THEROLEOFTHEARCHITECTINCONTRIBUTINGTOTHE

CREATIONOFPLACESWITHINTHEBUILTENVIRONMENT
ArgumentativeessayMihaelBusan

Eventhoughplacesaresomethingeachofusexperienceinourdaytodaylife,notmany
realisethisexperienceandevenfewerunderstandwhataplaceactuallyisandhowitis
defined.Weliveinaworldthathasbecomemoreandmoreimpersonal,architecturaldesign
no longer taking into account human scale and the social and cultural aspects it should
contain. This essay talks about what placemaking is, how architects can and have to
contribute to the creation of places and what a few issues tobe taken into account are.
AccordingtoAlKodmany,placeisadefinedareaofspace,thatcontainscultural,socialand
geographicmeaningforitsusers(2011,252).Thewayplacesaregenerated,thefactorsthat
contributetotheircreationandwhatstepsneedtobetakentowardsthecreationofplaceswill
belookedatinthisessay.Themaintraitsthatcharacterizeplacesaresocialandcultural
identity. Thesetraitscanbeobtainedandencouragedthroughknowingandunderstanding
theidentityofaplace,aswellastheprocessesthatgeneratedit.Architecture,aspartof
placemaking,needstotakethesetraitsintoaccount,havingpeopleandhumanscaleatthe
centreofitsdesign,takingintoaccountnotonlyfunctional,formalandeconomicalaspects,
butalsosocial,culturalandrepresentativeaspects.Itisthereforetheroleofthearchitectto
contribute to the creation of places by developing socially and culturally aware designs,
whichencourageandstrengthenthefeelingofcommunityamongsttheirusers.
Placemakingisaconceptthatfirstappearedsomewhereinthe1970sasaresponsetothe
problemthathadappearedinmanycities,thatofplacelessness(AlKodmany2011,252).
Thereasonforwhichurbanspacesneedtobeviewedasplaces,notonlyasabstractspaceto
be used, as AlKodmandy (2011, 252) argues, is because they are things we experience
constantly in our everyday life, unlike other art forms, being art not only for a select
audience,butforeveryone.Theartofplacemakingvaluesnotonlythephysicalbutalsothe
socialandeventhespiritualqualitiesofaplace(BurnnbergandFrigo2012,114).Design
professionals, when presented with the task of designing buildings regardless of their
function or required use, need to take into account the impact that a design has on the
surroundingsocialenvironment,duetothefactthataplacecanonlyexistwhenthereis
socialinteractionhappeningwithinit.
Inorderforarchitectstobeabletocontributetothecreationofplaces,themechanismsthat
contribute to placemaking must be understood and applied in their designs. Pierce and

Martin(2011,60)writeaboutthewayplacescomeintobeing,andtheynametheprocess
relationalplacemaking,arguingthatplacesarealwaysaresultofsuchaprocess.They
identifytwofactorsthatcomeintoplaywhencreatingplaces,factorsthatareconnectedto
eachother.Thefirstofthetwoisanaggregationofculturalvaluesthatareassembledand
agreed upon by a social group. In this statement it is identifiable that placemaking is
relational, as the selection of the cultural values agreed upon comes from different
individuals.Eachpersonattemptstoshapeaplacethroughelementspreviouslyknownto
him,theresultingculturalattributes,thatshapetheidentityofthatplace,beingthosemost
commonly valued within its community. The second factor that comes into play when
creatingplaces,whichisimpliedbythefirst,statesthatarrivingtothissetofculturalvalues
istheresultofasociopoliticaldebatethattakes partinsideanetworkcomposedofthe
peopleandotherentities,suchaspoliticalandcorporateones,thatarepartofthecommunity.
Inthisdebatethestrongestandmostcommonlyagreeduponideaswillbepartoftheabove
mentionedaggregationofculturalvalues.PierceandMartincallthismechanismaprocessof
networkedpoliticsofplace(2011,59).Duetothisconstantprocessofnegotiationplaces
arecontinuallychanging,theyarenotdefinedonlybytheirpast,buthavetoberelevantto
thepresent.Itisimportantthatbuiltenvironmentprofessionalshaveknowledgeaboutand
take into account the needs of the people that they are designing for. This is important
because having a good cultural, political and social understanding of the place they are
operatingwithin,willallowthemtobeabletoprovidesensibledesignsthathavemeaningto
thecommunity.
Encouragingsocialinteractioniscrucialtothedevelopmentofplaces,thisbeingaproblem
thathigh densityurbandevelopments withhighrising structures face.Neglectinghuman
scale and the impact that tall buildings have on the perception of the external spaces
generated,hastheeffectofdrivingpeopleawayfromtheseplaces,thusdiscouragingsocial
interaction. By neglecting the aspect of human scale, places will become abandoned,
unfriendly,makinghumansfeelsmallandunwanted,havingasaresultasmallernumberof
peoplefrequentingtheseplaces,thusweakeningthesocialsideoftheplace.Onewayto
combat this problem and make places more human friendly, by, for example, adding
sculpturesinthevicinityoftallbuildings(AlKodmany2011,263).Thesebringtheplace
closertohumanscale,actingasacentreofattraction,thussupportingsocialactivities.
Anotherimportantfactortoconsideristhelocalcultureofaplace.Culturalassociationofa
building,asAlKodmany(2011,264)termsit,workstowardsthecreationofplacesthatare
culturallysensitive.Thisisachievedbyinvokingimagesinourdesignsthatrelatetocontext,
embracingtheculture,climateandenvironmentofaplacewithinourdesign.Anexampleof
thisconceptnotbeingappliedistheInternationalStyle,whichscholarshavedescribedas

