PlacemakingX

27/05/2026

Time to start building towards a global Movement! The foundations of the global Movement are strong, and ready to grow a broader, and more mainstream, conversation and community.

We could not be more thrilled with how the placemaking movement has been evolving since we started working on place and placemaking in the mid 90s.

This open access article just published yesterday(with image of some excerpts), by our Ethan Kent written with Conrad Kickert, from a new book edited by Conrad called Place and Placemaking, describes where we came from, and where we can go next. Through the first phase of PlacemakingX we’ve ventured to network, support, and decentralize the placemaking movement. As a next step to a Place Movement, we’re embarking on a focus on . Help us define, shape and grow, how a focus on place can bring us all together to more systemically address our challenges and realize our collective human potential!

26/05/2026

21/05/2026

Placemaking with Local, and Global, Networks

Our networking sessions tool this week at in Baku, Azerbaijan, with 12 of our 30+ networks represented.

Placemaking network leaders included:

Niharika Mathemaema - Placemaking Nepal
Daniel Lim - Placemaking Malaysiaaysia, Think City
Mohammad Abou Samra - Amaken أماكن Placemaking for Arab Worldng - Placemaking for the Arab World AMAKEN (أَمَاكِن) Placemaking – The Official Arab's Placemaking Network
Tharaa Kirreshresh - Placemaking Palestinians
Sirin Hassan - Placemaking With Palestinian Community Within the Green Line, Arab Center for Alternative Planning
Khurram Farid Bargatt - Placemaking Pakistan
Mark Ojal - Placemaking Network Nairobi
Adriana Sansão - Placemaking Brasil and Placemaking Latinoamérica
Amarazaya - Placemaking Mongolia
Elena Rodriguez - Placemaking Ecuador
Johana Hernández - Placemaking Uruguay
Sandyha - Placemaking India
Aytan - Placemaking Azerbaijan

18/05/2026

Celebrate and discuss the launch of the new book Place and Placemaking! Join us during Placemaking Week in Detroit on Tuesday, June 23 at 5.30pm. of , who features among more than a dozen thought leaders who have contributed to this edited book, will speak along with the Book’s editors Conrad Kickert and Robert Shibley.

The book invites readers to ask why place matters, why it is under threat, and whether place can be made. The authors in the book debate how to position, envision, co-create, and communicate place, offering a welcome reflection for the growing placemaking movement. The book is the first in the Rudy Bruner Debates on Urban Excellence book series, based on the namesake debate series at the University at Buffalo. It will soon be available with open access through Routledge.

The event is graciously hosted at Wayne State University’s Welcome Center, where we will be introduced by Wayne State’s placemaking expert Emily Thompson. After this introduction, there will be a debate of the book’s key topics with Ethan, Conrad and Robert before taking questions from the audience. Attendance is free but space is limited, so RSVP soon!

15/05/2026

Highlights from an amazing time last week at the Festival of Doing in Perth and Bentley, Western Australia.

07/05/2026

We've loved learning from, and supporting, the Placemaking Aotearoa and conversations and communities. Thanks to Frith Walker for her long time leadership on , and for including our Ethan Kent in this conversation.

06/05/2026

Highlights from the Masterclass in Melbourne with Village Well.