As experiential designers, we're always questioning how we think about place and evolving how we approach our work. Entro was therefore both excited and proud to support a series of three instalments on placemaking by DesignTO. The thought-provoking perspectives featured here invite us to re-think and re-focus our ideas on placemaking.
In the first instalment, DesignTO Programs Coordinator and writer Amanda Low spoke to architect Farida Abu-Bakare about placemaking, community and her practice. For Farida, who is a co-founder of the Black Architects and Interior Designers Associate (BAIDA), "We can't just be placemakers. We need to be aligned with other organizations that are formulating those professions. If we have places on boards, we are able to actually change how young Black professionals are perceived when entering the market.”
Read the full article, “Caring for Community: Farida Abu-Bakare on her Personal Philosophy, BAIDA, and Placemaking”
In the second instalment, Kerala Woods interviews Sabrina Richard, co-founder and Director of Research and Planning for Bespoke Collective. For Sabrina, who emphasizes the importance of community-based participatory design, “What we’re attempting to do is include more voices and more history that examines colonialism and racism of a given place.”
Read the full article, “Interrogating Place with Sabrina Richard”
In the third and final instalment, DesignTO Content Writer Kerala Woods spoke to Ryan Rice, Associate Dean at OCAD University and the first Indigenous Public Art Curator at Waterfront Toronto, about placemaking and how Indigenous communities have a long history of establishing their cultural and spiritual values in the places they live. For Ryan Rice, “We have to also think about ‘place taking’ and the colonial structures that displaced, removed and whittled away Indigenous territory in the first place.”
Read the full article, “From Placemaking to Placekeeping with Ryan Rice.”
Image (left): Farida Abu-Bakare
Image (centre): Ryan Rice with artist Natalie King, courtesy of Ryan Rice.
Image (right): Sabrina Richard