CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2024
PLACE LEADERS AWARDS RECIPIENTS!
The 2024 Place Leaders Asia Pacific Awards recognised the leaders, visionaries, and innovators shaping the future of our public spaces. Hosted in Darwin, and co-hosted with the NT Government, the Awards showcased projects from across Australasia and the Asia Pacific that demonstrated innovation, collaboration, and measurable place impact. From Indigenous leadership to design excellence, these Awards celebrated the very best in placemaking and inspired others to rethink how we create vibrant, inclusive, and resilient communities.
ABOUT THE AWARDS
The Place Leaders Asia Pacific Awards recognise the groundbreaking work that is shaping the future of
placemaking across the Asia-Pacific.
From visionary leadership to creative use of technology, to community-driven design, these Awards honour those who are creating lasting social, economic, and environmental impact in our shared spaces. Whether you’ve revitalised a neglected space, integrated sustainability into urban design, or leveraged technology for better
placemaking, these awards are a chance to highlight your placemaking impact and contribute to the ongoing conversation on how we can build better places for people.
Entering the awards offers more than just recognition, it provides a platform to share your work with an Asia-Pacific audience and connect with other leaders in the field. By recognising these efforts, the Place Leaders Awards aim to inspire others to rethink how we create vibrant, inclusive, and resilient communities.
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2024 AWARDS JURY
Our 2024 Awards Jury brought together Place Leaders who embody the vision, resilience, and creativity that defines place leadership.
Community Engagement Startegist
A proud Larrakia woman and fierce advocate for First Nations communities, Nicole is a powerhouse for First Nations advocacy. Her initiatives create safe spaces that honour Indigenous identity, and empower young leaders and marginalised communities. Recognised as the 2022 City of Darwin Citizen of the Year, Nicole’s work echoes the inclusive and community-driven spirit at the heart of our Awards.
Senior Associate - Place and Engagement, Hatch
As a Human Geographer, Louise reimagines spaces into resilient community hubs. From co-design workshops to place-based economic strategies, Louise’s approach aligns with aligns with the Awards' mission to empower communities and build lasting connections to place with measurable impact. Louise has worked one of the world's largest solar farm and battery storage facilities in the Northern Territory.
Executive Director, Activate Darwin
Jo’s bold leadership has transformed Darwin’s public spaces into dynamic hubs of culture. A driver of urban transformation in a city on the front line of climate adaptation, Jo champions partnerships that bring ambitious ideas like the multi-award-winning Darwin International Laksa Festival and Darwin Street Art Festival to life. Jo’s work exemplifies our Awards’ values of community collaboration, cultural vibrancy, and economic vitality.
Industry Professor - Environment and Sustainability at Macquarie University Law School
The former NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces and Minister for Cities, Rob’s commitment to placemaking values influenced both policy and public perceptions around the value of quality public spaces in NSW, championing green, inclusive, and people-centric urban environments.
2024 AWARDS RECIPIENTS
WINNER - JAN GEHL CENTREPIECE AWARD Strengthening Ipswich’s Cultural Heart through Creative Engagement (Ipswich City Council)
The prestigious Place Leaders Asia Pacific Centrepiece Award is now named the Jan Gehl Centrepiece
Award - with Jan Gehl’s enthusiastic support. This Award celebrates Jan’s transformative impact on placemaking and firmly establishes the Place Leaders Asia-Pacific Awards as one of the region’s premier accolades for excellence in creating vibrant, people-focused spaces. Jan is a global icon of people-centred
urban design and Jan delivered an exclusive ‘flaming inauguration speech’ (Jan’s words!) via video link for the Jan Gehl Centrepiece Award 2024 winner, bringing his inspiring vision directly to the Awards and
Presentation Dinner at the Darwin Waterfront on 3 April 2025.
Ipswich City Council was awarded for its grassroots creative engagement that helped reposition the city as a cultural hub. Programs included the ‘Creators of Ipswich summits’, ARTiculate workshops, and live music programs with more than 1,500 artists and cultural workers engaged. This led to real results: 61% of tickets at local venues are now driven by community projects, 38% of audiences are from outside the region, two new arts hubs created, and $3.8 million secured for precinct upgrades. This is place engagement that turned creativity into lasting city-defining outcomes.
