Placemaking Through Creative Practice: Enabling Change and Empowering Future Changemakers

Cumulus Conference Proceedings, Roma 2021. Edited by Mariana Amatullo. Cumulus (the Global Association of Art and Design Education and Research) Conference Proceedings Series, Number 7 ~ With Cheryl Giraudy.

Toronto, Canada experiences both the benefits and challenges that come with rapid urban growth. Challenges include increased racial and economic inequities; lack of affordable housing; loss of community space in redevelopment, and marginalization of citizen voices across planning processes. There is a zeitgeist of Toronto as an emerging world class city based on economic, cultural, and environmental qualities, yet it struggles to ensure inclusion, access, and social justice for all its citizens. Design Manifesto 2020 (DM2020) explores community-driven placemaking across the metropolitan area as it gathers stories of lived-experience in creating spaces and places. How can we learn from successful local initiatives to foster creative solutions elsewhere and further, how can we impart the process of community engagement as an ethical tenet of design praxis and pedagogy? This paper takes a mid-project look at the narrative inquiry process of storytelling and its potential for greater inclusive community-based placemaking.