Place Matters - Where Would We Be Without Places

Spitalfields in London was not designed exclusively by architects but alongside a new profession. What happens when the “placemakers” take control?

- Will Wiles

Spitalfields in London was not designed exclusively by architects but alongside a new profession. What happens when the “placemakers” take control?

Old Spitalfields Market, on the eastern fringe of the City of London, is a pleasant place. A former wholesale market with attractive 19th-century buildings, it has become a retail, cultural and dining destination. It’s handy for my house in the East End, and I value it for its selection of child-friendly restaurants in an interesting setting. It’s also a reasonable place to meet someone for coffee if you’re a bit stuck for other suggestions. You can take your parents there. But as well as being a pleasant place, Old Spitalfields Market is also an exemplary “Place” - an early exercise in “placemaking” coordinated by the multidisciplinary cultural agency FutureCity, with “bespoke sculptural gateways” and “a kinetic light and color wayfinding system”.

By such means, the magic of the place is woven. The very word has a transformative power, it seems. Since the Farrell Review in 2014 (subtitle: Our Future in Place), “place” has become the dominant concept in the public discussion of planning and urban design. “Places affect us all” are the first words of the government’s National Design Guide, issued in September 2019. It goes on to describe the benefits of “places”: we enjoy them, as occupants or users but also as passers-by and visitors. They can lift our spirits by making us feel at home, giving us a buzz of excitement or creating a sense of delight. They have been shown to affect our health and well-being, our feelings of safety, security, inclusion and belonging, and our sense of community cohesion.