Conference Report

The last day of the Global Placemaking Summit took place at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto. The day was designed to foster hands-on learning, collaboration, and networking among local and global placemakers. Throughout the day, participants had the opportunity to engage with peers and explore innovative ideas contributing to the placemaking movement while participating in various key components of the summit - the PLAYcemaking Warehouse, Collision Tables, Hands-on Workshops, Panel Discussions, and Plenary Sessions.

The PLAYcemaking Warehouse was a standout feature of the event, which hosted interactive activity stations focused on promoting creativity and connection through playful engagement. Local and global placemakers facilitated these stations, encouraging participants to immerse themselves in collaborative and imaginative placemaking practices. Simultaneously, the summit also featured Collision Tables, where participants gathered at four designated tables to collaboratively address complex public space challenges. These tables were led by expert facilitators, ensuring productive discussions and the exchange of insights.

To further enhance the learning experience, there were seven hands-on workshops hosted, with each session accommodating up to 20 participants. These workshops focused on specific tools, methods, and approaches within the realm of placemaking, providing valuable practical takeaways.

The summit also included panels and a plenary session, covering topics such as the 'Future of the Placemaking Movement' and a mini-masterclass on the new regenerative placemaking revolution. As the day concluded, a fun and engaging reception provided an opportunity for attendees to reflect on their learnings, connect with peers, and build new relationships over light refreshments.

Overall, the Global Placemaking Summit aimed to showcase creative and community-driven placemaking approaches, facilitate cross-sector networking, and encourage participatory design and collaboration among practitioners from all backgrounds.

Distilley District Tour

The final field trip was at The Distillery District, cited as a 2024 top global adapt reuse example by the World Economic Forum. The tour was led by the developers of the award winning National Historic Site which is an inspired blend of Victorian Industrial architecture and stunning 21st century design and creativity. The result is an internationally acclaimed village of placemaking one-of-a-kind stores, shops, galleries, studios, restaurants, cafes, theatres and more.

Key Takeaways

• Honour Historic story and structures when venturing into a heritage project
• Programming 365:Third party programmers for all ages and have something going on always
• Have multiple anchors: Food and beverage, retail, arts and culture, creative economy tenants

• Link to other development within walking distance i.e. Canary District, Front Street
• Be a place that your city/town is known for

The 2025 Global Placemaking Summit saw several important goals and objectives realized. On a local level, delegates were exposed to a wide variety of placemaking and public space initiatives underway in Toronto. On a national level, the work of Placemaking Canada was centred as part of the four-day event, fostering a growth in awareness of the organization and a vocal interest in expanding its capacity and activities. Broader still, work on upwards of 40 separate placemaking agenda topics identified by PlacemakingX was advanced through a combination of delegate workshops, dialogues and presentations. This latter effort will help to advance the global conversation on placemaking and will provide the movement with a more refined foundation for future advocacy, programming, and organizational development.

Putting Toronto’s Placemaking Work on the Map

As one of North America’s largest, most diverse, and fastest growing cities, Toronto offers an array of learnings relevant to other communities. Through the course of the Summit, participants visited several key venues around the city, undertook walking and boat tours, and heard first-hand from design professionals, non-profit organizations, cultural programmers, developers, and members of local government about their work. This provided an important opportunity to showcase the wide variety of placemaking and public space projects underway in Toronto.

Participants are invited to continue following the work of the Toronto-based organizations represented in the Summit, including:

• Evergreen
• 8 80 Cities
• The Bentway
• STEPS Public Art
• Canadian Urban Institute
• Toronto Public Space Committee
• Spacing Magazine
• DESIGNwith
• Waterfront Toronto
• City of Toronto Planning Department
• Jane's Walk

Participants may also wish to follow along with key some of the key venues that were visited during the summit – including YZD, Stackt Market, The Well, TAS, Public Work, 401 Richmond, the World Urban Pavillion, Evergreen Brick Works, and the Distillery District.

