary to talk about place.

Here you can find talks and perspectives drawn from a community of practice involved in Urban Lexicons.

The Association of Collaborative Design
Urban Thinkers Campus, 2022

This international online was event was held in partnership with the Landscape Institute, AIA Communities by Design, Community Design Agency and the Bio-Leadership Project. The Urban Thinkers Campus series of events is an initiative of the World Urban Campaign driven by UN-Habitat.

The Routledge Handbook of Placemaking
Roundtable 2021

A discussion held between contributors to Rosanna Vitiello and Marcus Willcocks, and those included in their chapter, How The City Speaks to Us And How We Speak Back, Rewriting our Relationship with Place. In search of a more equitable, ongoing iterative approach, this roundtable explores how diverse and active voices in placemaking become long-term norms rather than sporadic opportunities: for Trust, Agency and Expression, Reciprocity, Soul, Confidence, Love — and a little magic!

To offer a more in-depth platform for these collective opinions on establishing better dialogue and relations between people and cities, here for the first time, we publish these perspectives in full...

Featuring: Cannon Ivers, Landscape Architect, Director at LDA Design; Duncan Thomas, Architect at Placemaking Practice JTP; Jessica Riley, Innovation Designer; and Rosanna Vitiello and Marcus Willcocks, Chapter Co-Authors: hosted by AJ Haastrup, Project Designer at Participatory City.
Routledge Handbook of Placemaking,

CANNON IVERS Landscape Architect
Director, LDA Design, London & Author, Staging Urban Landscapes
'I am in search of the precisely open, that masterful control of scale that enables a space to swell to capacity with communities coming together and contract to a comfortable space for the day-to-day when its a space for an audience of one.'

What are the ways you understand a city speaks to people through its streets and public spaces? Something Rab Bennett said has always stuck with me, “The confidence of a city is in the public realm, the insecurities are in the skyline.” The public realm — a city’s streets and public spaces — is where people are inspired, stirred, allowed to explore, to learn and to share (and challenge) ideas. If the public realm feels more walkable and designed for the pedestrian instead of the car, the urban fabric will be more conducive to the cultural and social exchanges evident in the most vibrant cities across the world. We become more aware of the layers of history beneath our feet. What we experience in the public realm speak to the culture of the community, the priorities of political leadership and the quiddity of what people value. Ultimately, great public realm makes us better citizens — better citizens make extraordinary cities.

How can individuals and communities best speak back, to take an active role in how they relate to their local environments, at neighbourhood or city level? We’ve seen how the streets and squares of cities can become platforms of protest through global movements such as Extinction Rebellion and Occupy. These examples are the most visible and emotive, but there are many less publicised but equally powerful cases at the local level of people making a stand for the quality of local parks — both investment and upkeep — the greening of neighbourhood streets and the necessity for more playable public realm that allows children to take risks and feel empowered. To directly answer the questions, it seems the best way to take an active role is to get involved, volunteer and have a position on the issues as hand. To quote the mighty Jane Jacobs, “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” 1 (Death and Life of Great American Cities).

If you could do one thing to support better ‘dialogue’ in the relations between people and cities in the future, what would you do? Master the art of scale. More and more, I am learning this is one of the most critical design aspects of both the container (the buildings/urban form) and the content (the activated public realm).

We are nearly 20 years into the age of the ‘programmable space’, where activation is a key aspect of the design process, instigated by the work of West 8 at Schouwburgplein (Theatre Square) in Rotterdam. With the knowledge we have gained from the work over these past 2 decades, I’m frequently revisiting this quote from Anita Berrizbeitia, written in 2002 as a critique to the proposals of indeterminacy and open-ended design strategies that features in the Downsview Park competition, “Instead of flexibility, thus we might now think, more precisely, in scales of undecidability. By this I mean a landscape’s capacity for precision of form notwithstanding flexibility of program—for the precisely open rather than the vaguely loose. Through this framework we are able to reject the notion that landscapes are either naturalistic and formless or object-like and form-full.”(CASE: Downsview Park Toronto)

'I am in search of the precisely open, that masterful control of scale that enables a space to swell to capacity with communities coming together and contract to a comfortable space for the day-to-day when its a space for an audience of one.'

