What is your favourite place? And what makes you feel comfortable in this place? In this minor you will discover why certain places are irreplaceable, and learn how to design places where people feel welcome to live, learn, work, and play.

Whether or not you feel attracted to a place depends on whether you feel a sense of connection with it, and the emotions, memories and experiences you associate with it. In this minor, you will discover why and how we find places liveable, lovable or worth visiting, and why certain places are irreplaceable. Through various interventions, you will learn how to design places that people want to live, work, play and learn in.

Why choose this minor?
>        During the minor, you will work on a real case study from the Urban Living Lab Breda or neighbouring municipalities to gain hands-on experience of placemaking.
>        You will also be immersed in an international environment, as the other students and teaching staff will be from abroad. There will also be a one-week inspirational study trip abroad (in Europe).
>        You will engage with local communities and co-design interventions with them to improve the liveability and lovability of the places where they live or work.
>        In order to co-design meaningful interventions for a community, you will need to draw on your creative talents.

What is it all about?
During the minor, you will learn how to enhance and develop a location through physical or digital interventions. While these interventions can benefit various stakeholders – for example, by enhancing the well-being of local residents, increasing visitor satisfaction, attracting international talent and contributing to the environmental sustainability of a destination – the central focus is always the local community. Any intervention must be designed with the community’s needs and expertise at the forefront.

Placemaking is a set of tools and processes that puts communities at the heart of transforming their local areas. Drawing on social, cultural, urban and environmental factors, placemaking can improve and shape a location through physical or digital interventions. Examples include communal gardens, art murals, community libraries and pop-up events, all of which aim to enhance neighbourhoods, cities or regions. Placemaking inspires people to reimagine public spaces collectively as the heart of the community in which to live, work and play. In this minor, the multidisciplinary team will inspire you to become a placemaker of tomorrow.

Working in an international context
This minor lets you collaborate with national and international industry partners and communities. Guest lecturers join us from partner universities in the Netherlands and abroad – including TU Delft, St Joost Breda and Universidade de São Paulo – as well as the European Commission. Inclusive Placemaking demands effective stakeholder collaboration and a multidisciplinary, people-centred approach. You will work with local residents, communities and stakeholders to identify local strengths and enhance wellbeing and liveability for residents and visitors alike. A dedicated team of interdisciplinary coaches and experts guides you throughout. The programme combines cutting-edge theory with practical insights through lectures, international case studies – from the Blind Walls Gallery to community development in South America – and a field trip within Europe.

What’s in it for me
You will work on real-life cases and deal with real-life issues and challenges locally, such as community engagement and stakeholder mapping and management. You will also get inspiration from experts who will share their expertise and experience, often gained from working on international cases. The aim is to make a real difference to these communities. Explore and unleash your creative talents!

After this minor
Depending on your personal background and development, you will have the opportunity to work as a community builder, spatial experience manager, design thinker, innovator or urban planner for municipalities, public bodies, consultancies, landscape architects or planners.

>        Gaining a basic understanding of the concepts of placemaking and shaping destinations
>        Being able to apply methods, concepts and principles to analyse public spaces as an urban designer
>        Reflecting on what constitutes a community and how it can be actively and directly involved in the placemaking process
>        Studying the current situation and considering the powers, interests, networks, relationships and support base of stakeholders concerning complex challenges
>        Developing a creative experience concept and working it out as a product or service
>        Providing basic advice to destination-based stakeholders on how to optimise the community experience
>        Understanding the rationale behind interventions (whether designed or arts-based) and how they are used
>        Being able to apply research methods, concepts and principles to analyse public spaces as a designer (e.g. mapping the functional and social use of public spaces, stakeholder analysis and stakeholder engagement)

>        This minor is open to students from Tourism & Leisure Management programmes, as well as to students from Urban Design, Architecture, Social Sciences, and Anthropology programmes.
>        Propaedeutic certificate obtained

Study materials and recommended readings will be provided in class. Although we do not work with a specific book, we do require students to make use of the library, databases and online material. As part of this minor, there will be a field trip to an international destination in Europe, which is a form of experiential learning. An alternative case study in the Netherlands is always available for students who are unable to join the trip abroad.

Teaching involves a variety of methods, including:
>         workshops
>         guest lectures from industry and academia
>         flipped classroom
>         self-guided learning

All of these activities are intended to take place in class.
A variety of group and individual assessments will be used, including poster presentations, reflection reports and individual portfolios.
We often collaborate with external commissioners and incorporate their expertise into the assessment process. You will receive coaching and advice from BUas lecturers and external professionals in the field.

Language of instruction
Only English. Classes are face-to-face (not hybrid).

Topics and Structure of the minor
The overall goal of this minor is for students to acquire an understanding of how to deal with and respond to socio-economic and environmental challenges in placemaking, designing interventions that create ‘better places’ in collaboration with the local community. This multidisciplinary approach covers the following topics:
>        Design Thinking
>        Narrative design, place branding and storytelling
>        Stakeholder analysis, stakeholder and community engagement
>        Comparative case studies
>        Mapping the functional and social use of public spaces
>        Interventions, prototype development and testing

Additional costs
There are costs involved in the field trip abroad, including travel, accommodation and on-site activities.