Placemaking

Placemaking is a collaborative, community-driven process that brings people together to shape campus spaces through projects and programming. It transforms dull spaces into ones that celebrate cultural heritage, community needs, and aspirations.

What to Expect

The Placemakers Showcase: One of the hallmarks of Placemaking at PSU is turning our campus into a hands-on "living lab". Explore a campus-wide poster session highlighting cross-departmental research, formal curriculum-based projects, and grassroots student initiatives that define PSU's physical and social identity.

Culture and Community: In keeping with the Placemakers Exchange tradition, the afternoon will feature a collaborative focus that reflects the intersection of cultural heritage, community needs, and inclusive design. The event will also culminate in a community celebration at the new PSU Dog Park, demonstrating how shared open spaces can foster belonging.

The Exchange Breakouts & Action Share-Out: Move from visionary dreaming to hands-on action. Following collaborative breakout sessions focused on "North Star" opportunity areas—like the 18-Hour Neighborhood and "Non-Precious" Interventions—participants will engage in a "Shareout". These rapid-fire presentations will highlight top action items, exploring the realities of urban design, bureaucratic friction, and creative problem-solving.

The Roundtable Exchange: A facilitated, moderated dialogue featuring distinguished alumni and community practitioners. Panelists will share honest, "messy" real-world success stories, exploring the complexities and triumphs of implementing high-impact urban interventions on campus and beyond.

Networking Opportunities: Engage with alumni, community leaders, faculty, and students who are shaping the future of Portland State University. Arrive early for the poster session networking hour to swap stories, share ideas, and connect with fellow placemaking enthusiasts.

Research with Impact - Site-Specific Tours: From "What Could Be" to "How We Do It," discover how work happening across our campus is moving beyond theory and into practice. Join expert-led walking tours of key campus nodes to identify immediate physical improvements and long-term spatial strategies—advancing solutions that are creative, rigorous, and responsive to real community

Speakers

This panel discussion is the event highlight. PSU is bringing the OGs and the upstarts, the nerds and the community developers to mix it up about the State of Place in Portland. Panelists will share honest, "messy" real-world success stories, exploring the complexities and triumphs of implementing high-impact urban interventions on campus and beyond. 

Sample Discussion questions

• You have 30 minutes to eat lunch on a beautiful spring day. What kind of events, performances, services, or furniture would draw you to the Urban Plaza?
• How can we turn our plazas into third places where people feel a sense of belonging?
• What are simple, low-cost visual threads we can run through the district to tie it together and meaningfully connect space to culture?
• How do we center the value of connection with the land to heal and build community health and resilience to this district?
• How can we create 'unfinished' spaces on campus that allow students to leave their own mark?
• How can we design a 'Placemaking Lab' that functions like a community tool shed, giving students the resources to make their heritage and culture visible on campus? 
   

Students, faculty, staff, and the larger community are essential in the placemaking process at PSU! The intent of Placemaking at PSU is to empower people to become placemakers and work collaboratively and justly to create a vibrant and inclusive campus. Placemaking provides an opportunity for a living lab experience where the campus is the lab and student work influences the future development of the campus.

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