1. WINNER - PLACE LEADERSHIP
Leading Place Transformation Across Sydney’s Iconic Precincts
(Placemaking NSW)
This Award recognises individuals or organisations demonstrating bold leadership that inspires and delivers long-term place outcomes through strategy, innovation, and whole-of-place thinking.
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The 2024 Place Leadership Award goes to Placemaking NSW for its bold transformation of iconic Sydney precincts - The Rocks, Darling Harbour, Barangaroo, and White Bay Power Station. Placemaking NSW led The Rocks Revitalisation Strategy focussing on user experience and storytelling while also raising retail turnover by 14% above pre-COVID levels and reducing vacancy rates to just 1%. At White Bay Power Station, they delivered Sydney’s largest heritage conservation project and activated the site with the Power Up Festival, drawing over 17,000 people. They’ve reimagined Darling Harbour through the Vision 2050 strategy and opened Barangaroo’s Marrinawi Cove for public swimming - reconnecting people with the harbour. Their place leadership has delivered real results - economic growth, cultural activation, and inclusive public spaces. ​​​
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HIGHLY COMMENDED - PLACE LEADERSHIP
Logan City Centre Implementation Program (Logan City Council)
Logan City Council receives a Highly Commended recognition for its City Centre Implementation Program - an 8-year, whole-of-Council effort that transformed six key centres across the city. Through more than 220 community-led summit outcomes, Logan City Council turned hundreds of local ideas into real-world results, delivering 59 projects, raising design standards, and securing $49 million in funding. Council improved public spaces with wider footpaths, urban art, and shaded, walkable streets, and also brought the community along every step of the way - even asking kids to help design a playground. Logan has shown how inclusive, whole-of-Council place leadership can drive tangible, community-backed change at scale.
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HIGHLY COMMENDED - PLACE LEADERSHIP
Village Precinct Projects Program (Brisbane City Council)
Brisbane City Council receives a Highly Commended recognition for its Village Precinct Projects Program - a six-year initiative that revitalised 23 suburban neighbourhoods across the city. Council didn’t take a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach instead pursuing a design-led, community-first approach that reflected local identity - like turning a dull near Coorparoo State School into a colourful shared zone with artwork inspired by student drawings. From Ashgrove West’s solar-powered bus hub and tree planting, to Manly Harbour’s coastal lighting artworks, and Inala’s culture-rich market streetscape, each project reflected strong place leadership, local identity, and inclusive design. This program demonstrates how place leadership can deliver real, lasting change at a neighbourhood scale.
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2. WINNER - PLACE GOVERNANCE
Parramatta Square Place Measurement and Operations
(City of Parramatta Council in Partnership with Place Score and Place Intelligence)
This Award recognises effective, transparent, and collaborative management of place, underpinned by clear processes and measurable outcomes.
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The Place Governance Award goes to the City of Parramatta in partnership with Place Score and Place Intelligence for its outstanding leadership in the management and measurement of Parramatta Square, one of Australia’s most complex and high-profile public domains. Through a first-of-its-kind Place Measurement Framework that turns real-time data into actionable decisions, Council brought together Place Score, Place Intelligence, and local data to create evidence-based reports that guide everything from cleaning standards to cultural programming. Over 7.6 million visits and 567 event days later, the data continues to shape strategy, spending, and stakeholder collaboration across more than 20 organisations. This governance approach is a best-practice model for transparent, accountable and community-informed governance of public
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HIGHLY COMMENDED - PLACE GOVERNANCE
Tacking Point Lighthouse (Port Macquarie Hastings Council)
Port Macquarie Hastings Council receives a Highly Commended for its strong governance in delivering the Tacking Point Lighthouse Accessible Boardwalk and Viewing Platform. This project was place governance in action, uniting council, Rotary, disability advocates, and the Aboriginal Advisory Group to co-design a truly inclusive, sustainable, and culturally respectful public space. Over 500 community voices directly shaped the final place-based outcomes - from the gradient of the path to the integration of Birpai artworks that honor Country. Council has shown that collaborative, transparent local governance can deliver lasting change by aligning public feedback with funding, design, and environmental planning.
