Research Roundup: Placemaking: Expanding Our Reach and Empowering Communities

Abstract

Due to COVID, communities across the globe have had to rethink ways to safely connect and engage with one another. One option that has emerged is placemaking, “a collaborative process of people coming together to create the great public spaces at the heart of their communities.”

Rooted in urban design, placemaking has enabled some communities to successfully negotiate COVID challenges while participating in a process that also has the potential to transform our post-pandemic world. Because 80 percent of children’s time is spent outside of school, it is exceptionally important for communities to leverage opportunities for them to learn beyond classroom walls. Libraries and other community partners can share placemaking resources while exploring new ways to harness placemaking principles to create better social, cultural, and economic outcomes. This is important since many of today’s youth and families are living in inequitable spaces.