Module 2

Community-led placemaking

This module explores how community-led placemaking can help strengthen health and activity initiatives. By building on local strengths and fostering social connections, placemaking creates vibrant, inclusive spaces that support well-being and bring lasting benefits to the community.

What is placemaking?

Placemaking is an approach that helps us build stronger places and communities. Click below to hear Dr. Cristina Hernandez Santin, Placemaker at Village Well, explain further.

The power of placemaking

Whether simple or complex, placemaking is a powerful tool for building healthier communities. Research shows it can create a ripple effect — helping people feel more emotionally connected to a place.

Placemaking has been shown to:

1. Increase positive feelings toward a place by over 60%
2. Spend 50% more time in a location
3. Strengthen community connections by 53%

This makes a difference to health as we know that social connection and belonging are strongly linked to personal health. As Psychologist Raymond Cattell said:

Benefits of placemaking

Placemaking has many ecological, social, and economic benefits. Below, seven key health related benefits are shown. By applying a placemaking lens to your projects, you might discover ways to strengthen your outcomes and create greater social impact.

Let’s look at examples of these benefits in real life. Click on the videos below to hear stories on placemaking benefits through real projects!

Where do we start?

Placemaking can feel like a big and unfamiliar concept, especially if we ask you to apply the idea to your project. To help you take the first steps, we’ve put together a few key ideas where you can begin:

• Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) – Start by identifying and building on the strengths and assets already present in your community.
• Engage with your community – Meaningful engagement helps uncover local knowledge, values, and ideas.
• Support agency and empowerment – Create opportunities for community members to lead, shape, and take ownership of projects.

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)

We invite you to start from a place of gratitude and appreciation. Often, we focus on the negatives and ‘solving an issue,’ but we miss reflecting on what you and your community are good at and identifying the strengths and assets of the system you are working with.

This is called Asset-Based Community Development, or ABCD, and it is an approach for sustainable development that starts with your community.

Discovering your assets

So, what are the hidden strengths of your place and community? Let’s explore four types of assets you can tap into and leverage in your work:

Engaging with your community

A core principle of placemaking is that a great place takes many hands, and the same applies to your project. Once you’ve identified key assets that could support your work, it’s time to strengthen your community networks by actively engaging with people. To help you in your engagement journey, remember these three things:

1. Reach out

• You might be surprised by how many people are open to a chat or willing to help. You may even discover others who share your goals and values.

2. Don’t be afraid to ask

• You never know what support you might receive unless you ask. What’s the worst that can happen?

3. Build empowerment from the start

• When people feel they can meaningfully contribute to your project or wider goal, they’re more likely to stay involved and add to your asset base.

Learn more about engaging with your community

Developing agency and empowerment

Ideally, your project will support the community to shape a better place together. Remember, small changes can lead to big impacts.

So, ask yourself: What role can your project play in strengthening your place and community?

To help think about where your project can create change, we use the Spheres of Influence framework. This is a positive planning tool by Regenesis asking you to reflect on your projects influence within and surrounding the project.

This model below is adapted from Stephen Covey’s Circle of Influence model, which teaches us that, to be proactive, we must focus our energy into the things that we can influence.

Learn more about Stephen Covey’s Circle of Influence framework.

Spheres of Influence

At the inner level is the Sphere of Control. This includes things directly within your control, such as decisions, actions and elements within your project.

The second sphere is the Sphere of Influence. This includes ways your project may impact others, such as improving health and well-being. These are outcomes you can influence but not fully control.

The outer sphere is the Sphere of Concern, it holds the big-picture ideas and challenges you're concerned about. These are labelled concerns because they are the least within your control. However, this area can also spark opportunities to grow your project and inspire others.

When planning your project, remember to consider how your project is designed may be able to give more people agency (more sphere of control) or influence over your project, and therefore feel important in your project.