Developers and Local Councils Urged to Turn Spaces into Beloved Places

European placemaking advocate and consultancy, STIPO recently facilitated The City At Eye Level Asia, a placemaking workshop at Ruang by Think City, aimed at arming urban stakeholders with the tools to transform public spaces.

This initiative was in line to the upcoming Placemaker Week ASEAN which will take place in November 2019, presented for the first time in Kuala Lumpur by Think City and UN–Habitat.

“Placemaking should allow all stakeholders to co-create a vision for a public space, translating concepts into long-term strategies that allows a space to be sustainable for the community,” said Hans Karssenberg, STIPO’s Partner, Senior Advisor.

STIPO’s Partner, Senior Advisor Hans Karssenberg (left) presented a copy of “The City at Eye Level” book to the Vice President of the Malaysian Institute of Planners (MIP) DatinTPr. Hjh Mazrina Dato’ Abdul Khalid (right).  

The two days City At Eye Level Asia placemaking workshop was also co-organized by the Malaysian Institute of Planners (MIP).

The workshop was a response to the increasing need for urban practitioners to create great cities at the pedestrian level. By discarding featureless facades and public spaces and replacing them with spaces that attract the eye through colour, movement and aesthetic features, people will be drawn to those spaces.

By 2030, eight out of ten Malaysians are expected to live in cities so there is more need than ever for clever and creative planning solutions to develop and maintain public spaces.

Part of the two-day programme also included a place game, where participants needed to visit a site to identify its strengths and weaknesses and propose opportunities to improve it. In this workshop, attendees were assigned to explore different parts of Petaling Street. They were also encouraged to connect with people and local business owners for a more participatory approach to placemaking.  

STIPO are one of the keynote speakers at the inaugural Placemaker Week ASEAN 2019 which will take place between the 4th to 8th November 2019. Presented by Think City and UN-Habitat and co-presented by Nextdor Property Communications Sdn Bhd, STIPO, MIP, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) with British Council Malaysia and the Citi Foundation as supporters, Placemaker Week ASEAN aims to improve awareness about placemaking and its positive impacts within Southeast Asia.