MIKE COWDY Urbanist
MacGregor Coxall, Bristol, Australia, Shenzhen

'Instilling data custodianship during streetscape and public space development, educates users from inception to completion, allowing them to take care of their streets.'

What are the ways you understand a city speaks to people through its streets and public spaces? Streets and public spaces that enable the formation of strong social networks, a sense of belonging and positive community spirit are the foundations of a healthy city. Community empowerment within the public realm facilitates cohesive and integrated communities, a revival of civic pride and local democracy, citizen participation and improvements in public services that build support for change.

How can individuals and communities best speak back, to take an active role in how they relate to their local environments, at neighbourhood or city level? Access to live digital data can help a community to understand streets better, informing decision making and establishing living learning streets. Instilling data custodianship during streetscape and public space development, educates users from inception to completion, allowing them to take care of their streets. Communities should have the skills to monitor their data and use this to better their environment.

If you could do one thing to support better ‘dialogue’ in the relations between people and cities in the future, what would you do? The current open space planning standard in many cities around the world has been in existence since the 1920s. This is dated and not responsive to the needs and demands of a 21st century city population. The future city needs to transform from a static planning system to a more adaptable model which is needs based. A city’s open space should be seen as an interconnected network of streets, spaces, parks, roofs and wildlife corridors that ensure a positive relationship between city living, health and environmental resilience.

NEIL GADDES & YIJING XU Placemakers
SANS 三思 , Shenzhen
'Creating an exchange between government, stakeholders, and users and communities that moves out of a hierarchical relationship based on money or expertise is important.'

What are the ways you understand a city speaks to people through its streets and public spaces? Modes of Ownership The ownership, in both a legal and perceptive sense, of streets and public spaces within cities, is one of the most important ways in which the city speaks to its residents and users. Community versus government versus private or corporate ownership, multiplied by scale, underlies any readings into the values of a Place (multiple places coalescing to build the identity of a city) by an individual. As practitioners, we often try to work around this fact rather than confronting it directly and openly. We can temper and build certain perceptions on ownership through building Place Value with communities, varying the tone through which the city speaks to people, but I don’t think it fundamentally changes the root message of the city. We hope that in changing this tone we can encourage positive change within the city’s modes of ownership in the long term.

How can individuals and communities best speak back, to take an active role in they relate to their local environments, at the neighbourhood or city level? Community Sensors In carrying out studies into the legibility and sentiment towards our interventions we became aware of the limitations within traditional community consultation work. Many individuals within a community would either not attend outreach sessions or were overwhelmed by what can be a quite animated discussion about what identifies and constitutes their Place. We trialled a system where multiple individuals (in this case, masters Anthropology and Sociology students) would spend extended amounts of time in the neighbourhoods and both interview, as well as provide information to, residents regarding interventions within the area. These students became “Community Sensors” for deep, qualitative data gathering; giving locals agency in providing a safe, less official space in which they could learn more about the projects and give informed feedback. Finding the right actors (such as students or NGO’s, in China two groups who could be appropriate would be Jie Dao 街道 (Street Administrations) and Urban Village Co-Op’s) to work as intermediaries before, during, and after interventions, would both complement and improve other actions such as co-design workshops, drop-in centres, etc.

If you could do one thing to support better ‘dialogue’ in the relations between people and cities in the future, what would you suggest? Connecting Top-Down resources with Bottom-Up capacity I think that creating an exchange between government, stakeholders, and users and communities that moves out of a hierarchical relationship based on money or expertise is important. A lot of our work is based on a simple model where we try and connect top-down resources with bottom-up capacity. There is a market defined power difference between the top and the bottom which is often detrimental to the success of a project or intervention.

STEPHANIE EDWARDS Urban Designer and Architect
Urban Symbiotics, London
'Speak back through active use, adaptation and mis-use...Hold your environment and local government to account.'

What are the ways you understand a city speaks to people through its streets and public spaces? The city has multiple voices, which can be heard in numerous ways by different people - whether it’s through its perception, opportunities to interact with others or behavioural constraints. Identical streets and public spaces can appear to be both inviting and discouraging, an aspect that may be dependent on age, physical ability and culture amongst others, but predominantly their perceptions and past experiences. For example whilst a play space may be appealing to a young family or child, the same space can be a source of anxiety for those that anticipate the noise and active disturbance associated with it. In the same vein, a market place may be seen as a reflection of a community’s ‘place of home’, culture and self-expression, to others it can appear threatening and unwelcoming. At a street scale the presence of prominent street trees may frame a long and pleasant path, whilst to others it’s a hazardous trail and physical barrier.

