Restrictions on the use of public space and physical distancing have been key policy measures to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and protect public health. At the time of writing, one half of the ...world's population has been asked to stay home and avoid many public places. What will be the long term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on public space once the restrictions have been lifted? The depth and extent of transformation is unclear, especially as it relates to the future design, use and perceptions of public space. This article aims to highlight emerging questions at the interface of COVID-19 and city design. It is possible that the COVID-19 crisis may fundamentally change our relationship with public space. In the ensuing months and years, it will be critical to study and measure these changes in order to inform urban planning and design in a post-COVID world.
In 1961, New York City's Department of City Planning adopted a bonus incentive programme, allowing developers to build larger buildings if they provided public space. Via a series of zoning ...amendments, changes to the programme have resulted in a series of changes in the design and use of the spaces. Information for the article was drawn from: archival materials, observations of the use and users of the spaces, and interviews with planners. The history of the David Rubenstein Atrium is presented in detail to answer the question of how the role of the DCP changed over time.
Managing public space is a big and important blind spot of urban and regional planning and design. Important, because major transition challenges, such as climate adaptation, energy transition, ...circular economy, mobility, and governance require substantial changes in public space – both physical and social changes. Big, because managing public space entails enormous budgets and potentials over a long period of time in which management and maintenance takes place, which are largely spent operational and sectoral. A more integral and strategic management of public space entails huge potentials, which are hitherto neglected in the academic debate on public space in general and that of cities in particular.
This contribution builds on explorative work on management of public space in academia and on a survey of Dutch managing public space practice and pleads for a more systematic academic debate and research on management of public space.
•Due to urbanization and densification the importance of optimal use of public space in society is increasing.•Windows of opportunity for major urban transitions arise are at the end of thelifecycle of public space.•There is a need in society for an effective management of public space and a demand for a more integral-strategic approach.•Challenges in managing public space show similarities to the academic paradigm shift in spatial planning in the 1970s.•The academic community need to embrace managing public space as an academic and societal challenge.
The aim of the present study is the development of a model for the assessment of construction design solutions for outdoor public spaces, specifically for streets, squares, and parks, sustained by ...the analysis of the most important criteria in the urban space. Each of these criteria is divided into sub-criteria, that are very relevant in defining the rigour of the respective model, where materials and construction solutions play a very important role in the quality of a given outdoor public space and are decisive in obtaining a good classification. Through the approach of the assessment model, it is possible to define a matrix of relationships between the criteria and the sub-criteria of the analysis, allowing the perception of which sub-criteria have more influence in the assessment of the outdoor public space. The overall result of the assessment of a given outdoor public space is presented on a qualitative scale defined by quality levels, and improvements can be identified to move to a higher quality level.
This paper discusses the opportunities and challenges of public space management (PSM) in the Mexican context by analysing the perspectives of different governance actors. Issues in the PSM ...literature include ineffective political decisions, prevalence of the private sector, lack of coordination between government institutions, and a need for more effective social participation. While most PSM studies focus on European cities, empirical PSM knowledge in the Latin American context is scarce. To address this gap, this research elucidates the Mexican context by investigating and adapting a PSM framework in Mexico City and Puebla. The case study research is based on qualitative document research and interview analysis from four groups of governance actors: government officials, academics, NGOs, and architecture/urban planning firms. We found multiple PSM challenges: uncoordinated efforts in the maintenance of public space, lack of and polarisation of investment, and privatisation of public space. At the intra-governmental level, the research identified a lack of coordination between government institutions, increasing reliance on the private sector, and limited opportunities for residents to participate in PSM processes. The paper highlights missing links between existing governance actors involved in PSM and wider residents, in the pursuit of the ambitious role of achieving public space quality.
•Public Space Management theory contrasts with the reality in the Mexican context.•Governments rely on the private sector for the development of public spaces.•Limited opportunities for local residents to participate in Public Space Management processes•Awareness is needed among governance actors on the management of public spaces.•Lack of transparency in publicly available data affects how public spaces are managed.
Urban public space has been associated with increased physical activity, social interaction, neighbourhood cohesion and subjective well-being. Yet, the vast majority of literature focuses on green ...and blue space, excluding the potential therapeutic value of “hard-surfaced” public space, such as a civic or market square. Therefore, for the first time in the public space literature, we quantify hard-surfaced public space's variation across a major city (Greater London). We merge this with data on residents' well-being (taken from the Understanding Society Survey Wave 6, n = 3684). Using a multivariate linear model, we initially found no direct association between hard space and well-being, whilst we found a significant positive correlation for green space. Interaction effects of 1) the perception of neighbourhood safety and 2) housing tenure, were then considered. Hard space was significantly positively correlated to well-being in high-safety neighbourhoods, yet this relationship was inversed in low-safety areas. This interaction effect was especially large and significant for social housing residents, who seem to reap the greatest benefits from, but are also most susceptible to the dangers of, hard-surfaced space. It is suggested that hard space, through its ability to foster pro-social behaviour, may be related to well-being through separate causal mechanisms than green space.
