The deadline to submit proposals is: Thursday December 7th, at 11:59pm ET.
Project for Public Spaces’ International Placemaking Week seeks to bring together practitioners, policymakers, and public space advocates from around the world to share the projects and innovations that are making placemaking one of the most critical movements of the 21st century. We want to hear about your experience, stories, tools, and lessons to understand how placemaking can help address local and global challenges!
Help us guide the conversation at Placemaking Week 2024 by submitting a proposal! To learn more, please read on.
For 2024. we’re heading to Baltimore, Maryland, USA—a historic harbor city and hub of placemaking innovation. Like many American cities, the physical, economic, and racial character of Baltimore has been profoundly shaped by redlining, urban renewal, and more recent racially biased planning and policing. In spite of these challenges, across the city—from government projects to grassroots initiatives—we’re witnessing inspiring community-led efforts to reimagine and reclaim the spaces of Baltimore for all of its residents.
The 4th International Placemaking Week hopes to showcase bold—even radical—efforts to offer attendees a picture of how a port city with a strong grassroots movement of placemakers envisions its future.
Program topics
While our call for proposals welcomes submissions on any topic, here are a few ideas that may resonate most with our host city. The tracks we include in the final program will reflect the themes that emerge from this proposal process.
- Equitable Infrastructure. How can new infrastructure investments and real estate development engage and benefit local residents? How can these large scale city-building projects incorporate public spaces for all?
- Waterfront 2.0. What role can placemaking play in creating a complete waterfront? Like many historic port cities, Baltimore’s harbor has also seen many uses through the years, from trade to industry to tourism, but when is a waterfront ready for a reinvention?
- Food and Land Justice. When cities reflect age-old patterns of inequality and segregation, cultivating food sovereignty and reclaiming land can allow marginalized communities to chart their own future. For example, in Baltimore Black-led agricultural interventions offer radical models for the city’s longstanding urban vacancy.
- Creative Placemaking & Placekeeping. How are artists and communities deepening their relationships and supporting everyone’s creativity through placemaking? For example, in Baltimore community-driven artists play a key role in transforming public spaces throughout the city through murals, installations, and more. This arts ecosystem has also evolved into a collection of cultural districts, from the long-established Station North Arts District to informal, emerging arts corridors.
- Surprise Us. A key part of Placemaking Week is seeing new trends emerge from the ideas of placemaking practitioners, researchers, and advocates around the world. In 2019, one of the themes that we couldn’t have predicted was play in public space. What will it be in 2024? You tell us!
Session Formats
We’re offering three formats from which to choose from this year. Each format is unique so please review the characteristics and expectations of each and then choose the one that’s the best fit for your content.
- Hands-on Workshop (75 min, 1-2 facilitators): Interactive “classroom” style workshops focused on teaching practical skills, strategies, and techniques. In this category, please note that we will look for innovative workshop activities over lecture-style presentations.
- Panel (75 min, 3-5 panelists, including moderator): Moderated “fireside chat” format used to spark dialogue and dig deeply into panelists’ diverse expertise. Please note that we expect panels to include a diverse set of voices, featuring perspectives from multiple disciplines, projects, backgrounds or cultures. We cannot accept a panel where all speakers are from the same company/organization.
- Short Talk (7 min, 1 presenter): A single short presentation by a single presenter, perfect for telling a short story about a placemaking project. Conference organizers will curate multiple short-talk presentations consisting of 6-7 of these presenters. Successful applicants to this format will be placed in a session with other presenters addressing similar topics.
- Other: Feel free to propose another type of session or activity that is not listed here. For example, an off-site workshop, a tour, a placemaking activation, or another interesting idea that we haven’t thought of yet!
Proposal Submission & Evaluation
This year's application form contains a series of questions regarding the session’s content, structure, audience, and outcomes. Please note:
- You may submit up to three proposals, but no more than two will be selected.
- We expect to notify applicants whether or not their proposal has been accepted by February 2024.
- If selected to present, you will be expected to register at a speaker rate to confirm your place in the program. A “pay what you can” scholarship application will be available for speakers to apply to if their proposal is accepted.
Review: Proposals will be evaluated by the Program Review Committee, which will include individuals from participating conference partners as well as outside experts in the field. Acceptance will be based on completeness and quality of the application, presenter expertise, contributions to the placemaking field, and demonstration of the proposal’s focus on equity.
We look forward to receiving your submission!
For any questions about the Call for Proposals process, please email us at: info@placemakingweek.org
