Have you ever wondered why you prefer to hang out some place but not others?
As a city resident I often find myself migrating to my usual hangout to walk the dog, catch some outdoors or meet up with a friend.
I often try to remind myself that I should venture outside of my comfort zone more. But there is more to your local comfort zone than just familiarity. I began to ask myself what and why?
Public Placemaking is something I am hearing and taking notice of more and more. A creative way to reconnect your community. Placemaking capitalises on a local community’s assets, inspiration, and potential, with the intention of creating public spaces that promote people’s health, happiness, and well being. Placemaking is nothing new. Councils and developers have been creating these environments with parks and public spaces for years. Its only recently around my city I am noticing more attention is being taken to create these mini community places.
But sometimes inadvertently these places create themselves. Abandoned buildings and industrial sites often have an atmosphere begging to be discovered. All it takes is creative input and some art to pull together the trendiest locations.
On my Street Art tours I sometimes take people down alleyways and laneways. Places quite often many people would not usually venture. Most people are surprised at what they find. I love exploring abandoned places. Graffiti and street art amongst the harsh industrial backdrop provokes beautiful urban space. Add the smell of coffee and the lour of music and the place, transforms an abandoned crack den to somewhere even the coolest hipster would be willing to hang.
Gentrification is welcomed as a ‘cleaning-up’ of suburbs. But how much cleaning up should we do before the atmosphere needed to encourage community gets lost? Creating pleasurable public spaces is more than cleaning, renovating and infiltration of expensive eateries for the well-off to enjoy. (Tramsheds comes to mind).
We need the diversity, creativity, inspiring atmosphere, community assets and potential for it to thrive.
