Future of Retail and Placemaking Conference 2024 — built environment leaders discuss ‘human-centric’ placemaking

On 11 September we hosted the first of our Future of Retail and Placemaking Conference events in Manchester alongside our friends at Portland Design, which brought together leaders from across the retail sector and built environment to discuss ‘human centric’ placemaking and the shifting relationship between people, brands and behaviours.

Human Centric Placemaking

For our high streets and town centres to thrive socially and commercially, we must start with people. Understanding people’s lives and expectations and engaging with them is critical to delivering effective regeneration projects and spaces that are fit for purpose and can continue to evolve over time.

Some key thoughts from our Manchester event included:

• Should we be considering ‘place-growing’ or ‘place-curating’, rather than ‘placemaking’? Let’s build on and adapt what we already have, putting the views of the local community at the forefront of what we do.
• We need to create more immersive experiential retail opportunities with a focus on the overall experience, rather than the purchase alone.
• The relationship between people and brands has changed. Consumers are looking to ‘join’ brands rather than simply ‘buy’ them.

Thank you to our speakers and panellists

A huge thank you to Ibrahim Ibrahim for setting the scene with his thought-provoking keynote speech and Andrea Carpenter for expertly moderating both panel sessions, as well as all our panellists — Andrew Bentley BEM (PlaceCulture), Pete Swift (Planit), Frances Jones (Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation), Chris Bowen (Torus Developments), Simon Layton (Trafford Centre), Rob Deacon (Grosvenor) and Thom Hetherington (Landing Light).

The conversation continues

The conversation will continue with our next event, taking place in London on 9 October with eight new panellists who’ll offer fresh perspectives. 

There, Ibrahim and Andrea will be joined by panellists Max Farrell (LDN Collective), Vivienne King (Impactful Places), Rebecca Morter (Lone Design Club), Paul Myers (Farm Urban), Preston Benson (Really Local Group), Simon Champion, Janine Constantin-Russell (The O2) and Nick Payne (ICITIES).

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