A vlog about my fantastic experience during Placemaking Europe Week in Rotterdam!
This year, we reached new heights with 715 participants from 80 countries, and 250 speakers leading 170 sessions across 23 venues in Rotterdam. It was a week filled with meaningful discussions, hands-on workshops, and collaboration as placemakers worldwide came together to tackle key urban challenges.
💡 I have hundreds of takeaways, here are my top 3:
-Start small and test before scaling up—quick, light, and cheap.
-Don’t force solutions. Co-create.
-Collaborate with people and stakeholders.
🎙 I had the chance to record a podcast with pacemakers from our community. Follow the Urbanistica Podcast – Cities for People on your Spotify & Applepodcast app to listen to 25 episodes on topics such as Placemaking in Australia, Canada, Asia, Latin America, tourism and hotels, gamification, mixed-use, mental and psychological health, Creative placemaking, music, 15 min city, gender inclusion, and many more.
🎧 From today, every day we will publish a 30-minute episode. Tune in.
🎤 I am grateful to have moderated/spoken at the following sessions and panels:
-Nordic Placemaking: How can we collaborate in Nordic countries?
-Integrating Placemaking in Universities
-Regional meeting session: World Café
-How to bring different communities together through placemaking
-AI vs. the traditional way of storytelling
🇮🇹 See you next year at Placemaking Week Europe 2025 in Reggio Emilia, Italy, from September 23-26, 2025!
Keep up the good work
Keep loving cities
Mustafa Sherif 