Placemaking Week Europe 2024 - Rotterdam

As our cities are caught up in a polycrisis, it provides momentum to truly act differently. Rotterdam is known as a city not shying away from bold moves to rethink itself. Currently the city is leading the way in its climate adaptation efforts, going all hands on deck to prepare the city for changing weather conditions. As this years’ festival will showcase, taking a placemaking approach to tackling climate change will yield the opportunity to address multiple challenges at once. After all, ‘When you focus on place, you do everything differently’ (Fred Kent). Placemaking has the potential to be truly regenerative, strengthen our democracies, and turn dysfunctional systems upside down. As the first morning panel, Gabriella Gomez Mont, Jenny Anderson and Johan Verlinde will set the stage for a week of insightful discussions and proactive engagements. Daring us to be bold in the impact we make, and think about our ability to challenge the status quo. 

This dynamic session features city mayors from across the continent in a roundtable discussion that will spotlight mayoral perspectives on the role of placemaking in urban governance and approaches to public space policy. Mayors and municipal representatives from cities across Europe will share their insights on fostering community-centric cities, integrating placemaking into policy, and the ways in which leadership in transforming urban landscapes can help to create better cities for everyone. This is a fantastic chance to hear from top municipal leaders who are on the front lines of creating liveable, resilient cities through innovative and sustainable placemaking strategies.

Note: This session will use headphones for audio

This session explores  the role and potential of placemaking to drive social inclusion. We share insights of InclusiveCity, a DUT funded research project, exploring critical placemaking in 15 Minutes City transitions in 5 living labs across Europe  (Rotterdam, Oslo, Vienna, Rome and Budapest).  In a world with growing inequalities and urban challenges, it is necessary to dig into our daily practice as placemakers and review aspects of inclusion and trust, leaving no one behind. How can or cannot Placemaking be a tool to benefit local communities and create lasting social change?

InclusiveCity partners invite practitioners, academics, and decision makers to a collective discussion revising aspects of inclusion in public space design and placemaking projects. Concrete examples and tools will support the open dialogue, while the Theory of Change (ToC) framework will help to unpack the buzzwords of inclusion and participation.

What will you learn:
-Unpacking buzzwords by pinning placemaking to more complex community objectives
-Practical methods for bringing “invisible” voices and community assets into your work
-Critical reflections on placemaking and inclusion, to better distinguish “tokenism” vs real power redistribution towards the community and its needs.

Note: This session will use headphones for audio

Note: This session will use headphones for audio

A free, welcoming, and horizontal space to discuss the current trends and challenges of our practice. The session aims to create an intimate and open environment with dim lighting, encouraging honest and meaningful dialogue. To foster a safe space for free expression, stickers will be placed on phone cameras, emulating a nightclub-style no photo/video policy. Please note that there will be a queue to enter as we must cover the cameras with stickers. 

This session explores the transformative practice of placemaking through a series of dynamic, TED-style talks. Each speaker will have 12 minutes to share practical examples and insights. They will illustrate the journey from conceptual inspiration to real-world implementation, highlighting how modest beginnings, like benches, can evolve into significant community landmarks and large project initiatives. This panel aims to inspire attendees with actionable strategies for creating engaging, functional, and vibrant public spaces. Let us discover how innovative placemaking can foster community connection and revitalisation on both small and large scales. Speakers are encouraged to share how they are applying the principles of placemaking on a larger scale. Please focus on one or two clear examples that outline the storyline and process, avoiding a broad array of examples.

Panel discussion to mark the launch of the book 'Heart, Head, Hands: A Guide for City Makers – Four Steps to Culture-led Development'. The book highlights the importance of cultural and creative spaces to the identity of cities and proposes a strategy for uniting real estate, culture, and government through a Culture-led Development framework.

This session will spotlight the framework's key stages: Initiate, Organize, Finance, Consolidate. After a short interview with the author Rinske Brand and the introduction of the framework, three pioneers in culture-led development (also showcased in the book) will share their stories and take questions from the audience. Their focus will be on exploring the keys success factors, navigating pitfalls, and distilling invaluable lessons learned during these culture-led developments.

Note: This session will use headphones for audio

How can we engage and ensure citizens, including the less commonly heard voices, shape how their neighbourhoods are redesigned to be healthier, more climate resilient and great places to live?

