Place-Making and Conflict

Placemaking is the deliberate process of creating, shaping, and managing places to make them more attractive, functional, and meaningful. But placemaking is rarely uncontested — it involves choices about whose vision of a place will prevail, which inevitably creates winners and losers. This lesson examines placemaking strategies, community involvement, contested spaces, NIMBYism, and the tension between preservation and development, using case studies including HS2 and other UK examples.

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What is Placemaking?

Key Definition: Placemaking is the collaborative process of shaping public spaces and places to maximise shared value — creating places that promote health, happiness, community interaction, and economic vitality.

The concept originated in the work of urbanists Jane Jacobs (The Death and Life of Great American Cities, 1961) and William H. Whyte (The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, 1980), who argued that the best places are created by and for the people who use them, not imposed by planners or developers.

Principles of Good Placemaking

Principle	Explanation	Example
Community-centred	Local people should be involved in designing and managing their places	The Granby Four Streets project in Toxteth, Liverpool — residents renovated derelict terraced houses rather than allowing them to be demolished
Mixed-use	Places work best when they combine residential, commercial, cultural, and recreational functions	Borough Market, London — combines food retail, restaurants, residential, and cultural events in a single place
Human-scale	Design should prioritise pedestrians, cyclists, and social interaction over cars	Exhibition Road, South Kensington — converted from a conventional road to a shared space (2012), prioritising pedestrians
Identity-preserving	New development should respect and enhance the existing character of a place	The restoration of Victorian arcades in Leeds (Thornton's Arcade, Grand Arcade) preserved historical character while attracting modern retail
Inclusive	Places should be accessible and welcoming to all — regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, or income	The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford — designed with extensive accessibility features and free public spaces

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Community Involvement in Placemaking

Community involvement exists on a spectrum from token consultation to genuine empowerment:

graph LR
    A[Manipulation] --> B[Informing]
    B --> C[Consultation]
    C --> D[Involvement]
    D --> E[Collaboration]
    E --> F[Empowerment]
    A -.->|Less power for community| F
    A -.->|More power for community| F

This spectrum is based on Arnstein's (1969) Ladder of Citizen Participation:

Level	Description	Example
Manipulation	Community is told a decision has been made; no real participation	LDDC in Docklands — local councils' planning powers were removed; residents were presented with fait accompli decisions
Informing	Community is told about plans but has no power to change them	Public exhibitions of planning proposals where feedback is collected but may be ignored
Consultation	Community is asked for views, but decision-makers retain all power	Typical planning application process — residents can object, but the council decides
Involvement	Community has some influence on decisions through structured participation	Neighbourhood Planning (Localism Act, 2011) — communities can create their own planning policies, but within a national framework
Collaboration	Community and authorities share decision-making power	Community Land Trusts — communities own land and control development (e.g., Granby Four Streets CLT, Liverpool)
Empowerment	Community has full control over decisions about their place	Very rare in practice — some community-owned assets (village halls, community pubs) approach this level

A-Level Analysis: Arnstein's ladder reveals that most "community involvement" in UK planning sits at the consultation level — residents can comment on proposals but rarely have the power to shape them fundamentally. Genuine empowerment requires a transfer of power from planners and developers to communities, which conflicts with the market-led approach to development that has dominated UK planning since the 1980s.

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Contested Spaces

Places become contested when different groups have competing visions for their future. Conflicts arise over land use, identity, access, and control.

Types of Place Conflict

Conflict Type	Description	UK Example
Development vs preservation	New development threatens heritage, green space, or existing character	The proposed demolition of the Brutalist Robin Hood Gardens estate in Poplar, London (designed by Alison and Peter Smithson, 1972) — heritage campaigners fought to save it; it was demolished in 2017 despite a campaign by the Twentieth Century Society
Local vs national interest	National infrastructure projects override local concerns	HS2 — government argued it was nationally vital; local communities along the route objected to noise, visual intrusion, and habitat destruction
Gentrification conflicts	Incomers vs established residents over the changing character of a place	The "Cereal Killer Cafe" in Shoreditch, East London (opened 2014) — attacked during an anti-gentrification protest (2015); it became a symbol of the conflict between hipster newcomers and the existing working-class community
NIMBYism	Residents oppose development "Not In My Back Yard" while accepting its general necessity	Opposition to housing developments in the Green Belt; opposition to wind farms in rural areas; opposition to traveller sites
Cultural contestation	Competing claims over the identity and meaning of a place	The debate over the Colston statue in Bristol — a memorial to a slave trader that was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest (June 2020), exposing fundamental disagreements about Bristol's identity and historical memory

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NIMBYism

Key Definition: NIMBYism ("Not In My Back Yard") describes the phenomenon where people support a development in principle but oppose it being located near them.

NIMBY Conflicts in the UK

Proposal	Support Argument	NIMBY Opposition	Outcome
Wind farms	Renewable energy is essential for meeting climate targets	"They're ugly, noisy, reduce property values, and kill birds"	Planning approval rates for onshore wind farms fell from 74% (2010) to 37% (2023) in England due to restrictive planning rules
Social housing	The UK has a chronic housing shortage; 1.2 million households on waiting lists	"It will lower property values, increase crime, and change the character of the area"	Section 106 requirements for affordable housing are frequently reduced through viability assessments by developers
Traveller sites	Local authorities have a legal duty to provide sites for Gypsy and Traveller communities	Fierce local opposition; sites proposed in over 50 local authority areas have been rejected following community campaigns	Dale Farm, Essex (2011) — Europe's largest Traveller site was violently evicted despite a decade of legal battles
HS2	Improved connectivity between London, Birmingham, and (originally) the North	"Destroys ancient woodland, disrupts rural communities, costs too much for too little benefit"	Northern leg cancelled (2023); Euston terminus scaled back; project remains contested