This three-week interdisciplinary course unravels the theory, policies, politics and practices of placemaking, taking Amsterdam as a site for analysis and action. Placemaking is more than a method; it is a philosophy for the development and experience of cities. Situating placemaking in a mixed academic context, this course focuses on topics such as public space, community, diversity and 'the right to the city'. Interdisciplinary theoretical insights will directly inspire the hands-on part of the programme in which students will apply the Placemaking methodology and put forward proposals for interventions.

Experiencing the city is at the heart of this programme. It presents exciting alternative ways to understand how people live in, respond to, and imagine their cities. Urban spaces can be imagined as territories of negotiation. Sensory experiences often inspire a strong sense of belonging and might therefore play an important role in the co-creation of space. Like other global cities, Amsterdam is constantly growing and changing, with implications for people’s relationships to the city. In this territory of negotiation, where the sense of belonging is at stake, placemaking offers an opportunity – albeit small – to practice the right to the city. 

We will be using Amsterdam as our living laboratory, exploring placemaking practices at various locations. You will learn by doing, intensively engaging with a specific site. There you will study challenges formulated by local stakeholders (these might be community organizers or the municipality). To analyse and develop and eventually present an intervention for these challenges, you will be guided through a design thinking research process involving local residents. 

Through this programme, we aim to provide students with the knowledge, toolbox and practice to (1) be able to articulate insights on lived experiences in the city and current Placemaking theory and practice, (2) collaborate on strategies and interventions, and (3) apply and advance the Placemaking approach.

Guido Knibbe, Msc teaches Placemaking year-round in the undergraduate Interdisciplinary Social Science program at UvA and is co-developer of the Transition Makers Toolbox, an open-source online platform for transition-education materials based on the Inner Development Goals. His background is in Sustainability studies and Anthropology, which Guido applies to the groundwork of societal transitions, focusing mainly on developing cooperative and regenerative local food systems. His work further involves exploring alternatives to neoliberal concepts of progress by participatively studying more-than-modern worldviews and living practices.

Guido will be directing this Placemaking summer programme for the third consecutive year. 

Want to get to know more about studying in Amsterdam, and what the urban fabric of sensescapes is like? Follow us on social media and join our summer community. Get a feel for our summer school vibe and our academic and social community, and learn about studying with us through the eyes of past summer school students. 

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Interested in hearing more about placemaking as a methodology and ongoing placemaking projects in Amsterdam? Listen to some of our placemaking experts in this episode of our podcast, Mokum.