It?s well understood that a sense of place is an essential value for people, architecture, and cities. Everyone from designers to planners to city governments speak breathlessly of the power of places to transform cities for the better - but it?s not clear what placemaking really means.

Courtesy of Es Devlin

It?s well understood that a sense of place is an essential value for people, architecture, and cities. Everyone from designers to planners to city governments speak breathlessly of the power of places to transform cities for the better - but it?s not clear what placemaking really means.Even more frustratingly, the term is often wielded to defend opposing styles or approaches in architecture. For some, making a place can mean creating an architecture of singular identity; for others, it means understanding and blending into existing context. The power of place is commonly extolled in advertisements for massive private development; it?s proven an equally valuable watchword for local preservation and community efforts. This week's stories touched on a range of definitions of placemaking. Read on for this week's review. The Two Extremes
Historical building and Yale university campus in downtown New Haven CT, USA / via Shutterstock.com

Robert Stern, founder of RAMSA and former Dean of Yale?s School of Architecture, is known for his portfolio of neo-classical works, works that at first glance seem disconnected from much of contemporary architectur...