What is placemaking?

According to our search engine “Placemaking is a community-led process of planning, designing, and managing public spaces to create places that improve urban vitality, promote well-being, and foster a sense of belonging. It involves engaging communities to establish what good design means to them, empowering them to have pride in their local area.” 

For the Hulked team, placemaking is creating space to think about and share knowledge of the heritage of a place, fostering a sense of pride amongst local people taking part and audiences. We have asked for feedback from the local community who have experienced the soundwalk and our evaluator Karen Pamplin-Browne gathered the following responses:

Hulked has enabled the community of Swale and the surrounds to have their history recorded and celebrated, in an area of North Kent where take-up in the arts is low.

Now that Hulked has been launched, local audiences are beginning to gain a greater knowledge and sense of ownership of their local heritage. 

• 94% of visitors said they felt it helped them engage with local heritage 

• 100% of those who indicated that they were local residents said that Hulked makes them feel more connected to their local heritage

• 86% of locals said it increased their pride in the local area 

• 90% of locals learned new things about their local area

• 100% of locals feel that events/activities like Hulked help rejuvenate my area

• 44% of locals said they had never visited the dock and Brickfields before

We have not made a place, it was already there, but we have increased pride in the local area, created optimism about rejuvenation of the area we worked in and increased a sense of connection between the inhabitants and their ‘place’. That is a great start!