With placemaking grounding itself more and more with new ways for how we view, design and use social spaces, it’s up to us to reflect on the future and how we shape it at a crucial time in our communities. 

STEPS was a key collaborator for the Global Placemaking Summit hosted in Toronto (June 8-11, 2025) by Placemaking Canada and PlacemakingX, supported by partners including YZD by Northcrest Developments. With event turnout from Canada, Bulgaria, the UK, Mexico, Spain and beyond, well-rounded perspectives at the Summit’s roundtable discussions brought layers to the intent of setting the course for the next five years of the placemaking movement. 

We sat down with Anjuli Solanki (STEPS Program Director), Liza Mishko (STEPS Cultural Planner), and Alana Mercury (Director, Programming and Placemaking, Northcrest Developments) whose team is leading community-minded placemaking initiatives at the 370-acre YZD, the former Downsview Airport lands. The Summit offered the following valuable insights that reaffirm what’s possible when creativity, collaboration, and community come together in placemaking.

This feature is part of Fieldnotes, a public art blog series by STEPS that promotes inclusive and innovative public art through interviews, storytelling, case studies, and knowledge sharing.

Source: Northcrest Developments / Garcia Creative

Indigenous Perspectives on Place and Placekeeping

Anjuli Solanki (STEPS Program Director) kicked off the Global Placemaking Summit with opening remarks and introduced Indigenous artist, advocate and community builder, Lindsey Lickers, Mushkiiki Nibi Kwe. Lindsey’s opening piece emphasized the importance of Indigenous perspectives within placemaking and placekeeping discussions. With placekeeping’s focus on the historical, cultural and ecological relationships within the use of space, Lindsey’s opening provided reminders that since time immemorial, Indigenous communities have been thoughtful stewards of place, and how these practices should be embedded into current placekeeping projects and initiatives. 

Lindsey Lickers leading a rattle making workshop for STEPS’ From Weeds We Grow project (2025). Source: Samarika Dhiman.

In ongoing commitments to indigenizing public art projects, it is vital that our approaches to engagement, design and city-building are deeply and genuinely committed to placekeeping. In the recently released report “Let’s Talk About Placemaking” by the Canadian Urban Institute, insights note that engagement and design processes should work towards being Indigenous-led, informed by Indigenous knowledge and cultural ownership, committed to deep listening and demonstrating honour and respect for Indigenous rights, narratives and intellectual property. 

At a time of environmental emergency, many Indigenous communities are still left out of the discussion and commitment to inclusion and safety within crisis, ecology and place. Public art, with its connection to land, is linked to ongoing commitments to Truth and Reconciliation (with many Calls to Action remaining to be achieved). But land stewardship knowledge has always existed.

Amidst rapidly changing ecological conditions, Indigenous communities are drawing upon ancient cultural wisdom to respond to change, impacting climate change adaptation strategies and, which is amplified and expressed alongside public art. Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is adapting to climate change challenges in provinces across Canada, such as British Columbia, where the Okanagan Nation is informing and developing stronger watershed management strategies. 

So how are artists using public art to draw attention to our environmental moment?

Sovereign Waterways (2022-24), from artists Calvin Charlie Dawson/Ts’kanchtn, Jonas Jones and Chase Gray are a series of temporary public art installations from devised works that address the people that meet on the Fraser River, centering the values, relationships and perspectives of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) artists. Showcasing key species of coastal ecosystems, such as the spawning salmon and roe, or beings such as the eagle or the two-headed serpent that form xʷməθkʷəy̓əm traditions and history. These pieces show us that cities and communities are better equipped for the future when we seek to gain and apply a richer understanding of the knowledge and histories of the unceded lands we inhabit.

All three Sovereign Waterways artworks installed at the Blue Cabin and residency deckhouse. Calvin Charlie-Dawson’s Protect the Salish Sea (left), Jonas Jones’ Orca spindle whorl (middle), Chase Gray’s Salish wooly dogs (right). Source: Sunshine Frère and Jordan Schinkel, 2023.

Animating Public Spaces In Unexpected Ways

“Public art is actually a great first method to reanimate a space and bring people to an area and shift their mindset about a place. Public art has an important role in placemaking, in reanimating spaces that are otherwise in transition or have been forgotten.” – Anjuli Solanki, STEPS Program Director

One of the most promising aspects of placemaking is how it intends to engage communities by bringing previously unused or underutilized spaces to life. From discussions at the Global Placemaking Summit, this practice can bring the public into a space of critical learning or novel experience, for example around water. Carlos Betancourt and Alberto Latorre’s Miami Reef Star syncs together public art and conservation, activating public curiosity and collective responsibility around the bodies of water we share through an underwater snorkel trail. The piece, a massive underwater sculpture and hybrid reef, uses fifty-six 3D-printed starfish made from eco-concrete to promote biodiversity by acting as a carbon sink.

How else can we use our rich environments and our voices to reimagine our public spaces? As part of this year’s Public Art Lab Berlin’s Future DiverCities event, workshop participants used their imagination while walking through Gleisdreieck Park, finding stories and writing from nature using their surroundings. Through the act of intentionally sensing and responding to our environments around us, weaving ecology into our own stories, perhaps we entwine ourselves closer with nature at a time that calls us to advocate for the protection of lands, waterways, parks and green spaces. Amid the hustle and bustle of daily life, it’s important to pause and recognize the vital role parks play as dynamic sites of placemaking.

