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The Placemakers
What’s the secret to turning an attraction into a place? TVAC’s Simon Ody and Tim Rusby discuss the challenges and opportunities of creating successful destinations
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any clients come to us because they think they want a feasibility study, but often it becomes clear that what they
really need to know is how to deliver the scheme and make it work as a place – a destination that visitors and paying guests will use, adopt, cherish and return to. That shift from the quantitative
assignment (the economics) to the qualitative (the what, where and how), is where we fi nd our key differentiation as a practice. We need to stress that we’re not
designers – TVAC is a bridge between our clients and their design teams. Our role is to provide specialist input into business plans, locate content ideas into master plans and help to make sure that the design development brief is coherent.
WHAT IS PLACE-MAKING? The term place-making is nothing new. American sociologist Ray Oldenburg fi rst coined the phrase the third place in the 1970s, describing third places as the anchors of community and social life. Not home (fi rst place), or work (second place), third places are where people go to enjoy themselves. Societies have always had informal
meeting places. Oldenburg recognised the need to revive the concept at a time when communities and people were become increasingly insulated and isolated, a trend that has accelerated over recent years as people spend more and more time online. More recently, multi-faceted retail
destinations are winning the battle to capture people’s leisure time; in effect
62 (Left) Simon Ody and (right) TIm Rusby
visitors develop an affi nity towards and return to again and again. A defi nition of a place in this context is a multi- dimensional destination that offers a variety of experiences for a variety of people. Successful places give us an almost visceral sense of feeling good. Sounds, smells, tactile feedback, all add to a visitor’s feelings of total inter- action, emotional engagement, sensory immersion and belonging. A great place is one which we adopt
as a part of our social fabric and want to share. When an attraction is a good place, we tell people about it or take others to it. Great places are accessible, visible and recognisable, sometimes in the form of a brand that is synonymous with the experience that we anticipate fi nding at the place. Great places provide a sense of
ArcelorMittal Orbit, Olympic Park, UK – TVAC prepared the original feasibility study and business and operating plans
becoming the default third place for many people. In Europe, developers such as Westfi eld and Intu are actively searching for immersive experiences and leisure products that will differenti- ate their malls and drive footfall. TVAC’s work with mixed-use devel-
opers has led us to recognise that the same issues apply to the owners of even the smallest visitor attractions. The issues are the same – how can we attract more visitors and keep them coming back?
SO WHAT IS A PLACE? The term place-making refers to the process that turns a collection of build- ings and spaces into a place which
Read Attractions Management online
attractionsmanagement.com/digital
arrival, good way-fi nding, have attrac- tive public realm and feel safe. Those who aspire to develop and manage successful places need to recognise the benefi ts of providing amenities which don’t deliver an easily quantifi - able return on capital employed. We can’t calculate the fi nancial return of a splendid fountain outside the entrance to an attraction, but the sense of arrival it engenders makes it much more than a ‘nice to have’. They react to changes in the way
we communicate, use technology and interact with our friends and families. Successful places deliver experiences
that we want to enjoy time and again, especially if that experience can be enhanced by subtle variations that make each visit unique. For attractions, the most cost
effective variation is in the form of spe- cial events and seasonal programming.
AM 2 2014 ©Cybertrek 2014
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