Webinar: A Masterclass in Place Shaping

What is Place Shaping, why is it important and how is it changing our urban environments?

  • October 7, 2024

We are excited to introduce Okana Virutal Masterclasses – a webinar series driven by knowledge sharing to enable clearer thinking for sustainable solutions.

The first masterclass focussed on what Place Shaping is, why it’s important and how it’s changing our urban environments.

What is Place Shaping? 
Place Shaping is a strategic, holistic approach to creating sustainable, healthy places that support communities and deliver solutions that provide economic vitality, benefitting current and future generations.  Place Shaping encompasses a range of activities from masterplanning and urban design to wider socioeconomic and heritage factors.

We work with public and private sector organisations, leading multidisciplinary teams, and guide clients through vision and strategy development. By combining local knowledge with international best practice, our projects are culturally sensitive, sustainable and forward looking. We specialise in urban development and place strategy, enhancing new and existing developments with innovative and insightful place shaping solutions.

What does Place Shaping look like in practice?
In the masterclass, we introduced the Place Shaping strategy that was behind a new Green Lanes initiative in Liverpool – a proposition to promote healthier living, support wellbeing, and provide a sustainable solution in cities.

Cathy Russell, Urban Design Director at Ryder Architecture, and James Rayner, Director at UrbanPlaceNetwork, share insights on the importance of data and its collection, measurement and analysis, with emphasis on how we can combine this with a city’s economic strategy to benefit urban communities.

Place Shaping is the first step taken to understanding a place, its community, character, challenges and its needs in the big picture.

Place Shaping in the community.
James discussed how a key part of Place Shaping is cross community collaboration, and how quality of life, health and wellbeing should always take precedence.

“Sometime a bigger picture is needed to join the dots and see pressing issues in a new light, big pictures can drive fresh ideas and new solutions.”

Cathy further emphasised the need for community engagement to inform strategy, creating usable, accessible, purpose driven spaces, as well as support city councils with their sustainability plans:

“[community engagement] places us in a better position to partner with government and local authorities to deliver upon net zero targets”.

Liverpool Green Lanes

The Liverpool Green Lanes project is a leading example of a sustainable initiative that can be replicated in other global city.

Liverpool Green Lanes aims to promote city living, health and wellbeing, cultural and civic life, sustainable and maker retail, transit and gateway, learning and knowledge, urban food and ecology. The initiative creates a transformative green route through Liverpool, promoting active travel, enhancing urban greenery, reducing air pollution, engaging city communities and connecting major investment at Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter and iconic Waterfront.

Watch the masterclass on LinkedIn or YouTube.

Our next masterclass will look at transforming places into destinations and how sports stadiums and other powerful destination magnets such as shopping malls can be brought together to make cities more desirable and accessible as well as cleaner and greener.

Contact us to learn more about how Place Shaping can support your project, city or urban community.

About the authors

Graham Kelly

Managing Director

Graham has driven Okana's evolution into a global consultancy, with projects now spanning over 25 countries. He believes that genuine transformation arises from cultural change, not merely technological solutions. Graham is dedicated to growing Okana's influence in shaping the future of the built environment.

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