Lebuh Armenian Park in Georgetown, Penang is a great example of how placemaking can improve the quality of the public space experience and generate value to the surrounding community. Image from: Think City

The inaugural Placemaker Awards ASEAN 2021 (PAA 2021) will be unveiled this year to honour the best of placemaking projects and give due recognition to community-building in Southeast Asia.

Meant as a platform to showcase the best of placemaking projects, the award is the brainchild of placemaking consultancy Nextdor Property Communications Sdn Bhd and Think City, a social purpose organisation focused on urban rejuvenation.

“Good placemaking is important, given the rising rate of urbanisation within Southeast Asian cities,” stated Imran Clyde, co-chair of the organising committee for Placemaker Awards ASEAN.

In order to encourage more local councils, urban planners, non-governmental organisations, community organisations, architects, developers, or just groups of determined individuals seeking to transform their neighbourhoods into something better, PAA 2021 aims to be that platform for entities within the Southeast Asian region to exchange or share best practices in placemaking.

Besides supporting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11), the regional award is aimed at showcasing the best placemaking projects as well as inspiring aspiring placemakers.

The six categories accepted for evaluation are:

Best Placemaker: Government (public space)
Best Placemaker: Private (public space)
Best Placemaker: NGO or non-governmental institutions (public space)
Best Placemaker: Government (private public space)
Best Placemaker: Private sector or body corporates (private public space)
Best Placemaker: NGO/NGI (private public space)

The competition will be judged by Imran Clyde, founder of Nextdor, Hamdan Majeed, managing director for Think City, Anne Lourdes, co-founder of Nextdor, Lee Jia Ping, partner of Tempatico, Hans Karssenberg, partner of Stipo, Datin Mazrina Datuk Abdul Khalid, vice president at the Malaysian Institute of Planners, Ethan Kent, executive director of PlacemakingX, Nani Kahar, principal of LabDNA, Ahmad Jefri, director of Garis Architects & AJC Planning Consultants Sdn Bhd, Michael Stott, partner as well as lead for Design and Strategy at Isocarp, Dr. Dwinita Larasati, co-founder of the Bandung Creative City Forum, Rui Izumiyama, assistant professor at Nihon University, and founder of Sotonoba, Mardiana Rahayu, chief operations officer of Kai Assets Sdn Bhd, Stella Gwee, co-founder and director of Shophouse & Co, and José Chong, programme management officer at UN-Habitat.

PAA 2021 is co-presented by UN-Habitat, Stipo, and the Malaysian Institute of Planners, with the support from Taylor’s University, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), PNB Merdeka Ventures, Citi Foundation, Project for Public Spaces, PlacemakingX, Lendlease, Tempatico, Placemaking Malaysia (a centre under the Malaysian Institute of Planners), Laguna De Bay, Real Estate Housing Developers’ Association (REHDA) Institute, Isocarp, The ASEAN Post, and PR Newswire.

The submission deadline is September 21st, and finalists will be announced on October 21st, while the winners will be unveiled virtually at Malaysia’s first and largest virtual expo on town planning and development, City Expo Malaysia 2021 this November 25th. 


(31 May 2021)