Local governments and developers in placemaking: Defining their responsibilities and capacities to shape place

Abstract

Local government and developers often engage in and support placemaking activities when these projects help them to achieve their various responsibilities in creating, enhancing and managing good quality places. They support placemaking when the activity works within, or extends, their capacity to address their responsibilities. In this chapter, we explore these responsibilities and capacities of local governments and developers, as a way to understand why they value placemaking. We do this through interviews with placemakers across government, private and community sectors, as well as the case study of the Town Team Movement and Inglewood on Beaufort. Local governments’ responsibilities have expanded but their resources have not. Local governments are seeking ways to meet these growing expectations to deliver place outcomes and have identified partnering with local community as one way to help achieve this. Developers are required to make a profit, but are also bound by social contract. These two drivers may be met through investment in place quality which both services users and attracts investment. Local governments and developers see value in placemaking because of this tension between responsibilities and capacities.