Sustainable Place-making Research Articles

From trees to communities: a proposal for ecologically sustainable placemaking in Bandung’s urban forest

From trees to communities: a proposal for ecologically sustainable placemaking in Bandung’s urban forest

Defining Sustainable Placemaking in Spatial Planning: Lessons from a South African Case Study

This study explores the concept of sustainable placemaking from a spatial planning perspective, focusing on Marabastad, a township in South Africa. Drawing on the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals, this research seeks to understand how placemaking can contribute to the creation of liveable, resilient, and sustainable human settlements. Through a review of the placemaking literature and a case study, this study examines the evolution of placemaking towards sustainability and its application in diverse cultural, geographic, and socio-economic contexts. The findings reveal the importance of creating and enhancing places that are environmentally responsible, socially inclusive, economically viable, and culturally meaningful. The Marabastad case study illustrates the challenges and possibilities of sustainable placemaking in a multicultural and urbanising community. Economic interventions (e.g., tourism promotion and community markets), social interventions (e.g., education and community events), and environmental interventions (e.g., infrastructure upgrades and preservation of cultural sites) are proposed to address the complex challenges faced by Marabastad. This study emphasises the role of spatial planners in advancing theories and practises of sustainable placemaking, highlighting the need for context-specific approaches to promote inclusive and resilient urban environments.

Making Sustainable Places Through Spaces: Role Identity Expansion and Imagination in a Swiss Urban Planning Committee

The transition toward sustainable cities has garnered significant attention from governments, policymakers, and researchers. Mirroring these developments in the academic world, organizational researchers are investigating sustainable placemaking and identifying the conditions that favor such a vital process. Building on a case study of an urban planning committee in the Swiss town of St. Gallen, this research studies how spaces (temporary social settings that enable the negotiation of new ideas) can initiate sustainable placemaking. The interplay between the expansion of space members’ role identities and their imagination of sustainable places is essential to sustainable placemaking. Generalizing these findings, our process model sheds light on the mutual constitution between imagination and role identity expansion inside spaces. The model makes two contributions to the organizational literature: (i) it highlights the importance of role identity expansion in sustainable placemaking processes through spaces and (ii) it discloses the interplay of imagination and identity expansion in spaces.

Noise and soundscape in Welsh planning policy

In Wales, noise policy now sits within the sustainable development framework of our Well-being of Future Generations Act. Under this Act, public bodies must look to the long term; take an integrated approach; involve a diversity of the population in decisions affecting them; work with others in a collaborative way to find shared sustainable solutions; and act to prevent problems from occurring or getting worse. The Welsh Government has adopted a Noise and Soundscape Action Plan calling for the creation of appropriate soundscapes, meaning "the right acoustic environment in the right time and place". We have rewritten Planning Policy Wales and included appropriate soundscapes amongst our National Sustainable Placemaking Outcomes. We committed to providing further guidance to support planning policy on air quality, noise and soundscape, and drafted a new Technical Advice Note, with a supporting document on soundscape design. Soundscape design in Wales means more than just design of the sound environment. It is a process giving as much weight to people and context as to the sounds themselves, from the outset. This approach is expected to be followed, referring to soundscape standards where appropriate, when and to the extent it may be expected to result in better placemaking.

Sustainable creative tourism on islands and the pandemic: The Creatour Azores project

As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was felt worldwide, the tourism sector was forced to seek ways of reinventing itself. Two decades prior to this crisis, in varied rural areas and island contexts, small-scale, community-based creative tourism had appeared as a sustainable place-making solution to foster place vitality, competitive distinctiveness, regenerative development and destination resilience. From an island perspective, this article presents the theoretical framework, methodological approaches, and empirical practices of the Creatour Azores project, which was carried out in the North Atlantic archipelago of the Azores from 2019-2022. Given this timeframe, the investigators and pilot projects that implemented this research-practice project were confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic, which accentuated the isolation and remoteness that tend to characterize islandscapes, especially peripheral islands such as the Azores. At the same time, however, this devastating global pandemic, which impacted the tourism sector especially, ended up offering unexpected opportunities along with special challenges, seeming to underscore the relevance of studies focused on the isolation and remoteness that characterize islandscapes. After describing the project methodologies and practices, as well as the adjustments adopted due to the pandemic, this article considers future possibilities for creative tourism on islands, in general, and in the Azores.

