SMU-Centre 42 Series: The Role of Creativity and Culture in Placemaking

This session introduces the connectivity between culture-making and placemaking and the components necessary for these processes to take place. It talks about how culture is an underutilised asset in urban planning and development and why it needs to be seriously considered in planning and policy initiatives that aim for liveability, equitability and viability.

Placemaking initiatives are often overtly concerned with physical and economic rejuvenation resulting in the use of well-worn strategies such as adaptive reuse of buildings, niche retail, public art or landscaping. What is often missing is the social dimension of placemaking.

This session examines some case studies which illustrate “how” and “why” creative entrepreneurs, professionals and communities can and should be drawn into the placemaking process. It also looks at the role of intermediaries who bring together the various parties and their agendas, and the role of creative professionals in facilitating design and programming that celebrate and cultivate the values of a place by involving communities themselves in creative placemaking.

The Arts and Culture Matters Series is a platform for robust, lively and collegiate discussion of the issues and challenges related to the arts and cultural landscape. Each discussion will collectively convene members of the arts and creative community including artists, scholars, students, and policy-makers, to explore timely topics that will nurture and advance understanding on the arts and culture, especially in and from the context of Singapore. This series is organised by the Arts and Culture Management Program, in the School of Social Sciences at the Singapore Management University. For 2018, the series is produced in partnership with Centre 42, a non-profit theatre development space.