A placemaking framework for the social sustainability of master-planned communities: A case study from Australia

Placemaking creates environments which are more active, memorable, and meaningful for people. It can provide several benefits, such as a high quality of life, a strong sense of community, and the creation of distinctive places. There is, however, a paucity of theoretical literature on placemaking in master-planned communities (MPCs). Therefore, this chapter develops a 4-P framework for placemaking in MPCs with the four important factors of Place, Programme, People, and Perception. It then applies the framework to a case study of Varsity Lakes, an MPC on the Gold Coast of Australia. It analyses the placemaking performance of the MPC in terms of social sustainability using the four factors and draws implications from the study. The chapter shows the importance of physical design as well as the process of placemaking to build sustainable communities. Some of the key ideas for placemaking include provision of places for social interaction, walkability, community governance, stakeholder engagement, legibility, safety, and sense of place. These ideas and the proposed framework could be relevant for the sustainable development of MPCs in the Asia-Pacific region.