Place-making: the Case Study of BOMBAST

02/08/2023 - 16:43

Monique Schulte and Nicoline de Heus, both alumni and lecturers of the Master Imagineering, recently published together a paper on a special issue of the Innovative Leisure Practices: Cases as Conduits Between Theory and Practice journal. The theme was Place-making in the case of BOMBAST. This paper is the outcome of a project, where the Imagineering approach was used to create shared meaning-making in a community. Read more about the content of the paper below.

Research

Abstract
This case study illustrates an organic bottom-up place-making process, which started with the initiative of a couple of residents who created an invented folktale as a gift to their community. Through the development of a fictional character, these residents intuitively tried to embody the place’s norms and values or, in other words, the DNA of the community. The challenge, however, was how to transform this single initiative into shared meaning-making, borne by the wider local community. Two trends, noted in place-making literature, are of significance for the case. First, the case shows that, in making the place more attractive to live in, the focus should be on the intangible attributes— the cultural soul of the place. Secondly, the case illustrates, through the use of the Imagineering Design Methodology, how the wider community has been enabled to become co-producers and co-consumers in the place-making process. Moreover, by actively including disruptive voices, such as those locals who were critical in the enabling interventions, the place-making process evolved. The case, therefore, shows how these interventions led to a participatory effect.

Link to full paper