Your own work context – Understanding Placemaking

Now, use your work with the material to focus on your own work context:

If you work with service users on an individual base:

• Choose for yourself a specific service user, where you believe the perspective of place and placemaking can be of relevance to your analysis and intervention
• If possible, meet the service user in the persons environment, and make an interview, where you focus on how the concept of Place impacts your understanding of the service user. Does it provide new perspectives and actions?
• If the suggestion above is not possible, go through your notes and documentation about the service user, and notice where the concept of place and placemaking could be illuminated. Make a written plan for how you will implement this.
• Reflect in writing on how the concept of Place can be incorporated in your holistic analysis, and how your analysis can benefit from this dimension

NB. If your service user for example lives in or is moving into a supported housing institution or a shelter, you can still use these questions to qualify your practice; What makes a person connect to a place? What is important? What (in the physical, practical, emotional etc. dimensions) is not working and why? How can we support a feeling of home?  

If you work with service users on a group or neighborhood level: 

• Choose for yourself a specific target group, where you believe the perspective of place and placemaking can be of relevance to your analysis and intervention
• If possible, meet the target group “on location”. Have the group choose your meeting place, and make an interview, where you focus on how the concept of Place impacts your understanding of the target group. Does it provide new perspectives and actions?
• If the suggestion above is not possible, go through your notes and documentation about the target group, and notice where the concept of place and placemaking could be illuminated. Make a written plan for how you will implement this and make a presentation for the target group sharing your perspective.
• Use the perspective of The Right to The City to reflect on how the target group is situated in the power dynamics with other stakeholders of relevance. What practices do you see/learn about? Are these desirable to your target group? What can be done to make changes? If possible, do this at a meeting together with your target group.  
• Make a plan together with your target group for implementation of your ideas.