The PlaceMakers Way

The term placemaker implies a promise. A commitment to cultivating environments that nurture human needs in all their diversity.

Not so long ago, before technology liberated us from restraints imposed by distance and climate, making places was mostly about responding to natural limitations. Over millennia, the responses were refined into patterns and techniques that shaped the places we love the most. We love those places because their underlying forms are the products of human wishes for safety, for community, for commerce, for aesthetic appeal. In a sense, our species co-evolved with the habitat we designed to protect and inspire us.

But over the last half-century -- thanks in no small part to the cars we justifiably love and the infrastructure, energy, finance and regulatory systems that support them -- placemaking became increasingly influenced by the unintended consequences of seemingly unlimited choices. And now, ironically, we find ourselves limited in ways we never expected by our dependence on just one way to get around -- from one disconnected place to another.

It’s community design by default. And the resulting constriction in our family, civic and business relationships threatens our health, our happiness and our prosperity.

To diminish this threat to liberty and opportunity, communities must be free to change the default setting. It has to be a conscious act, a locally-owned and driven exercise in rehabilitative design. One that empowers a free market, fosters partnership and accountability, and ensures the greatest possible returns on investments of money, sweat and time.

These are the principles driving our organization. For communities seeking the freedom of aspiration, we exist to help change the default setting of unconscious, opportunity-inhibiting community design. And we are committed to the broad-based approach necessary to make that change effective and lasting.

Care to dig in deeper? Start with these overviews of our core service offerings:

Want to know more about our individual partners and the experiences that color our perspectives? Meet us here.

7 Comments

  1. […] simple answer is that our passion is helping communities change their default setting of unconscious, opportunity-inhibiting design […]



  2. New Media for Designers and Builders | PlaceMakers on September 27, 2013 at 1:13 am

    […] having a long connection with Steve relative to social media. As one of the founding principals of PlaceMakers, Steve started hounding us to enter the blogging world in 2007 or 2008. We were slow to respond, […]



  3. Blessed are the place makers… | Howard Blackson on February 4, 2015 at 3:21 am

    […] was a true statement for several years as the Director of Planning with the great PlaceMakers company. We delivered high quality traditional neighborhood developments, form-based codes, […]



  4. Walkable Winter Cities | PlaceMakers on January 5, 2016 at 10:31 am

    […] Shelter from the wind with short blocks. This sense of enclosure is even more important in the winter, which coupled with short blocks helps create shelter from the wind. The way that the buildings address the street, or the “private frontage,” makes for convivial places to gather and meet. If we can control how the building meets the street and nothing more, we’re far along the placemakers way. […]



  5. Walkable Winter Cities | CENmag on January 9, 2016 at 5:47 am

    […] Shelter from the wind with short blocks. This sense of enclosure is even more important in the winter, which coupled with short blocks helps create shelter from the wind. The way that the buildings address the street, or the “private frontage,” makes for convivial places to gather and meet. If we can control how the building meets the street and nothing more, we’re far along the placemakers way. […]



  6. […] The placemakers way is to enable the triple bottom line of resilience: environment, economy, and society, trying to balance the needs of people, planet and profit. And yet it’s always easier to measure the impacts of our collective choices on profit and the planet than it is on people. We’ve blogged extensively about happiness, with equity as an essential component. Social equity has been defined as equal opportunity in a safe and healthy environment. Social equity requires fair, just and equitable public policy. Social equity is a generator of social capital. […]



  7. […] Placemakers. Placemakers is a private firm which specializes in Form-Based Code. […]