Urban design as a specialised, evidence-based, coordinated educational and professional endeavour

Urban environments are complex, impacting on climate change, social justice and health globally and locally. Their spatial, social, economic, environmental dimensions are interlinked and must be studied from a complexity viewpoint. Yet, whilst complexity has successfully entered urban scholarship and practice in many fields, urban form, a key component of urban environments, is not yet studied in these terms and consequently they are not yet designed as complex. This paper argues that the discipline of urban design should be (re)defined as the understanding and design of urban environments as places of organised complexity. It can become the discipline best placed to manage a useful global overview of sustainable placemaking. It does so by tracing urban design's historical relationships and attitudes towards the evolution of the city, contrasting definitions of complexity in science, with the deterministic way in which the early urban design practitioners viewed design. It then looks at urban design's relationship with other design professions in the UK and suggest its lack of clarity and efficiency is an enduring consequence of this historic trajectory. Finally, it proposes urban design as the discipline concerned with the understanding and design of complex-adaptive urban environments and advocate its establishment as an independent profession.

Food and the garden city

The theme of food is central to Ebenezer Howard's garden city model and today has wider resonances for sustainable placemaking in the context of the climate emergency. This exploration of food and the garden city uses morphological, historical and contemporary sources to examine the planning and urban design interplay of garden cities and food, past and present. It focuses primarily on the experience of Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City, but draws on other garden settlement examples from Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East to understand more about Howard's original food vision and the ways that this has been variously adapted, diminished, distorted and rediscovered. Concluding with a brief review of Letchworth Garden City's recent food practice, it is argued that Howard's very thoroughly worked through food proposals remain fresh.

Shoots and leaves: exploring the impacts and fragile sustainability of sustainable place-making projects working with marginalised people

This article contributes to emerging research on sustainable place-making, but makes an important contribution through a strong focus on outcomes for marginalised people and the need for long-term sustainability. Sustainable place-making combines ‘place-making’ and ‘sustainable development’ to describe locally focused action working towards social, economic and environmental goals (Franklin and Marsden, 2015). The article explores an externally funded charity-led project working in a deprived area of the UK, implementing urban agriculture, community gardening and household energy activities. The project successfully engaged marginalised people, who strongly voiced outcomes including reduced isolation, improved mental health and increased resilience and self-reliance. Support from staff, volunteering in a team, enjoying gardening, accessing nature and financial savings provided a platform for impacts. Environmental outcomes were less tangible but included improvements to the local environment and reduced energy usage. However, after the funding finished, marginalised participants were vulnerable to outcomes not being sustained in the long term.

Ecotourism development challenges and opportunities in Wondo Genet and its environs, southern Ethiopia

Purpose The purpose of this study is to systematically identify and examine the challenges and opportunities of ecotourism development in Wondo Genet and its vicinity, southern Ethiopia and thereby forward suggestions to pertinent ecotourism stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a mixed-method research approach and collects primary data from 412 research participants (400 survey respondents and 12 interviewees). Descriptive and inferential statistics and content analysis are used to analyze quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. Findings The research findings unfold several constraints that deter successful ecotourism development along with opportunities that can be used in future development. Ecotourism is suggested as a complementary form of tourism development in Wondo Genet and its vicinity, as the area is known for its natural and cultural resources. Research limitations/implications The findings offer substantive insights to policymakers, private investors and local communities about the existing challenges and opportunities of ecotourism development in the context of emerging destinations. Given time, budget and human resource are acute restraints in developing countries; the current study is relevant in terms of highlighting the most pressing challenges that demand urgent action to unleash the development of a sustainable tourist destination. Practical implications The findings of this study also provide crucial practical implications to various stakeholders about the complementary nature of ecotourism and sustainable placemaking to conserve destinations’ environmental resources while improving socioeconomic conditions. Originality/value Despite Wondo Genet's immense ecotourism resource potential as one of the prime destinations both in the country and in the region, a huge gap exists in the current literature, where the current study intends to bridge in a comprehensive manner.

