The sixth edition of the Placemaking Week conference, focusing on city-making, attracted representatives from various professions from across Europe. Representatives from the Creative Institute Trenčín and the City of Trenčín also attended the multi-day event in Strasbourg.
The international conference is organized by the European network Placemaking Europe, which brings together practitioners, academics, community leaders, developers, and policymakers in the field of public spaces.
The conference with elements of the Placemaking Week festival took place in the former port district, undergoing transformation into an urban quarter. The main venue was an abandoned industrial hall. The week filled with lectures, workshops, and inspirational presentations revolved around the theme of transforming public spaces in cities into more pleasant, inclusive, and higher-quality environments – spaces created for people and their well-being. Placemaking, literally translated as “place-making,” is the principle of creating pleasant places instead of anonymous urban spaces.
What can placemaking include? It can involve projects that place artistic installations in public spaces, create green areas, add seating options, build squares and community spaces, or revitalize public spaces with concerts, festivals, and markets. The goal of these interventions is to transform spaces we pass through every day into places for communities and gatherings, enhancing the quality of life in urban neighborhoods.
Several cities have embraced the placemaking wave, and their interventions are met with a positive response from the public. We are planning our first placemaking projects as part of the City Reimagined project in Trenčín. Therefore, we have become part of the two-year educational program Cities in Placemaking, joining an excellent company of thirteen other cities, such as Helsinki, Rotterdam, and Wroclaw.
In Trenčín, we will soon have the opportunity to meet and converse with experts in placemaking during the event Stories of Placemaking, which will take place on June 21st from 17:00 at Hotel Elizabeth.
Source: Placemaking Europe
