109
books and reports, she concluded that the concept is ill-defined and concrete
implementation steps have yet to be well presented (Mitomo 2015). The author
extended the literature review on the placemaking concept to academic journals. A
simple online search
3
found more than 580 journal articles that have “placemaking” in
either titles, abstracts, and keywords; however, only a limited number of papers provide clear definitions of the concept. Instead, many of them are empirical studies targeting specific challenges of their case study areas located in different geographical
areas. For example, placemaking is applied in studies on community energy projects
to understand the social perception and residents’ acceptance to energy facility installations (Fast and Mabee 2015; Middlemiss and Parrish 2010).
The concept is also discussed as a possible means for organizing groups of people for social movements (Larsen 2008; Lepofsky and Fraser 2003). Combined with
text analysis on social media, placemaking is suggested as a method to realize virtual landscapes in actual city designs (Alkadri et al. 2015). Overall, the review of
earlier literature suggests two types of definitions: the conceptual definition, and the
working definition.
Regarding the conceptual definition, Pierce et al. (2011) provides a comprehensive definition of placemaking: “the set of social, political and material processes by
which people interactively create and recreate the experienced geographies in which
they live” (Pierce et al. 2011). In their definition placemaking goes beyond physical
planning and requires people’s frequent participation in the process. Placemaking is
also explained as local responses of the residents of the specific area where particular social issues are present. To structure socially fair and operationally sustainable
responses, those particular social issues and places related to the residents need to
be framed properly. This process of placemaking is fundamentally linked with how
people frame their living environment.
In earlier literature in communication and political science, frame or framing is
understood as how individuals organize their experiences and make sense of social
events that they encountered (Benford and Snow 2000; Goffman 1974). Framing, at
the same time, contributes to recognizing a controversy that resonates with people’s
core values and assumptions (Nisbet and Mooney 2007). Hence, the placemaking
process includes positive, neutral, and negative interpretations of particular social
events and associated places. Additionally, along with its affiliation to individuals,
framing is generated as the result of collective organizational narratives that reflect
the cultural values of people (Benford 1997).
Considering neighborhood and communities as its focal point, placemaking is
fundamentally a collective process by a group of residents. Through framing,
people judge what issues are relevant to them and what issues are not, who should
be responsible for the issues, and what actions should be taken (Gamson et al.
1992; Price et al. 2005). Through this process, placemaking guides us to re-examine the framings that people hold of living environment through organizing a
3 This search was conducted on 20 November 2016 in Science Direct and Google Scholar. The
search was conducted by using “placemaking” as the keyword specified in title, abstract, and keyword list. The search resulted in 581 hits in Science Direct and 588 hits in Google Scholar.
5 Framing in Placemaking When Envisioning a Sustainable Rural Community…
books and reports, she concluded that the concept is ill-defined and concrete
implementation steps have yet to be well presented (Mitomo 2015). The author
extended the literature review on the placemaking concept to academic journals. A
simple online search
3
found more than 580 journal articles that have “placemaking” in
either titles, abstracts, and keywords; however, only a limited number of papers provide clear definitions of the concept. Instead, many of them are empirical studies targeting specific challenges of their case study areas located in different geographical
areas. For example, placemaking is applied in studies on community energy projects
to understand the social perception and residents’ acceptance to energy facility installations (Fast and Mabee 2015; Middlemiss and Parrish 2010).
The concept is also discussed as a possible means for organizing groups of people for social movements (Larsen 2008; Lepofsky and Fraser 2003). Combined with
text analysis on social media, placemaking is suggested as a method to realize virtual landscapes in actual city designs (Alkadri et al. 2015). Overall, the review of
earlier literature suggests two types of definitions: the conceptual definition, and the
working definition.
Regarding the conceptual definition, Pierce et al. (2011) provides a comprehensive definition of placemaking: “the set of social, political and material processes by
which people interactively create and recreate the experienced geographies in which
they live” (Pierce et al. 2011). In their definition placemaking goes beyond physical
planning and requires people’s frequent participation in the process. Placemaking is
also explained as local responses of the residents of the specific area where particular social issues are present. To structure socially fair and operationally sustainable
responses, those particular social issues and places related to the residents need to
be framed properly. This process of placemaking is fundamentally linked with how
people frame their living environment.
In earlier literature in communication and political science, frame or framing is
understood as how individuals organize their experiences and make sense of social
events that they encountered (Benford and Snow 2000; Goffman 1974). Framing, at
the same time, contributes to recognizing a controversy that resonates with people’s
core values and assumptions (Nisbet and Mooney 2007). Hence, the placemaking
process includes positive, neutral, and negative interpretations of particular social
events and associated places. Additionally, along with its affiliation to individuals,
framing is generated as the result of collective organizational narratives that reflect
the cultural values of people (Benford 1997).
Considering neighborhood and communities as its focal point, placemaking is
fundamentally a collective process by a group of residents. Through framing,
people judge what issues are relevant to them and what issues are not, who should
be responsible for the issues, and what actions should be taken (Gamson et al.
1992; Price et al. 2005). Through this process, placemaking guides us to re-examine the framings that people hold of living environment through organizing a
3 This search was conducted on 20 November 2016 in Science Direct and Google Scholar. The
search was conducted by using “placemaking” as the keyword specified in title, abstract, and keyword list. The search resulted in 581 hits in Science Direct and 588 hits in Google Scholar.
5 Framing in Placemaking When Envisioning a Sustainable Rural Community…