Placemaking and Public Space Design: Unlocking Tourist Destinations

Discover placemaking, place shaping, and what makes an attractive tourist space

What is it that makes a tourist hotspot hot? When it comes to developing sustainable, attractive, and exciting tourist destinations, high quality public spaces are key.

This fascinating course offers an introduction to public space design and placemaking at tourist destinations.

Through an exploration of the key features of space, climate, hospitality and more, you’ll learn what makes a potentially top tourist destination.

Explore what makes a successful tourist destination

When it comes to tourist destinations, a successful space must make people visiting from afar feel welcome. This course invites you to examine what we can learn from high-end hospitality and tourist destinations around the world.

Using case-studies and research, you’ll study how the best squares and public spaces have developed over time and pinpoint exactly what makes them a commercial success.

Discover placemaking and what gives a destination ‘place potential’

From the design of a pedestrianised square to the combination of the built and natural environment, there are many factors which give a destination its ‘star factor’.

You’ll explore how the built and natural environments in a place come together to create local micro-climates. You’ll also discover the impact of climate as well as how to enhance the value of a space to make it more people-friendly.

Study tourism and placemaking with Luleå University of Technology

This course is based on a wide range of academic research and examples taken from architecture, urban design, place-shaping, and town planning.

You’ll benefit from the lead educator’s wealth of experience working in design development and development process management and, by the end of the course, you’ll be confident in exactly how to identify ‘place-potential’ in a destination.

This course is designed for anyone who would like to better understand place-shaping in tourism.

This may include those looking to work in place shaping as part of the tourism or hospitality industry, as well as current tourism professionals who want to upskill and gain confidence in new working practices for tourism.

• Public Space
• Introduction to the course
• Public space
• Summary and reflection week 1
• Urban Micro-Climate
• Welcome to week 2
• Place-shaping
• Micro-climate and urban design
• Summary and reflection week 2
• Improving the Urban Micro-Climate
• Welcome to week 3
• Improving the Urban Micro-Climate
• Course closure and reflection