MAG Place-making seminar - 25 May 2017
The Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) held their latest seminar on 25 May 2017, at Crumlin Road Gaol. This was a lunchtime seminar with William Murray, Wordsearch, to explore the role of communicating context, culture and vision in enabling good placemaking
The guest speaker was William Murray, Group Director of Strategy at Wordsearch, a company that helps people understand and appreciate the possibilities and prospects of cities, neighbourhoods, buildings and beyond.
During the seminar, William shared the principles of his approach with a particular emphasis on understanding what ‘place’ means, and how its importance is central when developing communications and place-making strategies.
Lara Kinneir, MAG member and curator of the event said: “Whilst communication techniques don't usually fall into the remit of designers, they are a crucial element to ensuring what we design is understood, explored and developed in partnership with all involved in shaping a place, and therefore need to be a skill set that we all embrace."
William shared examples from around the world, large and small, local and global, and was on hand to answer numerous questions from an audience keen to understand how we can create and put into action similar place-making visions in Northern Ireland.