Urban placemaking and human wellbeing in post-pandemic planning: implications from case study of Wapping Wharf, Bristol

Abstract

ABSTRACT The way in which the living environment is designed has profound influences on inhabitants’ well-being; unfortunately, the search for leverage points for the socio-spatial assemblages of human wellbeing and the (re)configuration of their living environment is messy. This paper investigates how the project development of Wapping Wharf in Bristol impacted the dwellers’ well-being in emotional, physiological, and social aspects and to what extent they shaped their living environment. It affirms the significances of some contributors to human wellbeing enhancement in urban placemaking including greenspaces, walkability, and healthy eating, etc. Upon confirming the profound impacts of urban placemaking on dwellers’ wellbeing, the paper points out the relationship between urban placemaking and dwellers’ wellbeing is not just constitutive as suggested in existing literature review, but also mutually reinforcing. While previous research on the assemblage of placemaking and wellbeing has largely focused the former (placemaking), the future assemblage work should extend to the later (dweller wellbeing). In particular, sincere communications between the producers and the users of urban places are proved to help better placemaking and resident wellbeing enhancement; the paper thus suggests that any factors that can or have the potential to facilitate sincere communications should be prioritized in post-pandemic placemaking.