Exploring the role of place activation in creative urban renewal with global placemaking expert, Ethan Kent
Last week we hosted a special event with global placemaking expert Ethan Kent, from Placemaking X, to showcase the role of place activation in accelerating urban renewal and economic growth.
Insights from Ethan Kent
Hosted at the Victorian Government’s Spring Street Theatrette, and online, we were joined by over 175 colleagues from the Department of Transport and Planning and Development Victoria - curious to hear from leading voices on placemaking and creative urban renewal.
Drawing on over 30 years of experience in placemaking internationally, Ethan Kent shared insights about the role of placemaking in transforming and shaping cities. “If you lead with design and development … you get design and development” but “if you lead with people and places … you get loved people and places”
Referencing his work with the Brookings Institute, he also talked about the role of placemaking in developing innovation precincts, highlighting that “where innovation and place are tightly bound, cities will strengthen and democratize their existing ecosystem of assets”. And reflecting on the work of FB IDEAs, he also highlighted the important role of innovation hubs in bringing together innovation assets, with place assets and networking assets in one destination.
Looking to the future, and the evolution of the placemaking movement, he also talked about the need to shift from a project driven and discipline-led approach, to one that was not just place sensitive, but place-led. An approach that integrates an ecosystem of inputs to create place capital
Showcasing the FB IDEAs pilot and launching ‘Interim Activation on Government Land: A Catalyst for Accelerated Urban Renewal’
We also took the opportunity to talk briefly about the success of the FB IDEAs pilot and the impact of place activation in Fishermans Bend. Since 2023, FB IDEAs has supported innovative projects (72 to date!), activated underutilised sites, brokered partnerships (100+ partners) and delivered over 100 events. Through this work we have seeded place-based innovation and economic development, whilst actively fostering collaborative and building social and place capital.
Through the pilot we have had great success with interim activation on private owned sites. Our 4 key sites - the FB IDEAs Hub, Circular Design Collective, Gladstone Creative in Residence space and Construction Futures Cluster - have demonstrated the capacity and value of interim activation to unlock short term social, economic and place value.
Yet as we have learnt through the pilot, there is a missed opportunity to use interim activation on government owned sites to deliver short term impact, whilst supporting long term urban renewal and economic development outcomes.
Drawing on those insights we commissioned the report ‘Interim Activation on Government Land: A Catalyst for Accelerated Urban Renewal’ by To Good Use which we officially launched at the event. Through extensive stakeholder consultation, the report builds a compelling case for a whole-of-government approach to interim use and activation to unlock accelerated urban renewal and economic development outcomes. It re-frames interim use and activation of government assets as a critical phase of transformation which government can leverage to unlock strategic opportunities and deliver public benefit in alignment with key economic, social, environment intergenerational and government drivers – both now and into the future.
Unpacking the myths and the opportunity for Victoria
To explore the opportunity for interim activation on government land, Ethan was joined by FB IDEAs inaugural CEO Marcus Westbury and Bec McHenry from local place activation company To Good Use for a vibrant panel discussion hosted by Lauren Morrey, Chief Operations Office at Breakthrough Victoria and a non-executive director of the FB IDEAs Board.
Lauren kicked off with some important myth-busting, highlighting that interim activation comes in all shapes and sizes - from duration to budget to planning required.
We then explored international and local perspectives on the value of interim use and activation to shape the future of our cities, and the opportunity for Victoria. All panelists agreed that the value proposition and ambition is there, but the major gap is processes and pathways to support interim activation at scale. As Bec pointed out, “we are great at supporting one-off pilots, but what we really need is to turn pilots into pathways, to leverage the learnings and scale up the impact.”
Government’s unique role
To build on the energy of the Theatrette Event, we also hosted a small roundtable with Ethan Kent and Executive Directors from across the Department of Transport and Planning’s Housing, Building and Land Delivery Group - including Precincts, Activity Centres, New Communities, Building, the Office of the Victorian Government Architect and the Office of the Coordinator General Land Delivery. It was an engaged discussion that explored the opportunities to embed interim activation and a place-led approach in all areas of development led by Government.
From transforming underutilised spaces into vibrant hubs of community life, to testing ideas that de-risk investment and build long-term value, these sessions with spatial and built environment leaders highlighted why governments have a unique role in enabling and scaling the FB IDEAs approach of place activation to support urban renewal and economic growth.
Curious to learn more about the report ‘Interim Activation on Government Land: A Catalyst for Accelerated Urban Renewal’ and request a copy?
