Placemaking enables communities to create change for and made by the local community rather than by the wealthy powerful who make developments into profit. Placemaking can be used as a citizen participation model to combat gentrification in cities. This mode of citizen participation transfers the power from city developers to the people of the local community. This mode of citizen participation gives vulnerable communities of low-income people, people of color, immigrants, and/or other marginalized groups to engage in shared community ownership and organization to fit the needs of residents rather than the wants of private developers. Considering that shared public spaces are vital for community happiness and development, placemaking can be used as a tool to maximize the value from public spaces and empower the citizens who control them.

The relationship between self and society is largely determined by the environments in which individuals live. Citizens can participate locally to take some level of control over their own environments and thus lives. Creative Placemaking can be used as a citizen participation model that mobilizes neighborhood residents to address the needs of the community.

While Creative Placemaking led to greater mobilization and participation in community affairs in the case of the Brookland-Edgewood neighborhood in Washington, D.C., it is a relatively new citizen participation model that must be further observed and researched.