Participative Placemaking in Serbia: The Use of the Limitless GIS Application in Increasing the Sustainability of Universal Urban Design

The 20th century brought about major social challenges related to civil and human rights, triggering changes in urban environments and gradually adjusting the spatial and functional performances of cities to the needs of all users. In this article, the concept of Universal Urban Design (i.e., “Design for All”) is regarded as a sustainable placemaking process which enables the higher accessibility and usability of cities for all people, regardless of their age or (dis)abilities. The pilot project “Creating Accessible Pedestrian Corridors by the Limitless GIS Application” conduced in Serbia from 2017 to 2019 by the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Belgrade and the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Limitless proposes an innovative approach to urban design. Based on information and communication technology (ICT) adaptation, it is focused on the alternative concept-design of buildings, provision of ICT-based infrastructure, socioeconomic integration of all users, and ultimately on overall urban sustainability. The main outcome of the project was the development of a Geographic Information System (GIS) android application and an e-platform for adaptive placemaking. The project also provides a set of accessibility criteria based on Universal Urban Design, criteria that enable the mapping of locations based on the type of use, a set of recommendations for identified problems, as well as a brief analysis of the latest technological solutions for overcoming detected physical barriers. The Limitless GIS android application differs from the existing ones since it primarily identifies two target groups: (1) people with disabilities who could upload necessary data by established criteria; and (2) employees in the public sector (city authorities and municipalities) in charge of planning alternative routes and setting priorities and investment costs based on the identified problems. Pilot results of the project have revealed that in the current Serbian practice, there is still a lack of planned, consistent and continuous movement routes in urban areas. Terrain configuration represents a serious limitation for people with disabilities, while lifting platforms are recognized as a better solution than ramps (both for paraplegics and quadriplegics), due to their higher efficiency and minimized spatial requirements. Therefore, the android application and e-platform presented in this article contribute to the detection of actual problems at the local level as well as to the overall improvement of planning/design practice in Serbian cities.

Contested Sustainabilities: The Post-carbon Future of Agri-food, Rural Development and Sustainable Place-making

First paragraphs: Terry Marsden has enormous experience work­ing in the fields of agri-food, rural develop­ment, and sustainable place-making. He digs deeply into his experience in this book, looking back over the recent history of food and rural development, analyzing current trends in these areas, and looking forward in an age of great uncertainty, both envi­ron­mental and political, to better understand and promote sustainable food systems. He begins by positing a significant transition from neoliberalism and production agriculture to a looming choice between what he refers to as the bio-economy and the eco-economy. He describes the former as being “characterized by exogenous development through corporate controlled produc­tion of biological products (fuels, mass, technology, enzymes, genomics) for global markets” (p. 92). Backed by the Organization for Economic Coop­eration and Development (OECD) and endorsed by the European Union, the bio-economy is the post-carbon offspring of neoliberalism: a little more aware of its shortcomings, but still enmeshed in a business-as-usual paradigm. In essence, it “incorporates the multiple ways in which rural and urban people and their institutions manage and manipulate the biosphere which sustains their existence and creates economic value out of its non-renewable and renewable resources” (p. 22). . . .

Measuring Neighborhood Quality of Life: Placed-Based Sustainability Indicators in Freiburg, Germany

There has been a recent upswing of academic interest in the social dimensions of sustainable cities, especially the dynamics of Quality of Life (QoL), Environmental Equity, Ecosystem Services, Eco-Friendliness, Public Engagement, and Well-Being and Happiness Indicators. These factors are only now being evaluated as critical aspects of sustainable place-making and community development. This paper explores the social dimensions of neighborhood development in what some believe to be one of the most sustainable cities—Freiberg, Germany. We look at two neighborhoods that were specifically designed and built with sustainability principles and practices at their core. The authors surveyed residents of these neighborhoods to measure their levels of well-being, satisfaction with place, and other important QoL factors. Quantitative data was ascertained from residents using a survey questionnaire. The results show a high correlation between QoL factors as a function of place-making and sustainability practice.

Rethinking growth: Towards the well-being economy

This article considers the impact of growth on economic, social, environmental and cultural sustainability. Although it refutes an extractive model of growth, it suggests that a form of socially and ecologically positive and sustainable growth might have beneficial impacts in certain circumstances and locations. It argues that currently applied models of growth are both inefficient and unsustainable, as they are extractive of finite natural and human resources, and lead to inequalities that produce unaffordable costs. It therefore calls for a more intelligent, efficient, sustainable and place-based approach. Undertaking a general review of Wales, where recent well-being legislation places a sustainable development obligation on all devolved public bodies, it outlines the results of three ‘Deep Place’ case studies that offer an alternative approach to growth within the sustainable place-making context.

