Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been writing about placemaking. In part because we just had a fantastic event with Cynthia Nikitin of the Project for Public Spaces, but also because placemaking is a great, ‘smart on crime’, crime prevention tool for neighbourhoods and communities.

As we all strive to find innovative ways of creating safe communities and reducing crime, sometimes the solutions can be quite astounding. But how do we go about doing this and have an impact?  The famous slogan utilized by Nike is a great start – Just do it!

'Placemaking' is fast becoming a new 'buzz word'. But what does it really mean anyway? It ends in 'ing' so that means it's a verb, which means some kind of action is happening... What kind of action is required to 'make a place'? And what does 'making a place' have to do with crime prevention and being smart on crime?