Growing the National Network – Placemaking Canada

The Global Summit marked the 6th opportunity for Canadian placemakers and public space advocates to gather as part of Placemaking Canada. The co-presented nature of the Summit had the benefit of introducing a number of participants to the organization, stimulating further interest in growing the national network and building cross-country collaboration.

Building on these outcomes, the Steering Committee for Placemaking Canada is looking to advance three key activities in the near term:

1. Formalize the organizational structure of Placemaking Canada. Currently, Placemaking Canada is managed by a loose, volunteer-based Steering Committee. As the organization scales-up, the need to establish a clearer, more representative governance structure and decision-making process is imperative. The Steering Committee currently has a ‘call for interested participants’ to help guide the organization during this important transitional period.
2. Establish working groups and communities of practice. In both the Summit and earlier gatherings, participants expressed an interest in having the space to hold more detailed, sector or community-specific conversations around placemaking and public space matters. To support this, Placemaking Canada will develop and convene one or more ‘communities of practice’ in early 2026 to test the concept.
3. Produce a ‘winter placemaking’ field trip/mini-gathering. Canada has relatively long winters, often with prolonged periods of snow and/or rain. Winter placemaking was identified as a key topic of interest for participants. Several Canadian cities have been leading the charge with winter-related activities, and Placemaking Canada is hoping to work with one or more of them to deliver a gathering in early 2026.

In addition to these aforementioned areas of focus, Placemaking Canada will continue to work on its existing core activities, including amplifying the voices of Canadian placemakers and public space topics, convening and connecting Canadian placemakers through events and other supports (including a practitioner database), and advocating for the important role of public spaces in the life of Canadian communities.

Participants that are interested in staying involved with Placemaking Canada can connect with the organization via placemaking-canada.ca, or through Facebook, Bluesky, LinkedIn or Instagram.

Advancing the Global Placemaking Agenda(s)

Approximately 40 different agenda topics were discussed over the first two days of the Summit. Topics were organized loosely around four key categories: spaces (e.g. public buildings, waterfronts, streets as places), people (e.g. placemaking for children, latino placemaking, Indigenous placemaking), outcomes (e.g. democracy and participation, public health, equity and inclusion), and strategies (digital placemaking, creative placemaking, place-led development).

The goal of the discussion tables was to build on work that had been started in the first Global Placemaking Summit (in Mexico City), refining and supplementing the initial ‘discussion papers’, and ensuring that each had a clearly identified set of key issues and opportunities, areas of potential focus for future work, and key contacts.

In addition to bringing new voices into the conversation, this work had the additional benefit of helping to refine the areas of focus - and the broader course of action - for the next few years of the global placemaking movement.

A Sampling of Other Outcomes & Ideas

One key outcome of the Summit was that participants – and the movement as a whole – are becoming more deeply structured around shared principles, strategic collaboration, and amplified influence. In addition to the local, national and international outcomes identified above, several general ideas were identified that could assist in advancing the placemaking movement across scales and to establishing the idea of place as a right, resource, and responsibility.

1. Promotion: Building visibility, public will, and cultural momentum for placemaking globally. Some ideas: more global events and campaigns, localized storytelling, creative ambassadors (promoting placemaking as a cultural act, more than a planning tool.)
2. Best Practice Sharing: Enabling reciprocal learning and global capacity-building. Some ideas: an open-access, multilingual platform that hosts case studies and agenda-setting (district-scale to micro-interventions), accessible how-to guides/toolkits, evaluation frameworks, peer-reviewed insights. Other ideas: exchange residencies or fellowships; learning labs (e.g. post-conflict/disaster placemaking, climate resilience, co-governance of public space); an annual State of Place report, annual awards; a twinning program that pairs pioneering cities with aspirant cities.

Advancing the Field with Decision Makers: Supporting the collective institutionalization of placemaking at city, regional, and national levels. Some ideas: policy briefs and white papers; urban leader roundtables; a focus on building connections with municipalities and government partners; working to ensure placemaking principles are built into comprehensive plans, capital works budgets, and climate adaptation strategies; collective advocacy for place-based budgeting aligned with equity and wellbeing metrics.