Welcome to the November issue of CODAmagazine, where we share the best design + art projects from all over the world. This magazine is published once a month by CODAworx. We’re an online community for artists, design professionals, and industry resources to showcase their work, collaborate with one another, and find the creative resources they need for future projects.

Placemaking is shaping the built environment, and art is often the catalyst that brings about a transformation. When integrated early and with intention, art can create memorable experiences that help bring a community together. Placemaking is about more than just materials and the intelligent use of environments, it is about art that establishes connections and emotions.

The creatives whose projects were selected for this issue of CODAmagazine are skilled at connecting people to their sense of place, and that is why they succeed in developing new experiences or improving locations through their artistic practice.

One of my favorite projects in this issue is named Soft Civic. Even the name communicates so much–a place that is inviting, alive, and essential to public life. Places are significant because people choose to spend time in them, because of the stories they tell us, and because of what we share about them. Consider how the complex River Constellation from KenyonZubko Collaborative becomes significant thanks to the ideas it was built with. This project is not just about how the music and the light work together–Kenyon and Zubko recognized that too often, information about financial donors is not very visible or known. By creating a place where people gather and have easier access to the information about the donors, they honor them and inform or encourage people to reflect about those who helped the park become what it is.

Carbon, a project in Canberra, Australia, is another example of placemaking success. Made with many ideas about the environment in mind, the defining element may be the reuse of rubber from tires, a metaphor for the wheel and recycling.

When outstanding placemaking occurs, the results bring a new energy to spaces. I hope you enjoy the projects in this issue and imagine the places they are making.