We are specialists in the art of Placemaking. We create places to be lived and experienced by both visitors and communities.
We are a multidisciplinary team, both local and international (UK) endowed with strong skills in the various disciplines that make up the art of creating successful places. We introduce a key dimension into the contemporary thinking of spaces – people – in what we refer to as a 4th dimension of space, where the relationship between people and space is at the heart of what we do.
Together On A Mission
A team made up of specialists united in the art of Placemaking with a mission to create and transform spaces into inspiring, vibrant and balanced places capable of attracting diverse communities. With the imperative of securing sustainable local development and a legacy for future generations.
A Hands-On Team
We are a hands-on team passionate about places and people, focused on providing solutions. We have the capacity and knowledge to assist in achieving positive results in a whole range of opportunities for developing places, in a variety of configurations and scales.
Our Contribution
We don’t just imagine. We have the knowledge and passion to transform potential into reality. We have the breadth of experience, understanding and the will to make things happen. Not just because we can, but because we should and we want to work towards creating better places. It’s our contribution to a better World.
History
Our mission has always been to create better places to visit, live and experience.
Once Upon A Time...
What started in 2009 as a company developing Cultural Tourism – Consultal – evolved in 2015 to become a platform for Placemaking, with the ambition of belonging to a new generation of specialist organisations dedicated to the thinking and creation of places with a fully integrated, contemporary and multidisciplinary approach.
Changing Paradigm
We believe that modern planning and design of places has to demonstrate a radical change in the holistic thinking of spaces, the capacity to imagine the future and the levels of inter-disciplinary cooperation due to the complexity of the tasks that are now part of creating and managing today’s places. The creation of Placemakers is our answer to these challenges.
Multidisciplinary Team
For these reasons we brought together in placemakers a wide range of talents – from economists to historians, from urban planners to museologists, from engineers to tourism specialists, from architects to managers – capable of responding to the new challenges of contemporary spaces and the needs of our clients, whether driven by economic, social, cultural or environmental dynamics. Always with a common passion to create better places for living and experiencing.
Philosophy
We are part of a global movement that believes the art of Placemaking serves to provide quality of life and rewarding experiences through the excellence of the places we create. This is why we surround ourselves with people and ideas that share the same passion as us; to create inspiring, vibrant and sustainable places. A passion branded with a unique way of doing Placemaking.
We Believe In The Power Of Working Together
For each project we complement our core-team with practitioners in those areas whose vision and sensitivity are most relevant to the various dimensions and context of a particular space – whether that’s an anthropologist, an engineer or an artist – geared to a project’s objectives and the place DNA.
We Always Start With Research
Our approach always begins with researching the space – territory, community, market, tendencies – and their interaction, which we believe are fundamental elements for defining the project and its planning as well as the only way to maximise the full potential of a place, respecting its legacy, values and identity – revealing its personality
We Promote Sustainability
We never lose sight of the final objective; to guarantee a durable legacy of our work. For this reason we seek to create places that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable by balancing and respecting the various dynamics present in the locations where we intervene.
We Are Guided By Market And Sensitive To The Community
We consider a project in its true context, recognising and valuing the market forces and the interests of the end user, while at the same time never losing sight of its integration with the local community and the sense of place.
We Work In Partnership
We seek to become involved and work closely together with our clients and the stakeholders relevant to the project’s success, aggregating the added value from each. By working together we believe that the scale of what can be achieved can be greater than any individual effort.
We Provide An Integrated Approach
Whether dealing with just a part of a project’s cycle, or the whole process, our responsibility is to apply a creative vision, technical understanding and interdisciplinary skills allied to local knowledge to respond to the challenge. We integrate the various competencies necessary by providing a value-chain of creativity, planning, implementation and operational management for a sound Placemaking project.
Placemakers Team
Bound by a passion, we create inspiring, vibrant and sustainable places.
The Placemakers team in Portugal works closely with Placemakers UK, enhancing technical exchanges of experience and culture, enriching our various dimensions and thereby enabling us to surprise in the quality of our responses.
