Placemaking Europe

Placemaking Europe is a European network that brings together diverse stakeholders including practitioners, academics, community leaders, market players, and policy makers who work in the field of placemaking. This non-profit foundation aims to accelerate placemaking as an approach to create healthy, inclusive, and beloved communities. The network focuses on developing and sharing knowledge about placemaking, which is an approach to urban planning and design that prioritizes people who use spaces rather than just physical structures. Placemaking Europe contributes to designing and testing tools, creates platforms for exchanging ideas, and actively advocates for better public space policies. One of the network's signature events is Placemaking Week Europe, an annual festival that brings together over 700 placemakers and urban leaders from across Europe and beyond to share best practices and foster cross-border collaborations. In 2025, this event will be hosted in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Placemaking Europe also runs capacity-building initiatives such as the Cities in Placemaking programme, which has involved 12 European cities including Bradford, Reggio Emilia, Helsinki, and Rotterdam. This programme helps municipal administrations implement placemaking approaches to address urban challenges like climate adaptation, intercultural integration, and social inequality by transforming spaces into places that communities love and thrive in.