We are excited to share that we have brought together Australian and United Kingdom know-how, to create a pilot course for boosting ‘pride in place’ in neighbourhoods, towns and city centres.
And like all good community participation, we are inviting existing and would-be placemakers and managers from communities, councils and commercial interests to help shape the content for a more in-depth, follow-up course.
Pride in place explained
‘Pride in place’ and other similar phrases like ‘civic’ or ‘local pride’, can be used as a measure of how people like where they live, what they are or are not proud of, and what matters to them. It can also be a counterbalance to negative narratives often portrayed on social media about how places such as neighbourhoods and town centres are changing.
Politicians and city leaders like the concept because they feel such sentiments will reflect well on them and the interventions that they support. What will help governments at all levels though, is the understanding that a boost in pride is more likely to come from engaging people in the process of making a place better, rather than misplaced material outputs or doing it to or for them.
Tried and tested approaches
Fortunately, there are tried and tested approaches through placemaking and place management that give local people a central role in helping our public spaces, neighbourhoods and towns to bloom. The free, online, pilot course explains the first steps in how to nurture greater ‘pride in place’ by people coming together to shape how places evolve in ways that will help everyone to love them a little more.
In bringing together in the course, Australian-based Placemaking Education and U.K. People & Places Partnership’s place management approaches, we are combining the international perspectives of two approaches for making and managing people-powered places. Though particularly relevant to new government strategy in the U.K., the course can help generate new ideas, no matter where you are in the world.
Try the free pilot course
We invite you as existing and would-be placemakers and managers to try the free, online course for boosting pride in place and share your comments to help shape the content for a more in-depth, follow-up training programme. This short, introductory course covers what is meant by ‘pride in place’, how it is created, the importance of underpinning it with engagement, evidence and empowerment, and how to grow it through quick wins and long-term strategy. The course weaves-in the tale of how one town in the North of England, successfuly boosted local pride in place through community-led action supported by the local authority and leading to increased use and investment.
Take a look and tell us what more you need to know to be confident of boosting ‘pride in place’ in your community.
Next steps
Try the free, online course for boosting pride in place and share your comments to help shape our more in-depth, follow-up training programme with Placemaking.Education.
Read our accompanying blog on boosting pride in place that includes an outline of tried and tested approaches that give local people a central role in helping our public spaces, neighbourhoods and towns to blossom.
