Toward Resilient and Socially Sustainable Places: A Pedagogical Experiment on the Use of Placemaking in Design Studios

There has been a global interest in placemaking theory and its applications in the last couple of decades for revitalization and reinvention of open public spaces as a contribution toward resilient and socially sustainable places. Placemaking is a set of design strategies that aim at creating quality places that people want to live, work, play, and learn in. It holds the premise that creating unique places by capitalizing on cultural assets, art, activities, and high-quality experience could boost economic and cultural conditions. This study reports a pedagogical endeavor where principles of placemaking are used by landscape architecture students to redesign an open public space in a commercial area that has been experiencing disinvestment and low economic activities in central Muscat, Oman. The aim was to design places that encourage cultural enrichment, activities, and social interaction, which in turn generates opportunities for economic viability, reliance, and better social sustainability. It is concluded that when placemaking is dealt with as a pedagogical aim, and not as a design process, it can be effectively taught in design studies. This can be best practiced by introducing principles of placemaking in a theoretical course and then using placemaking as a design framework in a sequential design studio.