Palmerston North Placemaking pioneers required

The Palmerston North City Council is calling for residents keen to make a difference in their street to step forward and join a Placemaking pilot scheme.

The aim of Placemaking is to enable residents, retailers and industry to express and implement a vision of how they want their areas and neighbourhoods to be developed.

Policy planner - urban design, Geoff Wilkinson says the Palmerston North City Council has partnered with David Engwicht of Creative Communities to produce a Placemaking programme each for residents, retailers and professionals.

"Council has already identified a number of retailers and professionals to take part in those respective pilots however we now require a small number of volunteers to have a go.

"It's an exciting project with numerous possibilities. Hopefully the public will start to notice some changes when they're out and about however we'll be updating the Facebook page as a fall back option."

The programme will be launched at the end of the month by David Engwicht and those participating will have until early October to realise their visions.

Successful applicants will receive a pilot pack and each team leader will receive a facilitator's pack. Each pack contains a: manual; guidelines; drawer of resources; party pack; get out of jail free card - "That's in case your project unwittingly contravenes a regulation!" says Geoff.

Applications close on 17 August and can be made on the Facebook page, Placemaking-Palmerston North.

You can find out more information about Placemaking by visiting http://placemaking.org.nz/, http://www.creative-communities.com/ and http://www.pps.org/