Arcadis, the leading design and consultancy for natural and built assets has launched a new report entitled ‘Liveable Places’, calling for a more long-term and joined up approach to placemaking.
The launch, held at LSO St Luke’s, was attended by leading lights within the housing, infrastructure and environmental sustainability sectors. A panel of experts, chaired by journalist Emma Nelson, discussed what placemaking means in 2020 and how the industry can respond to the stark challenges it faces to build more housing and create places where people want to live, work, play and ultimately thrive.
The report itself identifies the key drivers behind the placemaking agenda, including the ‘five fundamentals of successful placemaking’ that are essential for shaping successful places. These key ingredients are Community, Funding & Delivery, Design & Public Realm, Collaboration and Sustainability with Arcadis making two key recommendations within each area to deliver successful places.
The report follows a series of bespoke regional events held across the UK with more than 100 experts including business and regional political leaders, public servants, business organisations and leaders, as well as civic institutions, public agencies and voluntary bodies, all delivering or involved in placemaking across the length and breadth of the country.
The findings also draw on Arcadis’ own lessons learned from successful placemaking projects including the ongoing Perry Barr regeneration in Birmingham, Urban Eden development in Edinburgh and the Otterpool Park garden village in Kent.
There is a clear focus on the importance of collaboration and enabling communities to be fully involved in discussions around place. It is important to ensure that placemaking is ‘with, not to people’ while establishing community consent commitments to build trust within individual communities. Place must also lock-in ‘net gain’ to ensure that better places are brought forward compared to those that currently exist.
Ensuring the industry effectively responds to the ongoing challenges of climate change is a further key recommendation, recognising that all developments should contribute to
delivering net zero and be built to last. This means enshrining carbon resilience and sustainability from construction through to ongoing maintenance and stewardship.
Finally, there is an overarching imperative for place to be underpinned by strong governance to facilitate greater collaboration among key stakeholders, enabling placemakers to secure long term resources and build the expertise and capacity necessary to deliver effective placemaking.
Mark Cowlard, UK & Ireland Chief Executive at Arcadis said:
“Places have a far reaching and fundamental impact on us all and at Arcadis everything we do is about improving everyday quality of life.
“Population growth, increasing urbanisation and the demands of climate change are putting more and more pressure on infrastructure and existing communities. The current approach to placemaking simply isn’t meeting these challenges, which is why we wanted to examine how successful communities are created and identify what the
crucial building blocks of effective placemaking really are in the 2020s.
“By bringing together a range of thinkers, leaders and practitioners, we hope to change the conversation and lay the foundations for a new approach to placemaking that puts long
term social value and happiness at its heart.”
Speaking at the report launch, Clare Wood, Chief Executive at Re-Form Heritage said:
“Good placemaking has the power to solve a number of the issues our most deprived communities are facing and it’s these communities that deserve exemplary placemaking
more than anyone.
“My hope is that in twenty years’ time we can move to a system where we don’t just consider return on investment but where social value is considered first and foremost.”
