Public space has many faces and takes many spatial forms. From squares and boulevards to neighborhood gardens and playgrounds, parks, streets, sidewalks, footpaths, and marketplaces, public space frames and shapes the image of cities. It is a network that enhances quality of life, mobility, and urban functionality — not merely the space between buildings, as it has often been regarded.
As noted by UN-Habitat in its brochure Public Space – For a Better Urban Future, public space must be understood as a multifunctional area for social interaction, economic exchange, and cultural expression among a diverse range of people. Safe and secure public spaces increase property values, attract investment, and create opportunities for further economic development. They enhance urban attractiveness and form the foundation for thriving, friction-free retail.
This article was published in ACROSS Issue 1|2026
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Consequently, retail destinations must be embedded within public space with a strong sense of community. As Ibrahim Ibrahim, Managing Director of the London-based design consultancy Portland Design, states, “Every retail destination must connect to communities and evolve into mixed-use spaces — integrating retail with health, work, culture, education, and leisure.”
As people increasingly seek unique experiences rooted in local identity — a distinct spirit and flavor of place — retail must respond to this demand. Ibrahim emphasizes, “The power of localism is really critical. People want to support local brands. We’re seeing the death of the cookie-cutter approach, both from an asset and a brand perspective.”
Cities in Placemaking, a city-to-city learning initiative led by Placemaking Europe, connects twelve European cities with the goal of embedding placemaking into the DNA of their governance systems. Collectively, their strategies signal a broader shift: public space is recognized as a strategic urban asset, directly connected to people and communities, with retail acting as a social and connective anchor at the heart of the city. The following sections illustrate how cities within this program address placemaking challenges within their local contexts.
The Hague
Placemaking as the Right to the City
In The Hague, placemaking has become a way to address multiple urban pressures — housing shortages, economic disparities, and the erosion of green space — through a single lens: the relationship between people and place. The city frames access to inclusive, high-quality public space as a fundamental right.
The transformation of Spuiplein captures this thinking. Once a sterile square, it is being reshaped through co-creation into a green, climate-adaptive civic space that absorbs rainwater and invites everyday use. Nearby Spuistraat is shifting from a traffic corridor to a pedestrian-focused urban street, encouraging social interaction and engagement with ground-floor activity. A dedicated alderman and cross-departmental coordination ensure these projects are not isolated gestures but part of a city-wide strategy.
Images: The Hague Spuiplein (top) and Center Shopping Street Grote Marktstraat @ The Hague / Jurjen Drenth
Rotterdam
When Placemaking Becomes Policy
Rotterdam has translated placemaking into formal policy through its Placemaking Manifesto, a framework of nine concrete commitments that clarify budgets, processes, and responsibilities. In a city long shaped by large-scale planning, this represents a recalibration toward people-centered space.
Squares such as Bellamyplein and Berkelplein (Regenplein) demonstrate how climate adaptation, play, and social life can coexist. Rain gardens and permeable surfaces are not hidden technical solutions, but visible, usable parts of everyday space. By institutionalizing placemaking, Rotterdam gives local actors both permission and structure to experiment.
Image: Hotel New York, Rotterdam © Iris van den Broek
Reggio Emilia
Neighborhoods as a Shared Responsibility
Reggio Emilia’s approach grows from a deep-rooted culture of civic participation. Placemaking is framed as a collective responsibility, with neighborhoods treated as common goods rather than administrative units.
The Neighborhood Architect acts as a facilitator for community-led projects, from reclaiming abandoned spaces to organizing local events. The City of Trails initiative — mapping and creating walking connections between neighborhoods — turns everyday mobility into a shared civic endeavor. The city’s ongoing challenge lies in sustaining momentum: securing long-term funding while keeping decision-making genuinely local.
Image: Reggio Emilia © Placemaking Europe
Helsinki
Experimentation as Strategy
Helsinki’s placemaking model is built on flexibility. Confronted with climate change, post-pandemic shifts, and evolving lifestyles, the city replaced rigid planning with an operational model centered on testing, iteration, and learning.
Short-term pilots in areas such as Malmi, Meri-Rastila, and Mellunkylä have reactivated overlooked neighborhoods. Projects like the Bloomberg Asphalt Art initiative, involving hundreds of children, and the outdoor living room at Kannelmäki Youth Centre show how local knowledge reshapes public space. A crucial enabler has been the shift from capital to operational funding, allowing continuous adaptation.
Image: Helsinki Cathedral © Tapio Haaja on Pixabay
Wrocław
From Masterplans to Living Spaces
Wrocław’s participation accelerated a move away from top-down masterplanning toward community-driven experimentation. The redesign of Nowy Targ Square, now replanted with over 170 trees and extensive greenery, illustrates how environmental goals and social life can be addressed together.
Smaller initiatives, such as microgrant-supported gardens at Popowice Depot and the City Farm project, embed placemaking at neighborhood scale. The city’s next challenge is ensuring continuity — keeping placemaking embedded once early successes fade from view.
