Our Services
Urban Mode is a platform for place-oriented development. Here is a closer look at our services and how we can help support place development objectives.
What We Do
All place development strategies should start with a place analysis which include physical observations, desktop research and local stakeholder engagement.
We use methods for place observation developed by the Project for Public Spaces.
We help clients to set up meetings and/or workshops with stakeholders and specifically with users of spaces in the target place. In this regard we work with our associates such as Connect The Dots and Innovate Dublin Communities.
We also produce place profiles for clients based on place analysis conclusions combined with key statistics using available public data (e.g. location demographics and other socio-economic statistics and mapping) and other local data (e.g. footfall counts and weekly turnover averages if available).
Place Bench Marking
To get a good understanding of where a place ranks, we help clients to identify other places that suit for like-for-like comparisons.
We help clients to select appropriate indicators and to agree benchmarks on specific attributes and qualities that define their place.
We create a monitoring plan and process to periodically measure and update place progress against benchmarks.
Place Networking
Once clients have set their place development objectives based on a fairly robust analysis, they need ideas for actions – and good ideas unfortunately don’t roll off a menu for consumption.
In many places, there are people dedicated to creative and participatory placemaking, which means they are improving their places in an iterative process of trying out ideas and experimenting with new uses which they evaluate over time to assess efficacy. We help our clients to meet with these urban innovators.
Our network is international with a comprehensive network of cities, big and small, especially in Europe, thanks to our involvement in URBACT, a European Union Programme to facilitate integrated urban development in the towns and cities of member states and in EEA countries.
Placemaking Learning and Evaluation
We organise and facilitate themed workshops that bring together local actors and stakeholder representatives to deepen place understandings and jointly develop possibilities for improvement.
We love to visit places with a track record of participatory placemaking willing to share good practice and from time to time will organise such visits for clients.
To enable others to learn from our experience, we produce case studies and write stories of places and people and of their journeys to enhance urban living.
Writing Proposals and Plans
We help clients to write proposals especially with regard to calls for proposals for urban regeneration and calls from European Programmes for transnational projects.
‘Putting a strategy together’ often means someone has to wordsmith the agreed vision, objectives and plan into a final document that captures inputs from the strategy development process as well as appropriately signifies intent and commitment of role players over a specified period. We are happy to do the heavy lifting.
We also help clients to review strategies, plans and proposals in as efficient a way as possible. Where needed, we suggest adjustments or new approaches.
Scoping Projects
The implementation of strategies often leads to and informs the development of projects. Such projects could be ‘opportune’ when funding is available to address related issues or support capacity building of key actors. Often however, projects have to be conceptualised and presented to convince budget holders and decision makers of the value and benefits that will accrue from projects.
We help our clients to scope and present projects in terms of delivery methodology, resource requirements, road mapping and next steps for activation.