Placemaking and shaping are becoming heavily used terms in town centre language, as many in our sector seek to drop the word 'retail'!

But is there really a true understanding of what place making means to the whole range of the community that use the space? The community must cross over those who live, work, trade, wait, protect and curate the space. 

I think that there is a lot of 'organisational disinterest' in pulling together the collaboration needed to create fantastic places. So many different agendas, objectives and drivers, often with too little time, too little funding and too little leadership. 

But there is no better time than now to reconvene and get a wide range of stakeholders round a table (or as its nearly summer, in a public space outdoors!). To understand each groups drivers and try to work out how they can play such a valuable role in creating places we want to spend time in - no matter the purpose!