How can individuals and communities best speak back, to take an active role in how they relate to their local environments, at neighbourhood or city level?

Through active use, adaptation and mis-use. It’s important for both individuals and communities to feel a sense of ownership over their neighbourhoods. They should hold their environments and local government to account whether it’s through protest, forums and meetings or down to the temporal or permanent adaptation of spaces from guerilla gardening, to the holding of street and block parties and community events, through to gaining support for improved wider infrastructure provision.

If you could do one thing to support better ‘dialogue’ in the relations between people and cities in the future, what would you suggest? Give them a voice! I would suggest that an evolving, well connected, diverse and demographically reflected panel be set up and incentivised for each area to galvanise support, share news and experiences and ensure that each type of voice is heard at the briefing, decision making and post occupancy stages of placemaking to ensure that places are truly for ALL, incorporating their changing uses, aspirations and concerns.

VERONICA MANSILLA Architect
Founder 1319, Tucúman & Boston
'Raise general awareness in society so that people understand their rights ... and their role of development of their city. Encourage new behaviour patterns in which the people feel free to contribute to their public spaces.

What are the ways you understand a city speaks to people through its streets and public spaces? The city speaks to us through the senses, triggering emotions. Spatial affects, memories, which we may not have present, set up who we are, and how our personality is formed through core memories, which are the most important and meaningful human experiences in life.

How can individuals and communities best speak back, to take an active role in how they relate to their local environments, at neighbourhood or city level? Practicing empathy. Connecting with our neighbours. Being supportive. Taking care of each other. Understanding that we are a "team". Empower the community – raising general awareness in society so that people understand their rights, their importance in the place where they live and in the role of development of their city. The consequence of this is to encourage new behaviour patterns in which the people feel free to contribute to the public spaces.

If you could do one thing to support better ‘dialogue’ in the relations between people and cities in the future, what would you suggest? To strengthen the connection between children and the city. Transfer our knowledge to them. To become user-experts, transformational social actors. We have to be aware of the 'core memories' we are helping to shape. Because it will depend on their essence as citizens. Trying to encourage in their memory, everything related to the public space, helps them consider these as spaces of wellness, pleasure and fun.

JESSICA RILEY Designer and Materials Researcher
London
'We can democratise the spaces we live by building a material language that we can all contribute to.'

What are the ways you understand a city speaks to people through its streets and public spaces? The city’s streets and public spaces are simultaneously being shaped by and reflecting our shared interactions, behaviours and values. They are continuously both actors and acted upon. The aesthetics of a place; the colours, materials and objects we see there as we walk through it, tells us about the values, aspirations and experiences of the people that shaped them. Through our own response to them, they offer us a material reflection of the society we’re embedded in, of others we share it with and of ourselves. These aesthetics of place ground us geographically, socially and culturally, but they are also there for our response; the way we interact and use them adds layer upon layer of social context. Whether we are aware of it or not, these aesthetics of place continually shape our behaviours, beliefs and relationships; through actions and subliminal connections. They are a crucial means to understanding our position in the world and with each other.

How can individuals and communities best speak back, to take an active role in how they relate to their local environments, at neighbourhood or city level?

Notice. Take note of what the materials in your environment are saying, what they’re doing to and for you. Take note and share what the material experience is, what it means to you, what it made you do. Question if that is what you want it to be. Is this how you want the materials of the spaces you live in to reflect and impact your experience of that place? Talk about it. Awareness of what our cities’ materials are “saying” about and to us; examining our behaviours, values, relationships, is the first step towards action. This type of creative agency has the potential to open up our cities as a physical manifestation of democracy, facilitating everyone who lives there to recognise and shape the places they share.

How can individuals and communities best speak back, to take an active role in how they relate to their local environments, at neighbourhood or city level?

