After four dynamic and inspiring days, Placemaking Week Europe 2024 has come to a close. We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated, co-curated, and helped shape this year's festival. A special acknowledgment goes out to the City of Rotterdam, our participants, speakers, venue partners, staff, and the entire Placemaking Europe team for their incredible contributions.
This year, we welcomed a record-breaking 715 participants from 80 countries, with 250 speakers leading 170 sessions across 23 venues throughout Rotterdam. From insightful discussions to hands-on workshops, placemakers from around the globe came together to connect, collaborate, and address key urban challenges. Many of you explored the city on 100 bikes, embracing a fun and eco-friendly way to experience Rotterdam's public spaces—even riding through the rain! Big shoutout to you!
Rotterdam proved to be a great host for this year’s festival, showcasing its commitment to innovation, inclusivity, and sustainable urban development. The high turnout is a reminder for all of us how important it is to gather in person, exchange ideas, and work together to create better cities.
Prof Bob Giddings led the session on Densification, challenging the orthodoxy of property densification, following investigation of the future of the city centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK and Newcastle New South Wales, Australia, exploring the principles involved in city centre transformation that establish any particular strategy, but most importantly creating place and making it last. . During the covid period, urban design literature asserted that city centres need more public places and particularly green spaces. However, there is little evidence of a change in strategy in the post-covid era. His paper explored alternatives to increasing densification, to enhance people’s mental and physical health, and enjoyment of city centres, while mitigating the effects of climate change. This is in the context of the fourth industrial revolution and reduced demand for commercial and retail buildings.
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