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3. WINNER - PLACE ENGAGEMENT
Thomas Jack Park (Fourfold Studio)
This Award recognises exceptional engagement that empowers communities to influence and co-create place outcomes through inclusive and creative processes.
Fourfold Studio is awarded the Place Engagement Award for their extraordinary work in Dalby, where they turned a deeply divided community into champions for a new Cultural Centre. Through 80+ in-person engagements, youth panels, shopping centre activations, and co-designed activities with local groups, they built trust across generations. Young people helped shape the design brief, and locals spoke directly to Council, giving feedback and influencing decisions. The community wasn’t just consulted, they were empowered to co-create. This was engagement that empowered people to lead and it reconnected the community to Thomas Jack Park as a place that was more than a location, but a symbol of identity, creativity and unity, as imagined by its own community.
HIGHLY COMMENDED - PLACE ENGAGEMENT
PowerUp Festival (Placemaking NSW)
Power Up earns a Highly Commended for transforming a dormant industrial site into a celebration of community and culture. More than 17,000 people explored White Bay Power Station over three days, drawn by a program shaped by extensive consultation from focus groups and pop-ups to student competitions and cultural partnerships. Over 270 artists, local makers, and creatives brought the place to life, and surveys
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HIGHLY COMMENDED - PLACE ENGAGEMENT
Strengthening Ipswich’s Cultural Heart through Creative Engagement
(Ipswich City Council)
Ipswich City Council is awarded Highly Commended for its grassroots creative engagement that helped reposition the city as a cultural hub. Programs included the ‘Creators of Ipswich summits’, ARTiculate workshops, and live music programs with more than 1,500 artists and cultural workers engaged. This led to real results: 61% of tickets at local venues are now driven by community projects, 38% of audiences are from outside the region, two new arts hubs created, and $3.8 million secured for precinct upgrades. This is place engagement that turned creativity into lasting city-defining outcomes.
4. WINNER - INDIGENOUS PLACEMAKING
Northshore Brisbane (Economic Development Queensland)
This Award recognises projects that embed Indigenous culture, knowledge and leadership into place outcomes, with a strong connection to Country and community.
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The Indigenous Placemaking Award goes to Northshore Brisbane, a precinct where First Nations leadership, culture, and connection to Country are integrated at every level. Led by Economic Development Queensland and guided by a co-designed Traditional Owner Engagement Protocol, the project placed cultural knowledge at the heart of planning, development, and design, naming streets in traditional language and creating a dedicated First Nations social enterprise and commissioning site-specific artworks. Northshore demonstrates a new kind of urban renewal - one grounded in respect, participation, and legacy with Indigenous voices leading engagement, design, and economic opportunity.
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HIGHLY COMMENDED - INDIGENOUS PLACEMAKING
Where the sky meets the earth and sea (Cultural Capital)
Where the sky meets the earth and sea is Highly Commended for its powerful integration of culture, infrastructure, and storytelling on Country. Created by ReRight Collective with Elders Uncle Steven Russell and Aunty Phyllis Stewart, this public artwork brings Bidjigal and Dharawal culture into Sydney Gateway, one of the Sydney’s busiest transport corridors. Symbols of weaving, fishing, and cultural plant use are integrated into retaining walls and bridges, offering drivers and travellers a living connection to place. Delivered through meaningful collaboration with community, designers and engineers, this project demonstrates that embedding Indigenous cultural identity in major urban infrastructure can leave a legacy of visibility and respect.
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5. WINNER - DESIGN EXCELLENCE IN PLACEMAKING
Blacktown Exercise Sports and Technology (BEST) Hub
(Blacktown City Council)
This Award celebrates outstanding design outcomes that advance public spaces, blending form, function, and cultural context to create places people value and enjoy.