beingplaceless,hinderingthecreationanddevelopmentofplacesthatrespondtothecultural
andsocialcontexttheyarein.TheInternationalStyle,anarchitecturalmovementthatstarted
tobeseensomewherebetweenthe1920sand1930sandisonethatgivesmoreimportance
totheaestheticsandstyleofarchitecture,seeingitonlyasameansofartisticexpression.
AlthoughtheInternationalStylehashadgreatinfluenceonmodernarchitecture,itneglects
the social and cultural side that architecture needs to contain. AlKodmany (2011, 264)
describesthiskindofarchitectureasbeingplantedandtransplantedeverywhere[]the
resultingbuildings[][being]felttobe<outofplace>.Abuildingthatinvokesgood
culturalassociationwillalsohavegoodimageability(AlKodmany2011,254),creatingan
imagethatstayswithapersonnotonlyduetothedesignofthebuildingbutalsoduetothe
culturalassociationsthatpeoplecanmakewiththatbuilding.Itwouldberecommendedthat
architectstakethisaspectintoaccountwhendesigningbuildings,suchanapproachleadingto
ahigherdegreeofsocioculturalassociations,givingthebuildingasenseofbelongingtoa
place,andhelpingpeopletoacceptitaspartoftheirenvironmentandincludeitintheirdaily
activitiesandsociallives.
Anotherwaytoimprovethesocioculturalaspectofplacemakingistheintroductionof21 st
century technology, such as social media and networking, to encourage the gathering of
people that share common interests and activities. [P]lacemaking is not just about the
relationshipofpeopletotheirplaces;italsocreatesrelationshipsamongpeopleinplaces
(Shibley1995,quotedinBrunnbergandFrigo2012,114).Theuseofsuchtechnologyisto
beencouragedduetothefactthatitwouldofferaneasierwayofconnectingwithpeoplethat
sharethesameinterests.Itwouldalsoallowuserstoavoidplacesthatareoflittleinterestto
them thus creating more opportunities for social encounters and a stronger sense of
community amongits users.The useofmodernday technology will therefore makethe
creationofrelationshipsamongpeopleintheseplaceseasier.
Anexampleonhowtechnologycanbeusedinfavourofsocialinteraction,isexploredby
BilandzicandJohnson(2013)inastudyonhowlibrariescanbecomeonceagainviable
places,inanerawherethereissomuchinformationavailableonlinethatthelibraryplacehas
becomeinawayobsolete,thusrequiringarethinkingofitsroleanduse.Ibelievethatwecan
expandthisconcepttopublicspaces,inatimewhentheplacethatwemeetwithotherpeople
isnolongerphysicalbuthasbecomevirtual,givingpeopleafalsesenseofsocializationand
community.Architectsneedtoaddressthisissueintheirdesignandtransposethequalitiesof
online social networking such as: easy access, availability, opportunity to connect with
peopleandothersfromthevirtualspacetothephysicalone,byincorporatingtechnologyin
publicspaces.

Intodayshighdensityurbanenvironments,thereisaveryhighriskofplaceslosingtheir
identitybylosingtheirculturalandsocialmarkers.Architectsneedtobeawareofthisand
providedesignsthatcontributetothefurtherdevelopmentofplaces.Inordertodothis,
architects must understand what places are, how they come into existence, how to be
culturallyandsociallyaware,andprovidedesignsthatareplacespecific,invokingastrong
imagesandfeelingsamongtheirusers.Architectsalsoneedtoincludesocialaspectswithin
theirdesign,encouragingsocialinteractionconnectingpeoplenotonlytoaplacebutalsoto
otherpeople,throughthiscontributingtothecreationofplaces.

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