What is Placemaking Week Europe?

Placemaking Week Europe is Europe's founding and largest placemaking festival. In the spirit of collaboration and inspiration, over 400 practitioners meet every year to share knowledge, learn and network. Thanks to a partnership between Placemaking Europe and the ICC programme, this year 25 representatives of ICC member cities will have the possibility to participate in the event.

During the 4-days event, the ICC programme will further hold a public session to present its Policy brief on Green urban planning for Intercultural Cities.

What are the thematic focuses of this year’s edition?

Participants will reflect and react to four key themes that are central to thinking about the future-proof cities around the globe:

• Innovative and creative economy: How can placemaking help innovation, attract new talents and expand economic opportunity for all? What mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that urban innovation truly benefits the local economy and does not push it out or crowd it out?
• Creative bureaucracy: How to engage in collaborative planning to implement an effective city of proximity in Europe? How to develop an approach where bottom-up and top-down work together effectively to get the best out of urban spaces?
• Green and blue placemaking: How to activate waterfronts for both vibrancy and restoration, that dually consider local resources and citizens? How can we recover polluted and industrial areas with green and blue solutions while creating inclusive, sustainable and environmentally sensitive green spaces?
• Human scale development for thriving and resilient public spaces: How does a human-scale and place-led approach improve the capacity of urban areas to survive, adapt and thrive no matter what kinds of acute shocks and chronic stresses they experience? How can cities create the conditions to align goals with the real estate sector, implementing the right regulations and policies, to develop a city at a human scale that allows for interactions between people, buildings and streets - and also includes people-centred strategies that increase the capacity of local communities, environment, and economy?

Why Pontevedra?

Pontevedra generates tremendous inspiration and innovation, offering since twenty years an exemplary model of a human scale city; dense and diverse in its functions, in which everything you need is accessible within walking distance. As the experience of pandemics and conflict has shown, the value of a city is not only in its physical proximity. Along with it, a thriving city must also meet relational proximity, through which people have plentiful and equitable opportunities to meet, support, and care for each other and the environment.

By placing social innovation, the commons, and local communities at the heart of a co-creative process, the placemaking approach helps create healthier, more resilient, and more equitable public spaces lasting for the future. Addressing such challenges and opportunities will be a core component of this global event.