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The Design Excellence Award goes to Blacktown City Council for the outstanding design of the Blacktown Exercise Sports and Technology Hub - the BEST Hub. This project reimagines a former Olympic training site as an inclusive, future-focused destination for sport, health, learning and community, wrapped in a design and architectural language that reflects local stories and multicultural heritage. The Hub’s bold curved façade, inspired by Turkish bathhouses and Indian temples looks amazing but the stand-out was the detail: continuous level access across the site, a generous veranda overlooking a physical literacy playspace, and a design that works just as well for toddlers and seniors as it does for athletes. Every space is intentional, inviting, and ready for community life. BEST shows that design excellence can create a place that works, and a place people want to be.
HIGHLY COMMENDED - DESIGN EXCELLENCE IN PLACEMAKING
mPavillion10 (Naomi Milgrom Foundation)
MPavilion is awarded a Highly Commended for design excellence that goes far beyond architecture. The 10th MPavilion, designed by legendary architect Tadao Ando, is a stunning concrete and aluminium structure that blends Japanese design principles with Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens. This is a space designed to be used, activated and shared. Across a 134-day season, it hosted over 230 free events with150,000 people attending talks, performances, and workshops - many led by First Nations voices and emerging creatives. Its thoughtful geometry, stillness, and seamless connection to the landscape demonstrates how place-based design can invite people to admire, engage and come together.
6. WINNER - PLACEMAKING FOR PROSPERITY
Auckland Waterfront (TCL)
This Award recognises initiatives that have stimulated economic activity, social vibrancy, and local pride through place-based investment and activation.
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The winner of the Placemaking for Prosperity Award is the Auckland Waterfront redevelopment, a project that reinvigorated a once-derelict industrial site into a prosperous, mixed-use destination. What makes this project a standout is how it delivered real economic impact. Since opening, the precinct has drawn tens of thousands of visitors, attracted major private sector investment, and kickstarted the broader 30-year Wynyard Quarter redevelopment which is expected to support 25,000 workers and 3,000 new residents. The place-based approach keeps the working harbour alive with fishing boats, seafood markets and maritime industries all woven into the public experience. Auckland Waterfront demonstrates that prosperity comes when place-based approach enables heritage, economy, and public life to thrive together.
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HIGHLY COMMENDED - PLACEMAKING FOR PROSPERITY
The Rocks Revitalisation Strategy (Placemaking NSW)
Placemaking NSW receives a Highly Commended for its revitalisation of The Rocks - a project that’s brought one of Sydney’s oldest precincts back to life. Through clever reuse of heritage buildings, expanded outdoor dining, and a transformed market experience, the strategy has driven an 11% increase in business turnover above pre-COVID levels, cut retail vacancy to just 1%, and now welcomes over a million visitors each month. The Rocks Markets were reimagined to prioritise local makers, attracting repeat visits from locals, not just tourists. This is placemaking that respects the past while driving a thriving, modern economy - combining
HIGHLY COMMENDED - PLACEMAKING FOR PROSPERITY
Back to Guildford (Cumberland City Council)
​Cumberland City Council is awarded Highly Commended for Back to Guildford - a grassroots placemaking project that brought a forgotten laneway and a beloved street festival back to life after 20 years. Informed by ‘walk-shops’ with local women and girls, the upgraded laneway features new lighting, public art by Sophi Odling, smart poles, and free charging stations to improve safety and amenity. The relaunch festival drew 12,000 visitors in one day, with local spending up 64% and businesses reporting sell-out success. This project is a great example of how small, smart interventions - led by locals - can stimulate economic activity, bring a community back together, and deliver great results for prosperity and pride.
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7. WINNER - ENVIRONMENTAL PLACEMAKING
Strathnairn (Riverview Projects)
This Award recognises initiatives that integrate sustainability, climate resilience and ecological value into place planning, design and activation.
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The Environmental Placemaking Award goes to Strathnairn, the first suburb of Ginninderry and a standout example of sustainable placemaking in action. This is the ACT’s first all-electric suburb - achieved through extensive community engagement and innovative design - and home to a 200-hectare Conservation Corridor that’s actively co-managed by residents and a dedicated trust. Streets are up to 10 degrees cooler than neighbouring suburbs thanks to mature tree retention, light-coloured surfaces, and water-sensitive landscaping. Strathnairn is a place where nature, innovation and community are genuinely integrated - and where environmental values shape not just infrastructure, but how people live in a place every day.
