What is a 'Placemaker' (Besides an Overused Buzzword)?

Explaining to his new friends and neighbors exactly what he does for a living often proves difficult to put into words for Howard Blackson, noting:

"In a web search I found a 1995 book, Placemaking: The Art and Practice of Building Communities, by Lynda Schneekloth and Robert Shibley, who define Placemaking as, '…the way in which all human beings transform the places they find themselves into the places where they live.' Which then led me to Fred's iconic mentor, William H. Whyte and his studies on how humans inhabited New York’s various public spaces. Wikipedia’s definition states that it is both a process and a philosophy. How do I explain that to my patient neighbor?"

Blackson goes on to draw on the history and evolution of "placemaking," both in the field of urban design and planning and in his own career, to describe its space in the broader field of urban planning—even though that space has evolved over the years.