What Makes Places Perform in 2026?

This article is a guest contribution from the public art firm MASSIVart.

Across sectors and project scales, performance is increasingly driven by how people experience a place day to day. Placemaking helps shape both new and existing places around real patterns of use through design, programming and art. Together, they guide orientation, pause and connection. Here are three ideas shaping place performance in 2026:

3 Placemaking ideas you should steal this year:

1. Design for return and dwell, not just arrival

Places that perform over time are designed around repeat behaviour: familiar paths, intuitive layouts and moments that feel easy rather than impressive. Placemaking starts with how a place works on an ordinary day, not on opening day.

PLAY ON THE PLAZA designed and produced by MASSIVart for The Amazing Brentwood

2. In-between spaces are value drivers

The entrance sequence, the pause before a storefront, the transition from street to interior... These spaces shape perception before a tenant, shop or program ever does. Designed intentionally, they reduce friction, improve comfort and quietly influence dwell time and perception.

Naked Excess by Michelle Bui - Curated by MASSIVart for ROYALMOUNT (Montreal)

3. Strong places feel familiar early

The places people connect with fastest are the ones that feel familiar early on. Identity builds when a project reflects existing habits, local culture and everyday rhythms. Temporary gestures often help here, not as events, but as ways to test, adjust and let familiarity grow before permanence sets in.

Alpha Bravo Charlie by CK-JJ, curated and produced by MASSIVart for The Waterfront BIA (Toronto)

About this week's guest contribution:

MASSIVart is a creative placemaking and public art strategy firm founded in 2009 with projects globally and offices in Montreal, Toronto and Mexico City. 

Our team is dedicated to building a physical and emotional connection between the community and the places they share, maximizing their value. As a partner from strategy to implementation, we plan, curate, and bring to life private and public realm projects for real estate developers and municipalities, designed with a people-first approach right from the start. MASSIVart merges creative programming with strategy, transforming places into vibrant destinations.