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The top articles you need to read to understand the Practice of Place

I’ve been sharing my approach to placemaking here at Practice of Place for over a year now, and in the interest of making this archive easier to navigate for newcomers and regulars alike, I’ve put together a “travel guide” of sorts for our top content. If you’re interested in doing place-based work, I hope the following articles (which contain the lessons I’ve learned from years of experience and hundreds of projects) will help you on your journey. And, of course, be sure to subscribe for future posts!

Start off with…

• What Is the Practice of Place?

• My Path to Placemaking

Foundations

(i.e., our theories on placemaking)

• Form Follows Relationships: Redefining the Practice of Placemaking

• 7 Steps to Transform a Place Without Money or Authority

  • Step 1: Unite around goals

  • Step 2: Reframe resources

  • Step 3: Create your constituency

  • Step 4: Take the first step

  • Step 5: Communicate momentum

  • Step 6: Drive next steps with data

  • Step 7: Repeat!

Pillars

(i.e., putting theory into practice)

• A Hierarchy for Habits: Experience & Event Strategy for Activation

• Battling Indifference: Creating Meaningful Engagement Through Accountability

• The 6 Traps of Community Engagement (and Their Remedies)

• Physical Realm and Design:

  • See all our articles on Design

  • See all our articles on DIY

• Events and Experience:

  • See all our articles on Events

  • See all our articles on User Experience

• Engagement, Accountability, and Governance:

  • The 6 Traps of Community Engagement (and their remedies)

    • Trap 1: Bad Questions

    • Trap 2: Opacity of the Future

    • Trap 3: Limited Scope

    • Trap 4: Population Gaps

    • Trap 5: Disregard

    • Trap 6: Exclusion

• Operations and Care:

  • See all our articles on Safety