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The Global Placemaking Summit in Toronto is a unique opportunity to learn from, support, and shape the global placemaking movement. The Summit will be hosted by leaders and an amazing local team of Toronto Placemaking leaders and organizations working in collaboration with Placemaking Canada and PlacemakingX.
This event will celebrate, support, and shape the evolution of placemaking learning, leadership, advocacy and action. We will work to support and connect the 30+ national and regional placemaking networks and build on the placemaking agenda development from the first Placemaking Summit that occurred in Mexico City in November 2023, thanks to Fundación Placemaking México.
Summit Goals:
The 2nd Global Placemaking Summit will be building from and celebrating:
Join an international community of placemakers, creatives, city builders, and change agents for four days of bold ideas, fresh perspectives, and immersive experiences in one of North America's most dynamic cities.
The four day participatory event will take place in venues across the city with local partners, and feature an array of activities, including:
After opening the Summit on June 8th, the co-creative portion of the program will include participatory round tables shaping global placemaking agendas on Monday the 9th. Reporting and high-level panels will be live streamed, and recorded, at the World Urban Pavilion on Tuesday the 10th. The final day of Summit, June 11th, will focus on learning from and supporting Canadian Placemaking initiatives.
The dynamic program and exciting venues will be unveiled over the coming weeks, offering transformative sessions, insightful discussions, and unparalleled networking opportunities.
Arriving early? Check out what Toronto has to offer pre-summit:
Ease into the summit by connecting with the city and fellow delegates.
Choose your own adventure with curated local activities:
Placemaking Tours | 3:30–7:00pm
Explore Toronto’s boldest public realm and development projects with expert-led tours.>
Welcome Social @ Stackt Market | 7:00–9:30pm
Kick off the week with live music, local bites, drinks, and new friends in one of the city’s most creative gathering spaces.
Global Roundtables | 9:00am–5:00pm
Participate in interactive discussions that shape the global placemaking agenda.
Networking & Social Opportunities | 5:00–7:00pm
Unwind and connect with fellow delegates in a relaxed setting.
DESIGNwith x GPS | 8:00–9:30pm
DESIGNwith will present their first-of-its-kind design innovation lab in partnership with Cadillac Fairview and OCAD University. In this 90-minute event, they will host a tour, a talk, and a demonstration showcasing their co-design process and how they create products from materials diverted from the landfill.
+ Local Project-Based Tours throughout the day
Mainstage Talks @ World Urban Pavilion | 9:00am–5:00pm
High-level panels, project showcases, and reporting sessions—live-streamed and recorded for global access.
ALT Urban Perspectives Program from| 1:30–4:30pm
Unconventional insights from artists, designers, and citymakers reimagining urban life.
Waterfront Cruise Tour | 8:00pm
An unforgettable evening of networking and celebration on the lake.
+ Local Community Tours throughout the day
Hands-On Workshops & Knowledge Exchange | 10:00am–6:00pm
Dive into collaborative sessions with groundbreaking colleagues from around the world celebrating especially Canadian placemaking betd practices
Closing Social & Evening Party | 7:00–10:00pm
End the summit in style with music, drinks, and shared momentum.
Stick around to experience more of what Toronto has to offer:
Arguably the world's most pluralistic city, Toronto has long produced and supported the world's top leaders and conversations on cities and urbanism. The Placemaking movement has built from and been challenged and evolved thanks to many Toronto public space thought leaders: from Jane Jacobs, to contemporary friends, luminaires and collaborators like Gil Penalosa, Mary Rowe, Jennifer Keesmaat, Ken Greenberg, Jason Thorne, Jay Pitter, Uta Mason, Jen Angel, Margaret Zeidler and many more.
Come to Toronto to learn from, and support, one of the world's most sophisticated urbanist conversations and communities, hosted in iconic venues around the city.
We wish to acknowledge the land on which Toronto operates has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this traditional meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to gather on this land.
Canadian public spaces are extremely important as they bring together 450 ethnic and cultural origins, 200 places of birth, 100 religions and 450 languages (Statistics Canada).
X People
Placemaking for Children
Placemaking for Women
Placemaking for the Elderly
Placemaking for Youth
Indigenous Placemaking
Placemaking with Nature and Pets
Refugee Placemaking and Peacemaking
Black Placemaking
Latino Placemaking
LGBTQ+ Placemaking
X public spaces
Public Markets
Waterfronts
Streets as Places
Mobility Stops and Stations
Urban Parks as Community Places
Public Buildings as Public Spaces
Architecture of Place
Placemaking for Sports Facilities
Rural Placemaking and Main Streets
Winter Places
X strategies
Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper
Place Governance
Place-led Development
Digital Placemaking
Creative Placemaking
Placemaking Tools and Processes
Financing Placemaking
Placemaking in Academia and Research
Philanthropy for Placemaking
Amenities, Music, Art
X outcomes
Safety and Security
Equity and Inclusion
Public Health
Climate Resilience and Sustainability
Democracy and Participation
Economic Development and Innovation
Place Attachment and Lovability
Local Food Economies
Regenerative Tourism/Place Tourism
Play, Joy, and Happiness
Regional Networks & Network Leaders
Agendas are emerging from our regional networks, with network leaders forming and implementing Placemaking Agendas. We have helped form and support 20+ regional and national networks, with another 20+ in various stages of formation (listed below). The Summit will highlight these network leaders, hear their challenges and ideas, and support them through the development of crosscutting agendas to initiate local programs. Some of regional networks with incomplete lists of the leaders supporting them:
Agendas and Agenda Network Leaders
With established regional networks increasingly supporting the movement's learning, advocacy and action, the next goal is to support these networks with crosscutting agendas. 40 key agendas that have emerged from within the regional networks, with leaders in different parts of the planet advancing different dimensions of each topic.
The agendas are grouped by people, spaces, strategies, and outcomes. Agenda leaders will be gathered virtually before the summit to start to frame their topics, and then work during the summit to finalize and present on their collective goals and potential impact programs.
Explore the agendas with the lists of some of the PlacemakingX leaders we are asking to help shape these. Let us know if are interested in joining any of these groups when you register.
Supporting PlacemakingX and Placemaking Canada is a growing list of partners including: World Urban Pavilion, Urban Economy Forum, UN Habitat, Canadian Urban Institute, STEPS Public Art, Evergreen, 8 80 Cities, Spacing, Jane’s Walk, STACKT Market, and more soon to be announced.
The Global Placemaking Summit is actively looking for partners and sponsors to help host and organize events during the Summit. Take a look at our partnership package! Do you have another way to support the event? We want to hear from you! Email us for more information or to set up a meeting at Summit@Placemakingx.org.
