Prevent All Authenticated Users from Beeing able to Create a Place

Login as a site administrator.

Then go to:

Site Administration → Advanced Administration → Manage Pages → Content Root → Home

and click the onto the “Permissions” icon.

Edit the role “User”.

Remove entry “All Authenticated Portal Users”.

Click “Add”.

Add the users/groups who should be allowed to create places.

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(Thanks to "The Quickr Blog")