•Green and hard-surface public space have distinct, non-overlapping associations to well-being.•Hard-surface public space is positively associated to well-being in safe neighbourhoods; negatively in unsafe areas.•This interaction effect is especially large in magnitude and significance for social housing residents.•Neighbourhood green space provision is significantly positively associated to resident well-being.
Public open spaces such as parks and green spaces are key built environment elements within neighbourhoods for encouraging a variety of physical activity behaviours. Over the past decade, there has ...been a burgeoning number of active living research studies examining the influence of public open space on physical activity. However, the evidence shows mixed associations between different aspects of public open space (e.g., proximity, size, quality) and physical activity. These inconsistencies hinder the development of specific evidence-based guidelines for urban designers and policy-makers for (re)designing public open space to encourage physical activity. This paper aims to move this research agenda forward, by identifying key conceptual and methodological issues that may contribute to inconsistencies in research examining relations between public open space and physical activity.
Privately Owned Public Space/s (POPS) is a mechanism to increase provision of public space, particularly in densely built-up urban areas. The empirical work undertaken along the Teheran-ro in Seoul ...reveals that even well-equipped and highly accessible POPS can be exclusive or underused. This paper argues that the problem of exclusion and underuse of POPS is related to the lack of knowledge of POPS and of awareness that they are public spaces. The more they are known and perceived as public spaces, the more widely and actively they will be used. Hence, the paper adds further recommendations to the existing suggestions.
Urban planning, design guidelines and new management practices have radically transformed public spaces in many countries. With fresh development decisions, urban spaces change spatially. This may ...improve places, increasing prosperity and extending expectations of modernization in many cities. However, widespread public disillusion and failures to produce environments reflecting local values can collectively shape public areas. This article contributes to debate about dynamism in such spaces. It explores how modernist approaches to planning and design alongside fractures in management practices in emerging cities have shaped the quality urban space. We use Jeddah as a radically re-planned city in a rapidly developing economy, but one where largely unusable public spaces have failed to meet people's everyday needs and aspirations. Our investigation – based on extensive literature reviews, documentary analyses, morphological survey, photographic and qualitative surveys – provides a better understanding of the role of a proactive urban design for promoting environmental quality. This helps resolve the multiple challenges confronting public space provision.
•This study aims to fill a gap in the literature concerning public space transformation in cities of emerging economies.•It explores the impact of the ill-considered application of modernist approaches to planning and design of public space in Jeddah.•The findings reveal that the race to adopt ‘modernist’-inspired planning approaches has created meaningless, unloved and unused spaces.•The article argues that if public spaces are to meet the needs and desires of city residents a proactive urban design approach is required.
Public spaces are the loci of complex interactions among multiple stakeholders whose decisions and activities affect places' qualities. The paper builds upon governance theory to provide a holistic ...in-depth approach in understanding the complexity and quality of the place-shaping processes in public spaces. In the absence of adequate conception of governance in urban design and public spaces, the paper introduces a framework for analysing governance capacity of public spaces and applies the framework to a flagship but highly contested public space in Brisbane, Australia namely South Bank Parklands. The proposed framework encompasses four major components of 1) actors and stakeholders, 2) governance structure, 3) governing tools, and 4) governing tasks. The framework puts special emphasis on the contextual factors, the way public spaces are shaped and governed, and political economy of the space. The case study application showcases the applicability of the PSGF which helps holistically analyse the trends in public space governance structure accounting for the diversity and complexity of all elements involved. The findings reveal that South Bank Parklands governance is mix-structured, hierarchical, and highly political. It is, however, a likeable public space for which civic engagement in the decision-making processes is notably limited.
•Public spaces are shaped through complex interactions among formal and informal actors whose motivations can be contrasting•Public space governance (PSG) provides a holistic approach to public space shaping and management•PSG is largely affected by political economy, power structure,and history of place•PSG examination provides a better understanding of ramifications of the private sector involvement in public place shaping•Innovative institutional arrangement in South Bank Parklands as a contested space led into a dynamic quality place shaping
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