Image: Wroclaw Cityscape © Mircea Iancu from Pixabay
Helsingborg
The Discipline of the Long Term
Helsingborg treats placemaking as an ongoing practice rather than a project phase. Embedded in its 2024–2030 Action Plan, it is supported by a dedicated team, budget, and mandate.
Interventions are often modest but deliberate. The Bumling lamp, a reimagined streetlight with seating and sound, functions as a social anchor. The Tunnel Strategy transforms underpasses from avoided spaces into places of interaction. Helsingborg’s experience highlights the importance of consistency, maintenance, and storytelling over time.
Image: Helsingborg Town Hall © Bruno / Pixabay
Trenčín
Culture as Urban Compass
Driven by its European Capital of Culture 2026 bid, Trenčín formalized its placemaking practices into policy and tools. Temporary street festivals, parklets, and pilot projects allowed rapid testing, while manuals for public space and signage created long-term coherence. Placemaking operates here as a cultural compass, guiding both large-scale development and everyday interventions toward a shared urban identity.
Image: Trencin Castle © mrninko/Pixabay
Vinnytsia
Placemaking as Resilience
In Vinnytsia, placemaking is inseparable from survival and recovery. Faced with conflict and displacement, the city reimagined underground shelters as community hubs and reclaimed polluted rivers as shared spaces.
A Coordination Center for internally displaced people combines practical support with cultural exchange, embedding inclusion into spatial response. The city’s Integrated Development Strategy 2030 links placemaking to sustainability, digitalization, and civic engagement, demonstrating how place-based thinking persists under extreme pressure.
Image: Vinnytsia, Ukraine © vesnazajchenko/Pixabay
Budapest
Scaling Local Action into District Strategy
In Budapest’s 8th District, placemaking operates through a deliberate “learning by doing” model. Temporary parklets, small green spaces, and pilot interventions are tested in real conditions, allowing the district to adapt based on lived experience rather than abstract planning assumptions.
The district has shifted from top-down planning toward community-led processes, ensuring that public spaces reflect the needs of residents. Crucially, placemaking has secured political and financial backing, embedding it into district-level policy rather than treating it as an experimental add-on. The next phase focuses on scaling interventions to more complex urban corridors, strengthening maintenance structures, and deepening inclusivity—turning local experimentation into durable urban transformation.
Image: Placemaking Europe Group in Budapest © Tóbiás Lonci / Placemaking Europe
Bradford
Placemaking as Cultural and Social Regeneration
Bradford’s placemaking journey reflects a broader institutional shift. Once reliant on outsourced large-scale development, the city has built internal design capacity, bringing landscape architects, planners, and designers into the municipal structure. This change enables a more adaptive, data-informed approach to urban transformation.
As Bradford having been the 2025 UK City of Culture designation, placemaking has become a bridge between culture, health, and spatial regeneration. Projects address social inclusion and health inequities, particularly among young people. While test-and-learn methodologies allow continuous refinement. By embedding placemaking into policy and securing financial commitment, Bradford positions public space as a long-term tool for cohesive and inclusive urban change.
Image: Bradford, UK © Emphyrio/Pixabay
Cork
From Fragmented Actions to Cohesive Urban Policy
In Cork, placemaking evolved from scattered initiatives — outdoor dining, parklets, street art — into a structured and value-driven urban approach. Participation in the Cities in Placemaking programme pushed the city to clarify what placemaking means in practice and how it integrates into policy.
A decisive shift occurred when Cork strengthened community engagement early in planning processes and improved cross-departmental communication, making placemaking a shared municipal responsibility. Temporary “meanwhile uses” have been deployed to activate underutilised spaces, while reinforcing the city’s distinct identity — its “Corkness” — rooted in history, culture, and its relationship to the river. Placemaking has moved from tactical intervention to strategic principle, shaping the city’s long-term development.
Image: Cork City, Ireland © MarcOliver Artworks/Pixabay
Vila Nova de Famalicão
Civic Energy as Urban Strategy
In Vila Nova de Famalicão, placemaking has become a structured model for civic engagement. The city began by actively involving residents in shaping neighbourhood life — supporting sports, cultural initiatives, and local associations to strengthen social cohesion. From this culture of participation emerged proposals for regenerating public spaces, developed collaboratively between citizens and local authorities.
This approach has prioritised high-quality green space, soft mobility, safety, and intergenerational accessibility. The creation of the City Park (Parque da Devesa) and the return of the river to the urban core reconnected landscape and public life, while the rehabilitation of the central square reinforced inclusivity and environmental quality. Alongside these investments, smaller neighbourhood projects co-created with local associations have activated underused spaces. The city now aims to coordinate these efforts more systematically, embedding placemaking firmly into long-term urban policy.
Image: Parque da Devesa © Município de Famalicão
