Yesterday evening Futurecity hosted our first ever Placemaking Happy Hour webinar – imagined as a virtual cabaret style venue where we bring together the leading voices in placemaking to share honest insights from their placemaking exploits and experiments (and a beverage of choice).

Titled, ‘How to Plan for the Unexpected?,’ the event brought together womxn placemakers who contributed to the recently-published Routledge Handbook of Placemaking. The comprehensive publication, covering 53 contributors and 7 editors, marks a seminal moment for Placemaking as a legitimate sector. In celebration of Women’s History Month, we discussed everything from permission and ‘placeknowing’, as well as placemaking’s intrinsic connection to meaning making and narrative.

The event was rich with insights and narratives about disrupting traditional notions of place to expand collective experiences and connections, often drawing upon applied theatre and carnival techniques to transform place into our cultural institutions. The event, chaired by Futurecity Partner Sherry Dobbin (also a chapter contributor to the Handbook), began with a discussion between the panel and the chair, and ended in breakout groups with the attendees and the speakers.

Some of our favourite quotes from the night include:

“We look at the idea of placemaking as meaning making” – Rosanna Vitiello, The Place Bureau on the human and narrative impacts on the shifting realities and experiences of a place.

“We do not necessarily make places as much as they make us…” – Michaela Shirley, University of New Mexico on place knowing and the nuances of situating oneself constantly within the spaces that we inhabit, visit and shape.

“It’s not just saying can I be part of this, it’s may I be part of this.” – Dr. Cara Courage, Tate Exchange on who is doing the asking and how in the process of placemaking.

“I destroy any notion of a teacher who knows it all.” – Dr. Adelina Ong, University of London on the disruption of the term ‘invitation’ which implies a hierarchy or a position of power from the individual doing the inviting, and on an equality of collaboration in placemaking and shaping.

“Who leads and who benefits? If those are your starting points, it’s not a question of invitation but involvement. Who is setting the future for the structure of their place?” – Jamie Hand, ioby on inclusion and the increasing connections between placemaking and grassroots community organising.

“I would not discuss what an artist cannot do in public space; I would peak of respect: respect for the place, oneself, the work and the audience (who may be vulnerable or new to place or just not anticipating an artistic experience).’ -Sherry Dobbin, Futurecity in relation to lessons learned about curating artists in Times Square.

Dr Cara Courage, as a true placemaker, created more than a publication with her editorship of the publication; she created a legacy community of professionals, often who work on long-duration work focused very specifically on their context, whereby we have a wonderful prompt to convene and share our learnings, and open to audiences for new interpretations and challenges. Futurecity was honoured to be represented in the publication and leverage the opportunity to host the voices of other practitioners for a broader audience.

We would like to extend a huge THANK YOU from all of us at Futurecity to the over 140 participants at last night’s Placemaking Happy Hour, which celebrated a group of remarkable womxn contributors of The Routledge Handbook of Placemaking, edited by our friend and Futurecity alumna, Dr. Cara Courage.

Our gratitude also goes out to the speakers for their willingness to share impactful, on-the-ground stories of the impact of placemaking on a global scale across experiences, communities, cultures and boundaries.

We hope this will be the first Placemaking Happy Hour of many!