Sustainable Place-Making in Hong Kong: Transforming Urban Crisis to Urban Renewal Opportunities

Sustainable Place-Making in Hong Kong: Transforming Urban Crisis to Urban Renewal Opportunities

Sustainable Place-Making in Hong Kong: Transforming Urban Crisis to Urban Renewal Opportunities

Sustainable Place-Making in Hong Kong: Transforming Urban Crisis to Urban Renewal Opportunities

Place-making and sustainability in Ontario’s small urban municipalities

ABSTRACTThe complex task of place-making to build sustainable communities has been challenging yet compelling when finding solutions to intertwined issues on the environment, the economy and society. This paper examines the idea of sustainable place-making for building sustainable communities in the context of small urban municipalities (SUMs) in Ontario, Canada. For this purpose, a ‘small urban municipality’ is defined as a city or town that has adopted a local environmental action plan and/or an economic development strategy and has no more than 60,000 populations. It provides a conceptual review of place-making and explores how it is linked with the goal for urban sustainability in the context of SUMs in the Canadian way. The study seeks to answer this question: based on a survey of relevant professions, what are the constraints and factors facing cities, towns and townships in Ontario for creating sustainable communities in terms of place-making?

Natural powers: from the bio-economy to the eco-economy and sustainable place-making

The current intensification of efforts to develop post-carbon solutions to the global food/energy security problems is developing a highly contested policy/technology/production/consumption arena. The paper examines how current attempts to resolve these new productivist priorities are embedded in combinations of sustainability, security, sovereignty and resource governance concerns. These concerns are coming together with the new contested framings of the bio-economy and the eco-economy. The framings hold different implications for social and spatial development. The paper argues that it is important to apply and connect a critical ‘post normal’ sustainability science approach to developing the place-making properties of the eco-economy model, as well as examining the implications of the wider and more dominant bio-economic framing. The analysis shows that to achieve synergies between sustainability, security, sovereignty and effective resource governance, a more place-based eco-economic model needs to be progressed.

Converging on sustainable placemaking through transdisciplinary process

This research examines the first phase of a multiyear initiative about “sustainable placemaking” processes at a mid-size university in a small US city. The study focuses upon the rhetoric used by five faculty members representing the industrial design, engineering, geography, art history, and political science disciplines who have begun to develop a sustainable design working group whose mission is to produce sustainable design and design process alternatives for the redevelopment of a street connecting the university to the community. Integrating symbolic convergence theory and dialogue theory from communication studies with theory about transdisciplinary approaches to sustainable development, the research describes the extent to which the group achieved transdisciplinary function and articulates how co-creating meaning around sustainable placemaking shaped group processes and outcomes. Findings indicate that shared experiences of “place” and tensions amongst rhetorical boundaries play key roles. Analysis produces lessons learned for similar groups interested in transcending disciplinary boundaries when addressing sustainable development problems.

(Dis)connected communities and sustainable place-making

Why, despite a recent surge in the UK in “sustainable communities” policy discourse, do so many community-led sustainability initiatives remain fragmented, marginal and disconnected from local government strategies? How can community- and government-led sustainability initiatives be better integrated such that they add significantly to a denser matrix and cluster of sustainable places? These questions, we argue, lie at the heart of current sustainable place-making debates. With particular reference to two spatial scales of analysis and action, the small town of Stroud, England and the city of Cardiff, Wales, we explore the twin processes of disconnection and connection between community sustainability activists and local state actors. We conclude that whilst there will always remain a need for community groups to protect the freedom which comes from acting independently, for community activists and policy-makers alike, there are nevertheless a series of mutual benefits to be had from co-production. However, in setting out these benefits we also emphasise the dual need for local government to play a much more nuanced, integrative and facilitatory role, in addition to, but separate from, its more traditional regulatory role.

Sustainable place-making for sustainability science: the contested case of agri-food and urban–rural relations

The paper explores the concept of ‘sustainable place-making’ and its necessary relationships and opportunities with the emerging, broader and interdisciplinary field of sustainability science. This implies a reconsideration of the new and emerging interrelationships between economy, community and ecology as a basis for active place-making. The paper then examines the new dynamics of place-making with regard to the contested emergence of the bio-economy and the eco-economy, and the principles and place framings that lie behind these competing paradigms of spatial development. The reference point here is agri-food and urban–rural relations; and it is argued that research in these fields is in need of being contextualised critically and normatively within this dynamic, highly contested and place-making context. The analysis also holds important implications for a more critical and engaging sustainability science.