Simon Punter
Founding Partner
An enthusiast of Portugal where he has lived for over 30 years, Simon founded Consultal, now Placemakers. He was responsible for developing the ILM Cultural Tourism Laboratory which focused on the symbiosis between tourism and culture in the context of visitor attractions, and developing their potential as social and economic development catalysts. With a managerial background and international work experience, he brings important tourism and cultural knowledge to enhance the context of our projects.
Ângela Rodrigues
Architecture
Masters degree in architecture from the Lusíada University in Lisbon. Angela lived in Rio de Janeiro as a child before coming to Portugal where she qualified as an architect and developed projects for public equipment and housing as well as a brief spell working in Publicity. During 2 years she lived in New York and studied Mixed-Media in the School of Visual Arts, subsequently returning to architecture in Portugal where she undertook projects in various fields including residential, rehabilitation, works planning and management – working from her own office in central Lisbon.
Susana Morais
Landscape & Environment
Qualified in environmental planning (UC Berkeley, US), Landscape Architecture, Environmental Planning and a post-graduate degree in Regional and Urban Planning, Susana has over a decade of experience in recreation and leisure areas and developing projects for sustainable tourism. Susana has worked with Placemakers in various projects, particularly in her specialist fields of leisure and tourism.
Rita Neves
Tourism
A post-graduate of Development and Implementation of Tourism Products with over a decade of experience in tourism in national and international teams, specifically in the development of cultural and leisure tourism projects, Rita was part of the ILM Tourism Culture Laboratory. This experience, together with a passion for developing sustainable tourism and her understanding of the 21st. Century tourist needs all support her capacity to idealise experiences for niche markets resulting in the ability to create balanced and practical concepts and solutions for destinations and touristic-cultural resources.
João Belard Correia
Territory
João is the managing partner of Terraforma, responsible for urban and territorial planning, urban management and mobility. João’s knowledge of territory and urban regeneration contribute to the contextualization and integration of our Placemaking projects. He has coordinated and integrated planning and project teams in various areas including territorial planning, urban regeneration strategy, urban planning support, mobility etc.
Simon Ody
Visitor Attractions
Simon has over 20 years’ experience in Visitor Attractions, including 10 years with Grant Leisure Group, with an international reputation as one of the highest regarded consultants in his field. What sets him apart is his practical and operational experience as one who has himself invested and also represented investors in the sector. Today he is executive director of Placemakers UK, a specialist UK consultancy for tourism and cultural projects in various parts of the World.
Inês Proença
Urban & Cultural Studies
Qualified in Business Management with nearly 15 years’ experience in multinational large-scale consumer retailing and associated real-estate, Inês radically changed her life-plan in 2012 to follow her passion, by taking a Master’s degree course in Urban and Cultural Studies in Rio de Janeiro, where she also lived for those three years. Her investigation was focused on urban regeneration, cultural economy, heritage and public spaces. Inês has collaborated in related projects in both Rio and Lisbon.
Martha Seabra
Museology and History
Qualified in History of Art; it is in the context of her Master’s degree in Museology that she has worked with Placemakers in the conception and analysis of spaces and their content, reconciling the often conflicting pressures of commercial interest on projects with academic criteria and the quality of the visitor experience. Martha has both public and private sector experience in these areas.
Tim Rusby
Visitor Attractions
Over the past 25 years Tim has led and worked on numerous visitor attraction projects all over the world in both the public and private sectors. His roles have included promoter, design manager, project manager, contractor and operator. Highly professional and creative, a “practical visionary”, he is energetic with a vast experience of all the project phases. Tim was co-founder of the Visitor Attraction Company, a director of Paragon Entertainment and president of the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) for Europe.
Others may have skills, but few of us have passion as well
Associates
The consolidated position of Consultal, now extended to Placemakers® has contributed to the understanding and development of our sector, very often in an altruistic manner, which has allowed us to create privileged relationships with international organisations connected with Placemaking. These include foreign Trusts and not-for-profit organisations not normally open to private sector partnerships, but given the nature of our mission and unique approach have honoured us with their support.
Specialists
For each project we complement our permanent in-house team with sector specialists; professionals from our carefully constructed network with specific areas of knowledge pertinent to the individual characteristics of each challenge. They complement our core team allowing us to provide a holistic approach, bringing specific technical skills or local knowledge, keeping in mind that each place has its own DNA and each challenge has totally unique characteristics.