The Placemaker Week ASEAN 2019 was held in Malaysia last week, with activities simultaneously held in Kuala Lumpur and Georgetown prior to the Plenary Sessions on 7-8 Nov. 2019. It was organised by Think City and UN Habitat. I was invited to join the closed-door meeting on Placemaking in Higher Education (Thanks to Jia Ping for inviting me) and Lendlease sponsored IIUM students 25 tickets to attend the 2-day Placemaker Plenary Sessions (Thanks, Irwin).

In the Placemaking in Higher Education meeting/workshop, the presentations and discussions revolved around how placemaking can be taught or embedded into learning activities or as a specific course. Among the speakers were Ethan Kent from PPS and Placemaking X, the team from Place Agency Australia, and the team from University of Dundee. Among the key takeaways from that session were:

• Emphasis on people/students as “enablers” or “facilitators” to communities.
• Leadership can be shaped through placemaking activities, where students can develop specific knowledge and skill sets. Place Agency Australia shared the “Sunflower” set of skills divided into 3: Cognitive and Analytical (Head skills), Affective (Heart skills), and Practical (Hand skills) – similar to what the Malaysian higher education has as part of each programme’s learning outcome. In our group discussion later on, we shared our experiences teaching studios and agreed that it is very rarely and nearly impossible for one student/individual to possess all the 11 skills at the same levels. Hence, the need for teamwork where members would complement each other.
• Those 11 skills are: Critical Thinking, Understanding Complexity, Creative Thinking, Reflective Skills and Self-Awareness, Empathy and Deep Listening, Humility, Community Engagement, Verbal Communication, Teamwork & Collaboration, Spatial Context Understanding, and Quantitative Literacy.
• Leadership roles may also change at different phases – the use of Leadership Journal may help to document and make the experience continuous.
• There are also several tools and frameworks available online to be used/adapted for various placemaking activities and learnings.

Some references shared by the speakers:
– Modules on Teaching Placemaking
– The Concept of Sandbox Studios
– Place Standard Tool
– The City at Eye Level
– Various Tools from Placemaking Europe