What if reimagining came from the voices of the unexpected? Such as our children and students? In 2021, the City of New Westminster (British Columbia) collaborated with Happy Cities and Glenbrook Middle School in a community engagement initiative where students designed curb bump-outs to slow down vehicle traffic surrounding the school. Emerging from a student’s request to the City, the initiative saw an increase in awareness of the school’s traffic crossing, improved student safety and cultivated young people’s ownership and agency in improving their space. 

Students at Glenbrook Middle School, New Westminster, BC. Source: Happy Cities / Jared Korb.

The unexpected in public art can share the same moments of joy, clarity or reflection, regardless of the scale of the project – it’s about meeting communities where they already are. Tactical placemaking seeks to find low-cost lighter initiatives to reimagine our public places in actionable ways, such as: revitalizing vacant and unused spaces with events, integrating outdoor street art, or considering music and play for all ages. 

Alternatively, public art can also dovetail into existing programming and events that are already beloved by community members. In the Municipality of Port Hope, August is Arts Month, meaning that attendees can enjoy public art activations and pop-up events with Critical Mass Art along the route of the Port Hope Arts Festival. Here, they don’t seek to replace or divert from the ways that programming meets the needs of the public, but rather contribute to community engagement along the way. 

STEPS 2024 Reclaim Artist-in-Residence McKenna Kroeger installing textile works with the public in Port Hope Ontario. Source: Critical Mass.

Investing in Buy-in Tools for Public Art

“It’s exciting to see increased understanding and appreciation for this work, especially from those in positions to fund and support these types of projects. As this field continues to evolve, I’m hopeful we will see even more collaboration across sectors and greater investment in community-driven initiatives that prioritize people, connection, and belonging.” – Liza Mishko, STEPS Cultural Planner

Impactful placemaking warrants measuring impact. Roundtable discussions showed that while development can be crucial to the foundation of projects, communities also need a strong social fabric and opportunities to truly activate and animate spaces. Demonstrating the potential impacts of a project helps build stakeholder confidence and strengthens the case for future funding.

In the Canadian Urban Institute’s “Let’s Talk About Placemaking” report, contributors note that data collection and analysis “prove the success of place-making initiatives, but also refine strategies, attract investment, and guide future development.” In 2023, STEPS launched the Inspired Art Impact Toolkit, which sought to combat the lack of assessment tools with a toolkit that measures the community, economic, and social impact of public art projects through data collection and analysis. Followed by a virtual event on assessing the potential of public art, the toolkit is packed with research, interviews, analyses, pilot projects, and templates that can be readily implemented by teams with different needs. 

Read more on the Inspired Art Impact toolkit and watch the virtual event recording, and learn more about STEPS cultural planning work.

Alana Mercury, Director of Programming and Placemaking with Northcrest Developments, shared that a forthcoming report from the Global Placemaking Summit will expand on the strategies and insights generated through the roundtable discussions. Alana explained that these discussions are vital “to advance the overall placemaking movement internationally,” and the act of connecting with other placemakers is vital to building deeper networks. She added sharing tools and tactics that have worked and been effective elsewhere helps placemakers learn from one another’s errors and pitfalls.

In an ever-changing and evolving world, the field of placemaking can and should have opportunities (such as the Global Placemaking Summit) to broaden our horizons. There is a deep need to see similar events like the Summit in the future, since our communities worldwide benefit from organizations willing to fund and support them. 

“These events are often volunteer-run, and there’s a clear need for more funding and support. My hope is in the near future, careers 100 per cent focused on placemaking are the norm, not the exception. As a country, as a city, as a province, it would be great if there was funding for organizations to be able to continue their great work.” – Alana Mercury, Director, Programming and Placemaking, Northcrest Developments

We’re inspired to champion the need for quantitative and qualitative data to secure buy-in for public art, demonstrating to stakeholders how public artworks have the capacity to change our communities in tangible ways that ripple through future decisions. We’re proud to have been part of discussions and learn the ways that leaders and partners worldwide navigated and shared roadblocks in their region, while ensuring  the longevity of their initiatives. This is how we secure and advocate for the future.

Looking Ahead: Beyond the Summit

Even almost three months later, it’s clear that the Global Placemaking Summit in June 2025 was a transformative event for organizers and participants, where the people leading the craft and care of placemaking left with closer relationships and exchanged knowledge that will move us forward. From centring Indigenous perspectives in our environmental movement, to putting the social fabric of cities first, placemaking processes and values are shifting to better meet the needs of people. 

“There were so many people who just put their hand up because they believed in the cause and put a lot of time, energy, and money into planning the Summit. It’s important that we find like-minded organizations and developers that want to fund these experiences and these conferences. They are just so useful and can really help to advance the overall placemaking movement internationally.”  – Alana Mercury, Director, Programming and Placemaking, Northcrest Developments

This event was a labour of love by placemakers showing up as champions for themselves, their colleagues and the future we share. From the time, energy, resources and ideas poured in from event organizers, the Global Placemaking Summit shows us that when we have the foundation to get together as colleagues, collaborators and partners, we can unlock tremendous creativity. 

About the Writer

Dean Vukovic (he/him) is a visual artist, emerging writer + curator and arts administrator finishing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in New Media at Toronto Metropolitan University. His research interests (and internet rabbit holes) intersect across media arts practices, digital culture, community engagement, collaborative art-making and cultural heritage. Dean is the Cultural Content Writer at STEPS for summer and fall of 2025.