Placemaking - by David Higgins & Peter J Larkham (Hardcover)

About the Book

Through a series of short, sharp chapters, Placemaking: People, Properties, Planning delivers a cross-disciplinary critique of placemaking, examining how placemaking occurs, the quality of the places produced, and the experiences of those living and working in them.

Book Synopsis

Placemaking: People, Properties, Planning, delivers a cross-disciplinary critique of "placemaking", an approach to the design and creation of new urban places, and the reshaping of old ones, that has become so pervasive that it forms the 'strapline' for the UK's Royal Town Planning Institute. Developing principally from planning and urban design, placemaking has swiftly become a new orthodoxy, a dominant paradigm. It seems to be all-encompassing, particularly at a time when towns and cities face new and large-scale challenges relating to climate change, sustainability, population movement and intensive capital regeneration.

Higgins and Larkham alongside an expert team of contributors examine the experiences of placemaking, the underlying principles and motivations of placemaking, the importance of context, the quality of the places produced, and the experiences of those living and working in them.

Placemaking: People, Properties, Planning contains a series of short, sharp chapters exploring a broad range of placemaking concepts and experiences. It is designed to be critical, but easily comprehensible to both university-level students in built environment academic disciplines and to practitioners in related professions.

Review Quotes

A great book that any city planner, any real estate professional, any student in the built environment should get inspiration from. Plenty of insights on a wide range of topics carefully edited, from real estate markets to sustainability.

This book provides a fresh approach to placemaking, providing perspectives from a wide range of experts. The book brings together a series of important and thought-provoking contributions by a group of distinguished academics, who address issues including the role of smart and digital technologies, sustainability and politics. The pace of change in the built environment continues to grow while also becoming more complex. The book creatively blends underlying fundamentals with practical guidance and will be a helpful source of insight for academics and built environment professionals alike.

With pressure on cities increasing, this is a timely book which explores a spectrum of innovative practices around placemaking. From reflections on the smart agenda to nature and beyond, the text is a vital read for researchers, policy makers, practitioners and others interested in creative ways of designing and planning urban spaces. This essential and unique text draws on an extensive range of knowledge from planners, architects, geographers, sociologists and more to raise awareness around how placemaking can be transformed in the future cityscape.

About the Author

Peter J Larkham is Professor of Planning at Birmingham City University.

David Higgins was Professor of Real Estate at Birmingham City University, and he is now a real estate consultant, has founded Higgins Research, and is a visiting academic at several universities.