Placemaking Week 2017: Building a Global Agenda for Open Cities Through Place-Led Development

Last year was the culmination of many global gatherings to make public spaces, streets, public markets, and placemaking a fundamental part of global development. The final draft of the New Urban Agenda mentions “public spaces” ten times, including the thrust of each of the key messages from our Future of Places conference series with UN-Habitat and Ax:Son Johnson Foundation.

In 2016, we also saw the placemaking movement go global with Project for Public Spaces’ first global Placemaking Week in Vancouver, as well as our involvement in Habitat III in Quito. As the global development conversation turns toward the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, placemaking is increasingly being recognized an indispensable tool for bringing together the causes, solutions, and disciplines necessary to make our cities safer, healthier, and more sustainable, resilient, and equitable.

Amsterdam and the Netherlands, the hosts of this year’s Placemaking Week, are unparalleled in their placemaking success, and are now poised to facilitate the global placemaking movement and take it to the next level of impact. We also appreciate the generosity and leadership of our co-organizers STIPO, The City at Eye Level, Placemaking Plus and Pakhuis de Zwijger in taking the initiative to work with us to organize Placemaking Week and to showcase the innovation and openness of the Netherlands, its cities, and its people. This exciting event will give placemakers the opportunity to apply the lessons of this city (and others) globally.

Read More...