Placemaking is about recognizing the art, culture and history that exists in a community and incorporating elements into the design of your master-planned community that pay homage to these unique attributes. In recent years, placemaking has become an increasingly important differentiator in real estate, as potential buyers are faced with an abundance of options in a competitive market.
Planetizen, an independent platform that creates, curates, and amplifies stories and resources to inform planning and people passionate about planning, said it well in a recent article titled, Placemaking: Building on the ‘Soul’ of a Place, in which they mention that placemaking is not something that can be manufactured and “every place already has a story to tell—placemaking just brings that story forward.”
So how do we achieve real, creative placemaking? Planetizen’s article says we should listen to stories of the community, use the right lighting, and incorporate environmental graphic elements to “ improve upon the functional experience of the place, such as signage showing how to move through the park, or the educational interpretive messaging woven throughout.”
April LaMon, co-founder and CEO of proptech company Alosant, says “the idea of placemaking and creating a sense of place is vital for the success of any master-planned community.”
In a recent episode of her podcast, the Alosant Innovators Series, LaMon sat down with Rick Severance, division president at Wellen Park, Mattamy Homes, to discuss how he is designing one of the fastest selling master planning communities in the U.S. and best practices for creating the best environments for collaboration and design.
Severance believes the most successful master-planned communities in the country are the ones that have true diversification. “As you look at a successful master plan, especially a 20-30-year-old master plan, it's gotta be able to weather the ups and the downs. To do that, you need diversification,” said Severance.
Severance says it's not only about having a mix of single family homes for purchase and multi-family communities for rent, it's also about having the right mix of healthcare, great school systems, commercial interests and amenities and a connection to the natural environment.
Severance notes that when designing any project, it is critical to figure out the hallmarks of a community and design around these key elements. “There are things that really work in certain places, based on their destination, and sometimes it's not 100 percent transferable. Understanding those hallmarks that are transferable is really important,” he said.
When placemaking, Severance also stressed the importance of creating community spaces that are multigenerational. “If you don't build a great space where the grandchildren will want to go, the grandparents won't buy,” he said.
How do you know if you’ve been successful at placemaking? The Planetizen article on placemaking mentioned earlier notes “the best measure of good placemaking is after having visited a place, you find yourself compelled to tell others about it. It becomes a place you’re excited to return to time and again.”
The article goes on to note that while one of the most challenging parts of creating a sense of place is not knowing what will happen once a design comes to fruition, “when we create legacy projects, we understand they live on and evolve with a life of their own beyond the page of our drawings. Not only are they enjoyed by the people they were created for many years to come, but they serve as a catalyst for growth and development in the community around them.”
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