Insights from Placemaking Trainings
Slovenia and Croatia Sessions
Summary
In late March 2023 we organised Community Placemaking trainings in Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Zagreb (Croatia) as part of the PLACE project and Thriving Communities initiative. About 30 people joined each of these trainings to learn more about how placemaking can help them to create positive change in their community.
The trainings were well received. There was clear demand from participants for more, and deeper, placemaking training and co-creation sessions. Many participants were keen to contribute to developing placemaking movements in Slovenia and Croatia.
These outcomes provide evidence of a need for further training sessions and resources for growing placemaking work, beyond what will be possible through the PLACE project alone.
Trainings Overview
In late March 2023 Community Placemaking trainings were organised in Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Zagreb (Croatia) by Placemaking Europe in partnership with Korimako, KLIK and PUSH.
These trainings were designed to be primarily introductory, while still valuable for placemakers of all levels and experience. We aimed to develop the capacity of community-leaders, public sector leaders and local citizens to use placemaking processes to:
- Develop civic imagination
- Create impactful and practical community projects
- Demonstrate how placemaking processes can help citizens to make their voices on community development issues.
The following topics were covered:
- The core idea and basics of placemaking
- Examples from around the world that highlight the potential for placemaking to help create positive change — especially in communities in SE Europe
- Place game
- Placemaking tools and good practices
- Local examples of placemaking in action
- Reflections — What can I do to advance placemaking in my context?
These trainings were supported through the Placemaking for Citizen-led Missions in SE Europe (PLACE) project funded through the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme of the European Union.
The trainings were well attended, and positively evaluated by participants on both days.
In Ljubljana there were a total of 38 participants and in Zagreb 39 participants. 8–9 people were involved in organising and delivering the training, so in both cases about 30 people came specifically to learn.
Insights from Training Participants
At the beginning and end of the training event we used digital surveys to gather feedback and insights from participants. These surveys showed:
- Most people joining the trainings felt like they had a lot to learn, as shown in the graphs below. So there is a clear need for such training sessions.
2. People were generally very satisfied with both training sessions.
3. There was clear positivity and demand for more placemaking training sessions, and getting to work on developing placemaking movements in Slovenia and Croatia. This gives evidence of a need for further training sessions and resources for growing placemaking work, beyond what will be possible through the PLACE project alone.
4. Comments from participants highlighted that participants would have liked more time for interactive group work, discussion and exchange, and deeper dives into placemaking tools and idea development. These requests show that there is interest and demand for some longer and more intensive training and co-creation sessions to help develop placemaking actions in Slovenia and Croatia, for instance in more of an ‘accelerator’ workshop format.
