Placemaking as a means towards a future workplace

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic's onset was a critical change for employees all over the world. Many aspects of how they operated, including their working atmosphere, underwent a revolution as a result. As a result, there has been a shift in the nature of “work”. Work is now something you do, not a place you go. It can be done anywhere. Since it is now more normal to be flexible regarding time and location, there are now more working styles than ever. Organisations are getting more involved with changing the workplace to employees' needs and demands to ensure that their real estate continues to meet corporate goals. Since employees are an organisation's most valuable asset, designing and maintaining the physical, virtual, and social workplace to adhere to productivity and employee satisfaction is now crucial for organisations looking to achieve a competitive advantage. This forces organisations to be more accountable, and inclusive, and better integrate stakeholders into their decision-making processes, particularly by paying attention to input and foreseeing expectations from stakeholders. Participation in spatial planning is becoming more widely recognised as a valuable method of gain access to community skills and local knowledge as well as including residents in conversations about place. A strategy that promotes user participation is placemaking. The strategy is born out of the ethical insertion of a specifically designed space into existing settings, opening a platform for dialogue about public places among the many involved stakeholders. This study explores the use of placemaking as a new approach in corporate real estate to transition towards the workplace of the future. Placemaking, or the practice of inspiring people to collectively reimagine and reinvent spaces at the heart of every community, can play a significant role in creating a workspace that is conducive to productivity, collaboration, and innovation. The study combines expert knowledge with case studies from the Dutch real estate market to answer the main research question: How can placemaking help the transition to a future workplace? The characteristics of placemaking are used in four phases of the transition towards a future workplace. Overall, this study provides valuable insights for companies seeking to create adaptable and innovative workspaces that meet the needs of their employees and organization.