Going local and ground-up in making places (Part 2)

Writer: Tan Chui Hua

From reclaiming underutilised spaces to projects that celebrate local identity and culture, communities around the world have been leveraging local knowledge and expertise to transform their neighbourhoods and creating spaces where residents could engage with their environments in more meaningful ways.

Cities mentioned in this article:
New York City, Sydney, Philadelphia, Nicosia, Hong Kong, Washington D. C., Santo Domingo (New Mexico)

Outdoor film screenings during the Pame Kaimakli festival often include works that explore Kaimakli’s heritage and stories, centring the experience on the neighbourhood’s identity. © Urban Gorillas

Placemaking is often explored from a top-down perspective, as city authorities play a critical role in providing frameworks, laying policies, and funding initiatives. When it comes to long-term impact and sustainability however, placemaking needs to be driven by communities.

Leveraging local expertise, community-led placemaking allows residents to create projects which are relevant to their needs and reflect the identity of their neighbourhoods. As locals take ownership of transforming their environment, the process contributes to community-building while strengthening the sense of place and identity. Placemaking also becomes sustainable in the long run when residents are invested in the initiatives they help to create^1..

While community-driven placemaking is diverse and unique to the respective neighbourhoods, there are a few broad strategies employed by local stakeholders to create distinctive, meaningful spaces and experiences: reclaiming underutilised spaces, celebrating what is local, and curating trails to create a sense of place.

"What we’re looking to do to support equity across all of our Open Streets is to balance what partners do best, like organising, programming and keeping the space relevant, to what the city can support, which includes everything from evolving the design to full maintenance services." — Emily Weidenhof (Director of Public Space, New York City Department of Transportation)

Reclaiming spaces

Locals are best-placed to identify and reclaim underutilised spaces such as roads to make their environment more liveable. In 2020, New York launched its Open Streets programme where residents and local businesses could propose to restrict or fully close streets in their neighbourhoods on specific days and timings. This allows a range of car-free activities such as outdoor dining and community programming to be organised.

Since the launch, more than 180 open street projects have been instituted. One of the most successful places that emerged is 34th Avenue in the Queens neighbourhood. Managed by a neighbourhood coalition, the streets become limited to vehicular traffic daily from 7am to 8pm. Not only does this create a much-needed public space for families, joggers, and cyclists, residents also regularly organise programmes such as exercise classes and food distribution events for the needy^2..

Annually, the city spends around USD $7 million on the programme^3.. Emily Weidenhof, Director of Public Space at New York City Department of Transportation says, “What we’re looking to do to support equity across all of our Open Streets is to balance what partners do best, like organising, programming and keeping the space relevant, to what the city can support, which includes everything from evolving the design to full maintenance services ... We need different partnership models for our public spaces. And we had a strong partner with the 34th Avenue Open Streets Coalition.”^4.

Celebrating local heritage

Public spaces and initiatives emphasising what is local and unique play a significant role in meaningful placemaking. Local markets are one such example. Serving as social and economic centres, these markets showcase local produce and community identity. At Carriageworks Farmers Market, in a Sydney suburb, produce must be sourced from farmers and artisanal producers within New South Wales. To ensure authentic interactions between the producers and customers, the market requires stallholders to be knowledgeable about the farms and production processes^5..

The Southeast Asian Market in FDR Park, Philadelphia, illustrates how communities could take ownership of their local markets and turn them into distinctive places. One of the biggest draws of Philadelphia today with over 200,000 visitors a year, the Southeast Asian Market started with immigrants of Southeast Asian origin operating illegal food stalls during the 1990s^6..

Despite regular efforts by law enforcement to shut down the informal set-up, Philadelphia’s communities rallied and successfully brought about its legalisation in 2020. A well-loved food destination, the market also facilitates cultural exchange between the immigrant Southeast Asian communities and long-time residents. Regular community programming such as celebrations of the Thai New Year further bridges the divide^7.. Mayor Jim Kenny noted, “This market is a wonderful example of the rich culture and contributions AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islanders) communities bring to our city.”^8.

Art installations in public spaces during Pame Kaimakli festival engage both residents and visitors, turning the quiet neighbourhood of Kaimakli into a vibrant place every summer. © Urban Gorillas

Neighbourhood festivals are another illustration of placemaking that leverage local identity. The neighbourhood of Kaimakli on the edge of Nicosia, Cyprus, underwent general decline over the years with population outflow. The empty houses and low rents, however, saw an influx of newcomers in the recent decades, giving rise to a diverse population of migrants, artists, and new and old residents. To bridge these groups, residents worked with a non-governmental organisation to launch a neighbourhood festival 'Pame Kaimalkli', meaning 'Let’s go to Kaimakli' in 2013^9..

The festival began with informal arts events hosted in the houses of residents and has since grown to be a notable annual summer event drawing international artists and tourists to the once quiet Kaimakli while celebrating its stories. More importantly, the festival has strengthened community bonds within Kaimakli. The community organisers point out, “By shedding light on narratives anew or giving them the opportunity to be recorded for the first time, the festival will provide a fresh approach to the inclusion of various marginalised social groups living in the neighbourhood as well as the connection between different social groups such as the elderly, immigrants, and other species.”

In a shift from national narratives, community museums have been steadily gaining traction as placemaking assets. The conservation of the Blue House, a cluster of three tenement blocks built in 1922, in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, shows the impact of community-driven placemaking. The cluster represents one of the few pre-war Chinese-styled tenement buildings left in Hong Kong^10.. Besides being a residence to generations of working-class tenants, it was also a major nexus in the neighbourhood, housing a union office, temple, school, shops, medical hall, and community gathering space^11..

The Blue House, an award-winning conservation project, focuses on retaining local stories and identity and maintaining its role as a community hub. © Oval Partnership

Heritage enthusiasts, community activists, and residents worked closely with the authorities over 10 years to ensure that community ties and memories are retained during the preservation of the Blue House. Today, part of the cluster continues to be residential while the ground floor hosts a neighbourhood museum and serves as a community hub with events held regularly. A flat on the top floor, filled with daily life objects donated by residents, is preserved to showcase life in the past^12..

Curating trails

Locally curated trails connecting points of interest serve to enrich community identity and sense of place while encouraging residents to explore their surroundings.

In Washington D. C., United States, amateur historians, and residents have been curating neighbourhood walking trails. These trails document lesser-known stories, such as the tales of former immigrant communities and former uses of older buildings. Driven by a non-governmental organisation in collaboration with residents, these neighbourhood trails regularly engage locals to build consensus on the heritage trail signages in their neighbourhoods^13..

For the Kewa settlement of Santo Domingo, New Mexico, an arts trail serves to celebrate its artistic heritage while revitalising its economy. Decades of inadequate transport investment has isolated the indigenous community from nearby economic hubs, leading to high unemployment rate. In 2010, a new train station was built near the settlement but without safe pedestrian access to Santo Domingo^14..

The developers of a housing project in the settlement thus worked closely with locals to develop an arts trail featuring eight large-scale sculptural nodes created by local artists and vetted by the community. These sculptural nodes draw from the heritage of the Kewa people and create an uplifting experience for pedestrians travelling between the train station and Santo Domingo. As nearly 75 percent of the residents produce artistic wares, the trail also helps to connect Santo Domingo as an arts market^15..

Successful localised placemaking hinges upon synergistic collaboration among stakeholders, with city authorities providing necessary facilitation and frameworks. On the ground, communities, comprising residents, businesses, and community-based organisations, then serve as the driving force to create and sustain projects, transforming neighbourhoods into liveable, loveable places with distinctive character.