Develop a visual or material “language” without specialist or expert terminology, through which we can explore what our spaces mean to us and how they affect us. By bringing the conversation to the streets where people interact every day; this alternative way of speaking about our shared places is a start to create common knowledge and open access to the information our cities provide. Democratising the spaces we live by building a material language that we can all contribute to.

IVANA STANISIC + DUNCAN THOMAS Architects and Urban Designers
JTP, London & Sheffield
'Cities speak to people through freedom; by allowing people to walk, relax, cycle, linger, play, exercise, socialise, work, shop on its streets and spaces. If these freedoms are limited or non-existent, so is the conversation.'

What are the ways you understand a city speaks to people through its streets and public spaces?
Ivana: Cities speak to people through freedom; by allowing people to walk, relax, cycle, linger, play, exercise, socialise, work, shop on its streets and spaces. If these freedoms are limited or non-existent, so is the conversation.

Duncan: The best places are those where people feel free to relax, have fun and live life… those magical places like Southbank, or the village squares we encounter on summer holidays that stay with us. In these places the everyday is remembered in happy memories forever.

How can individuals and communities best speak back, to take an active role in how they relate to their local environments, at neighbourhood or city level?

Ivana: Trying to increase level of freedom in the city by asserting agency - making individual improvements in immediate surroundings such as guerrilla gardening, forming groups to campaign for improvements locally, getting involved in decision making process on a higher level.

Duncan: It’s hard to imagine what it must have been like in the Rave days when people felt free to set up parties in unused buildings and in the open. The reaction of authorities to these impromptu and improvised community events says it all. Perhaps one day we might be able to get back to that level of freedom. Maybe after the pandemic people might feel ready to celebrate life with abandon and not fear the consequences?

How can individuals and communities best speak back, to take an active role in how they relate to their local environments, at neighbourhood or city level?

Ivana: Educate people on built environment and then encourage them to take an active role in their immediate home and work surrounding, neighbourhood and city on a wider scale. This needs to start with understanding from young age; while majority of people believes that car ownership is a sign of personal freedom and that streets are safer if management agencies impose rules and police our neighbourhoods, we will struggle to achieve people-oriented streets and public spaces.

Duncan: In the words of urban gardening project Incredible Edible ‘it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission’. I bet Notting Hill Carnival never filled out a risk assessment!

If we were to imagine a new world for placemaking, what would it be like? What stories would play out? And who do we need to build it? Drawing cues from 'Worldbuilding' and collective storymaking, we held informal workshops at Central Saint Martins to together write the story of this new community and start to build this world. The night explored…

Characters and Skill-sets involved in the field to define the skills most in need

Settings and Places to define the types of spaces that would benefit most

Plotlines and Conflicts to define the scope of research

Here's what we heard back...

Characters and Skill-sets

This isn't just about design, or architecture, or politics. Rather, this world needs a cast of ...

‘The Knights-Movers’ — those who suspend disbelief and throw away the rules of the game. Creative tacticians visionary enough to believe in a place when no-one else does, ready to shake the city up. But do they ever make those dreams real?

‘The Time-Travellers’ — those who can gaze into the future and bring us all along with them. Crystal Ballers who can look back to understand a place’s true origins and uncover hidden so and forward to anticipate change.

‘The Character Archeologists’ — those who can uncover a place’s hidden qualities and stories. Detectives and talent scouts who represent the amazing invisible.

‘The Greenthumb Giants’ — those who create life in the city in all forms and bring it balance. Bold growers and creators patient enough to re-green and re-energise and cultivate city from the ground up.

‘The Great Persuaders’ — those who understand agendas and behaviours with an intuitive third eye. Mind-readers and shape shifting diplomats able to frame urban ideas to appeal to these divergent perspectives and draw attention to urgent topics.

‘The Octopuses’ — those who connect all walks of life. Social amplifiers who elevate the voices that too often go unheard and create change through community connection.

‘The Robin Hoods’ — those who grant open access to public spaces and create a level playing field for the city. Sweet talking gatekeepers who use guerilla tactics on a mission to make public truly public.

Places and settings

Failing and falling spaces become future stages for this story.

What happens to the carparks? Small Brexit towns? The once public spaces now private? The Malls? Think Oxford Street as a common denominator — “Who am I? Sure I have fun ideas, but I repeat them every 500 yards, Help me! I’m dying.”