Trip, Tour Product Innovation and Interpretation Planning Workshops with Experts
Useful Information
Some of our workshops are elegible for funding assistance from the Canadian Farm Business Management Council. Call us for more information.
About Placemaking
Placemaking has been described as the art of building your community. In essence it implies creating places that are more conducive to human activities: public squares, parks and markets where people can congregate, interact and engage in social activities. Placemaking also happens to be a crucial element to developing successful tourism destinations. Placemaking is the art of building your community.
As an applied anthropologist actively involved in community tourism development projects in Canada and the United States, Great Excursions Founder Claude-Jean Harel provides first hand experience of the conditions required for effective placemaking and of the ways to create the right community environment for it to occur.
Places are complex and dynamic systems in which people live and engage in economic activities. If urban planners do their best to create more people-friendly neighbourhoods and town sites, the wisdom of their contribution can only be assessed through the way places are used.
The built environment plays a crucial role in helping communities reach their full potential. How can we make our places more compelling for residents and outside visitors lured to the region through things like leisure and business travel, or events and festivals? For economic renewal to occur in places, community character-that sense of place-must be considered. Long-term stewardship of community resources must be taken into account. Self-reliance and a more democratic approach to decision-making must go hand in hand with stressing diversity, and a conviction that many small efforts work better than a single one-size-fits-all solution. A further understanding of the importance of civic engagement and participation processes also enables placemakers to draw on the collective wisdom, creativity and experience of those involved in order to build better communities.