AMuse: placemaker Anne-Marie Mosterman

“After my studies in Architecture, I ended up in commercial real estate. There things often went fast. It was purely about scoring and profit. Then I made the move to the municipality and all kinds of political and social facets suddenly came into play. I had to deal with other parties, such as the city council. Yes, just try to get all those council members to go along with a project or plan! It meant a new, challenging dimension in which I was forced to make different choices.”

“At the municipality, I was an area developer for a long time. In 2015, I made the move to placemaking. At that time we were developing the Spoorzone and we wanted to do things differently there. The only question was: How? Before that, we made a plan for a neighborhood, rolled it out and that was that. But that's not how it works and it showed. It doesn't produce a future-proof neighborhood where people like to live and stay. I said that we have to get people interested and involved in a development beforehand. Then they said, 'Anne-marie, you go and do that!' After a year of placemaking, I thought, this is right up my alley.”

“I think that's because I'm connecting and risk-taking by character. Not everyone can placemake. I think it is often underestimated. A placemaker really has to have certain competencies. It's very much about connecting, building relationships. You have to have the courage to take risks. Having a tight schedule and structure doesn't work. You have to be able to let go of that. Sometimes you just have to let things go a little bit. It's about seeing opportunities, seizing opportunities and going with the momentum.”

“The bus canopy above Zwolle's bus station is a good example of this. At the station, very many mbo students take the bus. We therefore focused the design on them in particular and had local artists create the design for the canopy. It turned out very cool. Due to a mistake, the canvas was printed twice. As a result, we suddenly had a huge canvas left over. I then came up with the idea of having people make bags out of that in Zwolle's craft café. It became a huge success. Most people walked straight to the bus station with their bag to see which part their bag was made of. It even made the national news.”

“Someone once said to me about placemaking, 'You just have to start fiddling.' Like: you build four bridges and see which ones are used and then you tear down the others. I think that's a nice metaphor for placemaking. An area is never good all at once. You have to dare to try things out, practice. Placemaking. I first take a step and then make adjustments. I know where I want to go, but not yet how to get there.”