Untangling the participation buzz in urban place-making: mechanisms and effects

Place-making is a promising approach to foster strong communities in cities. While participation has always been central to urban place-making, novel approaches such as using co-design and digital technologies change how stakeholders participate in the design of place-making interventions and the potential effect of these interventions. These new approaches open up questions on how participation works in place-making and how it is facilitated to achieve the intended outcomes. Through a literature review, 23 articles were selected and analysed using qualitative analysis informed by program theory. This allows us to understand the goals and workings of participation in place-making and its influence on the place-making itself. Findings include that designers of place-making interventions often do not explicitly consider their participation goal in selecting participatory mechanisms, and that place-making efforts driven by physical space are most effective in achieving impact.