Storytelling, Communications and Placemaking- How to Reconnect People with Places

On Thursday 21st of July 2022, our Founder and Creative Director, Tanisha Raffiuddin, spoke on the panel of ‘Placemaking – How to reconnect people with places’, organised by Profile Network. This was a timely discussion that addressed  the disconnect and unbelonging that COVID enforced on societies and communities, and how we can encourage communities to return to places again.

Taking place in McFarlane’s offices, the CDP-accredited seminar tackled one of the main effects of the pandemic on society, namely, the fact that people became estranged from the places where they worked, shopped and spent their leisure time. As we now reconnect with the wider world, the panel of experts and thought leaders talked about how people can be enticed back and what that means for the marketing and communications that underpin placemaking and creating a sense of belonging.

Tanisha delineated the ways organisations can successfully put people's stories at the heart of their storytelling and communication strategy and widen their audience by leveraging social media and digital platforms. Telling inclusive, authentic, and genuine stories, that are informed by intelligent research and social listening, will result in stories that resonate with your audience. ‘They should feel it is their story too,’ Tanisha added. She also presented learnings from the project #ParkPower, where LDN Collective used the digital community engagement platform Commonplace to learn about what Londoners wanted from their local parks.

Tanisha was joined by other thought leaders on the panel: Chrissy Cullen, Argent; Rumi Bose, GLA and Property X-Change; Honor Fishburn, MurrayTwohig; Andrew Duncan, Realm.

Chrissy Cullen showcased how Argent have transformed King’s Cross to fit people who live, work, and study in the area. With family friendly restaurants, free open air cinema, cultural and architectural fascinations embedded in the place, and seasonal and permanent festivals, Argent truly transformed the place to a ”traffic-free oasis in the heart of London”. 

“Making a place a home” is also integral to what MurrayTwohig has adapted as one of their core values. Honor Fishburn set forth an example of how said perspective led to great achievements for their Battersea project, where the city landmark and the neighbouring areas have been developed to bring the communities in the area together.

The next Speaker, Andrew Duncan discussed how embedding local knowledge and local passion into placemaking and utilising local insights to market and communicate about placemaking projects. Andrew presented a case study for Realm’s project in Wembley Park, and how they had invited residents who lived and worked locally to be involved in the projects as “volunteer experts” , and shape the future of the area.

Last but not the least, Rumi Bose introduced the audience to the Peveril Gardens & Studios project, in which the Greater London Authority (Mayor of London) with Sanchez Benton Architects, Gabriel Kuri and Nigel Dunnett, converted a derelict lot into spaces to be used by the neighbourhood residents to generate cultural and community ties. Old garages that once occupied the ground floor were transformed into artist studios and a café, all organised around a central events space, where a cultural programme organised by Forma Arts would be hosted on a weekly basis. Another project that Rumi discussed was Property X-Change, a new open platform to surface innovation and share ideas focused on London’s high streets and their diverse champions.

This panel discussion shows that more firms in the built environment now understand the importance of focusing on and investing in communications, branding, and storytelling strategies. Strategies that are led by expertise, research, and data as well as the human storytelling element can convey the impact  of places not only to the investors, partners, agents, and companies involved in those projects' but most importantly, to those who will live, work, shop, play and travel in those areas.

We would like to extend a very special thanks to the organisers, panellists and those who attended the event, and we look forward to the next Profile Network event. 

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Further reading

Learn more about Park Power and download the e-book here https://bit.ly/3znSyGO

Check out future events by the Profile Network: https://bit.ly/3PAgiND