The League has partnered with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) and the Michigan State University Land Policy Institute (LPI) on numerous initiatives in recent years to promote investments in quality places across the state.

Now, our friends at MSHDA and LPI have produced a new free guidebook, titled Placemaking as an Economic Development Tool, to capture many of the lessons learned from these initiatives. Everything you ever wanted to know about placemaking, including underpinning research, elements and processes of placemaking, regulatory tools, the four types of placemaking, and more are in this book.

Placemaking as an Economic Development Tool is an excellent resource for local government staff and elected and appointed officials. While every community is faced with a different set of challenges, this tool can be used to help provide knowledge of placemaking initiatives that could be adaptable to every community’s unique situations, and shows it does not require extensive time and money to make a difference or create a “sense of place.” The techniques and tools discussed in this guidebook will help to improve local quality of life and economic competitiveness by assisting in creating vibrant places where people are drawn to live, work, play, shop, learn and visit.

The guidebook is available as an eBook in electronic format (PDF) only. To receive access to your free download, complete the Limited Use Agreement form (download here: http://landpolicy.msu.edu/resources/pmedtguidebook) and send it directly to LPI. Each person wishing to download the guidebook must complete and return this form. Further instructions are included on the form.

If you’d like to discuss how to further utilize this guidebook and apply the lessons to your community, please contact Luke Forrest.