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HIGHLY COMMENDED - ENVIRONMENTAL PLACEMAKING
Kedron Brook Riverine Recovery (Fourfold Studio)
Delivered by Fourfold Studio, Healthy Land & Water, and Bligh Tanner, Kedron Brook Riverine Recovery earns a Highly Commended for turning post-flood damage into a compelling opportunity for environmental renewal and community resilience. The project restored a flood-damaged urban creek using nature-based methods like log jams, native planting, and bank stabilisation and equipped residents with the tools and knowledge to regenerate their own backyards. Over 90% of participants reported improved environmental understanding, and many began their own revegetation projects after hands-on workshops. The result is a stronger, more resilient Kedron Brook - not just ecologically, but as a place where people feel empowered to care for land, water, and each other as long-term stewards of the place.
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8. WINNER - DIGITAL PLACEMAKING
Digital Placemaking (Placemaking NSW)
This Award recognises innovative use of digital tools and technologies to enhance place experience, access, storytelling, or real-time management.
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Placemaking NSW takes out the Digital Placemaking Award for its ground-breaking strategy to enrich how people connect with some of Sydney’s most iconic places. At White Bay, the new website drew over 116,000 sessions, a Google 360 tour opened the site up to virtual visitors, and an audio tour combining First Nations stories and soundscapes kept people engaged on-site for 15 minutes at a time. A campaign for the Power Up Festival translated online traffic into 17,000 real-world visitors. This is digital placemaking at its best - mixing digital storytelling, tech and real-time data to enhance access, drive visitation, and strengthen the cultural identity of a place. ​
HIGHLY COMMENDED - DIGITAL PLACEMAKING
Benchmark NSW (Transport for NSW)
Transport for NSW receives Highly Commended for Benchmark NSW - a smart, and data-rich digital placemaking initiative that combined modular seating and AI-powered sensors to understand how people, particularly women and gender-diverse groups, use and feel in a public space. The co-designed benches were made from recycled plastic and installed with motion-activated lighting. AI vision sensors anonymously captured how people sat, moved, and socialised, revealing a 8x increase in dwell time and an eightfold rise in the number of women staying after dark. With its open-source guidebook and transparent data practices, Benchmark NSW sets a precedent for tech-enabled, inclusive public space design.
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9. WINNER - POP-UP PLACEMAKING
Kwun Tong Free Space (Urban Renewal Authority, Hong Kong)
This Award recognises temporary or fast-delivery initiatives that activate underused space, test ideas, or foster new connections to place.
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The Pop-Up Placemaking Award goes to the Kwun Tong ‘Free Space’ Project, an ambitious transformation of idle redevelopment land into a vibrant, people-first public precinct. Led by the Urban Renewal Authority, this project turned seven vacant plots into active spaces for sport, art, performance, and celebration - including basketball courts, digital light projections, and Hong Kong’s first community ‘Poon Choi’ banquet. Over 1.5 million visitors engaged with over 50events in just 286 days. By listening to the community and delivering fast, creative activation in one of the world’s most densely populated cities, Free Space shows the power of temporary placemaking to shape future cities.
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HIGHLY COMMENDED - POP-UP PLACEMAKING
Wentworth Point Pop-Up Town Square (Billbergia)
Billbergia is awarded Highly Commended for the Wentworth Point Pop-Up Town Square - a temporary activation that delivered lasting impact in a high-density urban renewal precinct. The square has grown into a vital social hub, hosting over 20 monthly markets, food truck events, sports clinics, cultural festivals, and the annual school Christmas concert, transforming an underused development site into 3,000 square metres of open space, with sports fields, a playground, and an indoor hub. This is pop-up placemaking done right - it is responsive, collaborative, and shaping the future permanent space for the community.
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PAST AWARD RECIPIENTS