During our discussion and to try and answer this, you will hear about challenges and best practices from 3 European projects, and from Paris to Asia we’ll learn how cities are bringing nature to streets, squares and schools, all with a common objective to co-design more climate resilient and inclusive neighbourhoods. The session will share how to reconnect cities with nature, improve health and wellbeing and how these practices are helping communities to adapt and prepare for extreme climate events.

You will have the opportunity to ask questions to the panellists focused on the different ways each project is trying to respond to this question! From focusing on co-designing spaces with less heard voices, using proximity planning to address citizens needs and dreams, using citizen science to create more resilient spaces in cities, neighbourhoods and schoolyards, to embedding health and wellbeing into the design process.

Representing projects ReGreeneration, LIFE CRITICAL, UP2030, and OASIS Schoolyards, City representatives from Bradford, UK, Thessaloniki Greece, and Dordrecht, the Netherlands, as well as C40 Cities and Resilient Cities Network will be present.

Note: This session will use headphones for audio 

Many communities have enjoyed the benefits of new development leveraging art and culture, or creative placemaking (CPM), but have also seen the pitfalls, such as displacement. Millions of people around the globe are annually displaced due to wars/conflict, natural disasters, and economic instability.   But displacement also occurs from new real estate development that can bring welcome amenities and new energy to a neighborhood.  New development can also drive property values and rents up, forcing out those less able to pay, often vulnerable, diverse populations.
 
 This session raises awareness about advertent and inadvertent displacement in the built environment and strategies, leveraging art and culture, to avoid displacement. Studies have shown that cities or places that are diverse and inclusive outperform others that are not. So avoiding or limiting displacement is essential for successful place-led development.

 Participants will gain knowledge through research, case studies, and interactive Q&A about CPM best practices and how to employ them to enhance the value of place and deliver benefits that accrue to all stakeholders - community residents and businesses, developers and their partners, and government. Delivered by a panel of subject matter experts living and working in the US and Europe, this session looks back for historical context and lessons learned, and forward to a possible future pregnant with vibrant, healthy places.

Note: This session will use headphones for audio

Building bridges between people is crucial in today’s interconnected world. Trust and empathy are the foundations of these bridges, enabling us to collaborate effectively and create inclusive, resilient communities. Bridging organisations is particularly important as it facilitates the sharing of resources, knowledge, and best practices, fostering innovation and enhancing the impact of collective efforts. To foster these qualities, we must explore innovative partnerships that transcend traditional boundaries—not just between organisations but also across concepts and communities. For instance, how can the 15-minute city model, with its focus on creating accessible neighbourhoods, and tactical urbanism, through its low-cost, community-driven projects, empower individuals and communities to take ownership of their spaces? By integrating these ideas with broader strategies for trust-making, we can cultivate environments where collaboration flourishes, and empathy becomes the driving force for positive change. Additionally, building bridges across diverse communities encourages a sense of shared purpose and mutual support, which is vital for addressing complex urban challenges. When communities come together, they can pool their unique strengths and perspectives, leading to more sustainable and innovative solutions that benefit everyone.
Following a discussion on building bridges between organisations, communities and across concepts, we invite you and members of the audience to join us for our evening activity, the Empathic Debate Club. Here, we will delve into fun and thought-provoking debates centred around our four core festival themes. Together, we’ll explore the intersections and challenges that shape our collective future, and challenge ourselves to find common ground between polarised positions. Are you brave enough to participate in the debate?

Four core themes (for the debate):
(1) Creating place and making it last 
(2) Climate adaptation: together towards change 
(3) Living with water: the flow of the city 
(4) Local power and the battle of space

This concluding session will encapsulate key takeaways and reflections from the week. It will feature a special video presentation by Carlos Moreno, renowned for his work on the 15-minute city concept. Following this, Francine Houben, architect and founding partner of Mecanoo, will present "Could a Dijkpark Give a New Perspective for Rotterdam South?" To close, our keynote listeners will share their insights in a series of PechaKucha-style presentations, offering critical reflections on the themes explored throughout the event.

Note: This session will use headphones for audio

This interactive panel invites you to imagine how waterfronts and natural spaces can be transformed into vibrant, sustainable community hubs. A group of experts will share their insights on how thoughtful design and a multidisciplinary approach can shape these areas into spaces that not only bring people together but also care for the environment. They’ll discuss how to create places that blend nature with community life in ways that inspire a strong sense of place. Whether it's about designing spaces that encourage social interaction or  with cultural and creative incorporating elements that honor the local ecosystem, the conversation will highlight how we can reimagine our natural surroundings to serve

Note: This session will use headphones for audio