Welcome to Place Agency
A platform to support industry, students, communities and governments to develop better cities through Placemaking capacity building, practice-led community engagement and education.
Place Agency contributes to placemaking practice by providing a common approach to understanding concepts such as economics, engagement, governance, evaluation, digital activation, data, community and critically nature and First nation’s aspects of place.
Place Agency takes you back to a time when it was all about creating fun in a space or sandbox and making new friends. The playful child within is always there, nurtured by whatever it is fed, so whatever your age, we are here to help you start something special in a place.
What is Placemaking?
Placemaking is a multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces. Placemaking’s intention is to create public spaces that promote people’s health, happiness, and well-being.
As an international movement, placemaking belongs to everyone. Placemaking is in the business of making vibrant, healthy and thriving communities. At its core it’s a process of co-creation to work with community, for community, and to identify meaning and shared purpose. Generally, placemaking can be understood as a community building and activating process to create places that are loved, cared for, and where a sense of belonging in that place is fostered and shared throughout the community. It follows the adage that if you love a place, you will take care of a place.
“Placemaking is a process to increase the capacity and capability of people to invest a place with meaning” – Place Agency.
Place Agency is a group of academics (consortium) from universities and placemakers across Australia who joined together to deliver an education program focused on the theory and practice of placemaking through partnerships with practitioners delivered through Studio projects. The Placemaking Consortium includes seven universities and 16 practitioners with support from 26 placemaking partners.
Our Vision
The Place Agency project delivers a suite of educational and practice-based programs on placemaking and place development for graduate level students and early-career placemakers. These place-led approaches enable current and future practitioners to plan and design civic places with the community so that shared values can be realised. We thank The Myer Foundation, who provided the funding for our consortium to add to the voice of placemaking theory and practice.
Creating Places
Place Agency takes you back to a time when it was all about creating fun in a space or sandbox and making new friends. The playful child within is always there, nurtured by whatever it is fed, so whatever your age, we are here to help you start something special in a place.
