Without even realising it, we’ll draw so much of our happiness and fulfilment from the places where we spend our time. Whether it’s our town or city centre, the green space we escape to on our lunch breaks, or the institutions and services that help give our lives structure and meaning, there’s no end to the ways we are impacted by our local areas.
This is why the idea of placemaking has become such a hot topic in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we relate to our communities irreversibly – with many of us spending more time in them than ever before.
We think it’s impossible to separate this from the social value that so many businesses and individuals are looking to prioritise moving forward. Let’s look at why.
What is placemaking?
Placemaking is about designing public spaces that reflect the present times and needs of a local community. It’s maximising the value we get from the environments in which we live. Creating places people choose to spend their time in.
This definition from the Project For Public Spaces is brilliant at summing it up:
“[…] Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community. Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm in order to maximize shared value. More than just promoting better urban design, placemaking facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.”
The concept has become especially important post-COVID. Between the lockdowns and remote working, our lives moved away from city centres to our suburbs. We began looking for experiences around us. The ways we interact with and appreciate what’s on our doorsteps have changed monumentally.
We want businesses and institutions to act in responsible ways – especially faced with all the social inequality of recent years. But we also want the very design of our communities to reflect the unique needs of the population. We want places that provide all we need, as well as helping us to be more mindful of our own environmental and social impact.
With many of us spending more time at home than we ever did before, as well as interacting with our local areas on a more conscious, meaningful level, it’s important that we’re able to reclaim the public realm for local people. Placing their individual needs, demands, and circumstances at the forefront of all design and investment.
How much of our happiness is wrapped up in our local environment?
Placemaking is powerful because it recognises the positive impact of high-quality places. You can’t underestimate the convenience of having everything right on your doorstep – such as shops, bars, and salons. Or having easy access to green space and nature. So much of our health and happiness depends on having access to quality, well-thought-out spaces.
In their Wellbeing in the Built Environment report, the Supply Chain Sustainability School breaks down their framework for wellbeing. It features five themes that underpin human wellbeing, and all of them can – in some way – be related back to local areas and public realms.
- Health – Does a local area promote walking and other forms of active transport? Does it have green space to help people better manage their mental health? Are there safe and fulfilling living and working conditions?
- Environment – Do local residents benefit from good air quality, thermal comfort, light, and low noise? Are people afforded privacy and autonomy? Has an area made a conscious effort to boost their accessibility?
- Security – Do local residents feel safe and resilient in their working environment? Do both their working and personal lives benefit from stability, support, diversity, and equality?
- Relationships – Does a local area strive to break down social barriers? Does it encourage residents to form more personal and professional relationships?
- Purpose – Do residents feel they have autonomy, fulfilment and a wider sense of purpose in life? How can a local area and local businesses help contribute to this?
In short, the places we spend our time are intricately connected to our sense of satisfaction, wellbeing, and quality of life.
So, where does social value come into placemaking?
The crux of placemaking is recognising all the ways a local environment will directly impact a community’s wellbeing and its residents’ quality of life. And this aligns it perfectly with social value.
Social value is about interventions that improve lives, reduce inequalities, and contribute positively to the environment. All of which can also be achieved by improving the design and make-up of our local communities.
Low-carbon buildings and planting trees improve the planet as a whole, as well as the mental and physical health of local beneficiaries, for example. In this sense, placemaking and social value are two sides of the same coin. They’re striving for the same outcomes.
As businesses, it’s possible to connect our social value to the development of higher quality spaces. And by finding a way to measure the impacts of these spaces on local residents, organisations’ gain a new lens through which to monitor and measure their social value.
We have a lot more to say on the subject of social value and placemaking. So come back next week where we’ll be covering some of the unique challenges of aligning your social value with placemaking.
Impact empowers organisations to effortlessly quantify their impact in terms of social, environmental, and governance outcomes. Our robust platform allows you to measure, monitor, and analyse your initiatives like never before. To find out more, schedule a demo or get in touch with the team on 0161 532 4752.