Placemaking Resources

The following resources are meant to inspire and provide ideas for feasible and achievable placemaking projects within your community.


What is Placemaking?

What if We Built Our Communities Around Places? Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community. Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm in order to maximize shared value. More than just promoting better urban design, placemaking facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution – Project for Public Spaces.


Tactical Urbanism

Tactical urbanism includes low-cost, temporary changes to the built environment, usually in cities, intended to improve local neighbourhoods and city gathering places.


How to Engage Your Community

Community engagement and involvement is at the core of placemaking. Building places for people, with people is critical to ensure that all people see themselves in a place and feel a sense of belonging. How you engage community is the first step toward inclusivity.


Promotion

Reaching your community broadly to ensure engagement and awareness is a key element to inclusion and participation. If you want to create a great place, you’ll need to involve as many people as possible. Your community is full of neighbours with interesting ideas and desires for what role local public spaces need to fill, and the resulting space can only reach its greatest potential if it can be responsive and useful for the broadest group of people.


Measuring Success

Evaluating engagement allows you and the public to determine participant satisfaction, identify lessons learned, and improve future engagement strategies. There are always takeaways that help refine and enhance the next project!

These links are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only, meant to support and guide; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Build Nova Scotia of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual. Build Nova Scotia bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.

To add a suggested resource, please email: ideas@buildns.ca.

News

Bedford Waterfront Floating Docks

The 2025 season will run from June until approximately November, weather dependent. Located at the end of Convoy Quay off Waterfront Drive, the approx…

The 2025 season will run from June until approximately November, weather dependent. Located at the end of Convoy Quay off Waterfront Drive, the approximate 100 feet of floating docks can accommodate vessels up to 60 feet,…

Six QEII nurses bringing clinical expertise to the Halifax Infirmary Expansion Project

May 12, 2025—At the Halifax Infirmary Expansion Project (HIEP), it’s not just engineers and architects shaping the future of healthcare—it’…

May 12, 2025—At the Halifax Infirmary Expansion Project (HIEP), it’s not just engineers and architects shaping the future of healthcare—it’s nurses too. Six dedicated nursing professionals, who once spent their…

Business Development Opportunity – Foundation Place, Halifax Waterfront

May 9, 2025—Halifax, Nova Scotia: Build Nova Scotia is pleased to announce a new Business Development Opportunity (BDO) at Foundation Place on the Hal…

May 9, 2025—Halifax, Nova Scotia: Build Nova Scotia is pleased to announce a new Business Development Opportunity (BDO) at Foundation Place on the Halifax Waterfront. Located at 1549 Lower Water Street, the first-floor spa…

Safety + Harm Prevention Program is back at Peggy’s Cove

April 30, 2025—Ongoing Safety Support at Peggy’s Cove Peggy’s Cove is one of Nova Scotia’s most iconic destinations. With its rugged coastline, powerf…

April 30, 2025—Ongoing Safety Support at Peggy’s Cove Peggy’s Cove is one of Nova Scotia’s most iconic destinations. With its rugged coastline, powerful surf, and high visitor traffic, safety remains a top priority for Bui…

A New Season at Salt Yard: Meet the Vendors Bringing Food, Fun, and Culture to Halifax Waterfront

April 2, 2025—A new season at Salt Yard means fresh faces, returning favourites, and another summer of incredible food, shopping, and experiences on t…

April 2, 2025—A new season at Salt Yard means fresh faces, returning favourites, and another summer of incredible food, shopping, and experiences on the Halifax Waterfront! Whether you’re craving delicious eats, look…

Lunenburg Waterfront – Zwicker Building and Mill Building Requests for Information

March 5, 2025—Build Nova Scotia is looking to determine potential uses for the Zwicker Building and Mill Building in Lunenburg as part of its manageme…

March 5, 2025—Build Nova Scotia is looking to determine potential uses for the Zwicker Building and Mill Building in Lunenburg as part of its management of provincial properties on the working waterfront. These Requests fo…

Williams Lake Dam Replacement

Williams Lake is a popular spot for fishing and swimming and a valuable wildlife habitat. With parts of the rock and concrete dam dating back to the 1…

Williams Lake is a popular spot for fishing and swimming and a valuable wildlife habitat. With parts of the rock and concrete dam dating back to the 1700s, it is in poor condition and presents a safety issue. Repair work w…

Bayers Lake Community Outpatient Centre Achieves LEED Gold Certification

August 22, 2024 – The Bayers Lake Community Outpatient Centre in Nova Scotia has recently achieved LEED Gold certification under the LEEDv4 Heal…

August 22, 2024 – The Bayers Lake Community Outpatient Centre in Nova Scotia has recently achieved LEED Gold certification under the LEEDv4 Healthcare rating system!  Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or…

Bedford Waterfront Marina Pilot Project

Anticipated to run until mid-November (depending on Mother Nature), Build Nova Scotia has launched a pilot project to gauge interest in the possibilit…

Anticipated to run until mid-November (depending on Mother Nature), Build Nova Scotia has launched a pilot project to gauge interest in the possibility of a marina on the Bedford Waterfront. Located at the end of Convoy Qu…

Historic Investment in Cellular Infrastructure to Enhance Safety, Connectivity

July 31, 2024 – Nova Scotians in areas with no cellular service will soon have better connectivity as a result of the Province’s largest ever in…

July 31, 2024 – Nova Scotians in areas with no cellular service will soon have better connectivity as a result of the Province’s largest ever investment in cellular infrastructure, which will enhance existing infrast…