Design and architecture greatly influence lifestyles and the ways in which residents use and engage with urban areas. The local character of a space, its genius loci, has a direct impact on people's relationship (positive or negative) to their surroundings. That "sense of place" is defined by the physical environment, but is also linked to the context and history of a site, its practices and uses, to the sensory experience of the space, the mood and atmospheres emanating from it and therefore, more globally, to the social and cultural values making up that site's particular imprint. Consideration for those social and cultural values ensures design or architecture of superior quality that makes a space more fulfilling for the people who live there and more attractive to visitors.*
How can design and architecture contribute to improved cultural attractiveness?
- Emphasizing and promoting the heritage value of the site and its buildings, including material, immaterial, landscape and natural heritage (e.g., archeological vestiges, Indigenous lands, emblematic landscapes, architectural forms and materiality).
- Opening up the project to the public and providing access to places that commemorate events or people that have left their mark on collective memory.
- Valuing local resources and expertise in the choice of construction materials and methods.
- Developing a visual language that is in continuity with the history of the space, to ensure harmonious co-existence of the old and the new (e.g., form, materials, textures, colours, rhythms).
- Valuing existing uses and services and engaging in continuity with them.
- Incorporating design elements that celebrate temporality (e.g., night-time lighting and design), seasonality (e.g., wintertime design) or other cultural expressions.
- Dedicating spaces in the project for gathering, exchange and creation for artists, performers and cultural professionals.
- Including a hub for cultural presentation and mediation that stimulates public enthusiasm and the collective imagination.