This paper explores the public space as a public good. Public space is understood as a ‘void’ in the urban continuum that has unlimited access for the city dwellers. We study the public space as a ...physical, material space, as imaginative material space and as a formative part of the public domain in order to answer the following question: what are the aspects of public space that articulate the city? The public space is necessary for social and economic reasons. The city needs both spaces to socialise, meeting places, and above all, spaces for the enjoyment of solitude. A public park, for example, can at the same time fulfil both social needs. A public space is also economically efficient. It is unfeasible for each person to own a garden with majestic trees, a large pond and a vine-covered pergola. But many people could for example at the same time use a public park that has all these features. The public space as defined in this paper has the two characteristics that define a public good, namely non-excludability and non-rivalry. Public spaces are non-excludable by definition as everyone can access them. They can be, and sometimes are, to an extent non-rivalrous. That is, the enjoyment of a user does not detract from the enjoyment of any other. It follows that when users start to interfere negatively with each other’s enjoyment the public good becomes congested and it is not able to perform all or some of its functions.
The need for governments and stakeholders to find urgent solutions to address the destructive effects of disasters in urban areas has led to the call for cross-sector collaborations such as ...public-private partnerships to assist with the development of urban community resilience in this modern era. This paper comprehensively reviews studies on the critical strategies in using public-private partnerships as a collaboration mechanism in building urban community resilience. Through a two-stage systematic literature review process, 83 publications related to PPPs and urban community resilience were retrieved for thorough content analysis. Based on an analysis of the literature, 35 critical resilience strategies for using PPPs in building urban community resilience were derived. These strategies were further categorized into nine major groupings. These groups include vulnerability and risks assessment, information gathering, database, legal, monitoring and evaluation, resilience capacity, communication and coordination, financial incentives, and business continuity. Furthermore, a theoretical framework was developed. These resilience strategies can be adopted by states and communities that intend to use the PPP concept to build the resilience of their urban communities. It also opens the international debate on the suitability of the PPP model for community resilience building.
The reengagement of Jørn Utzon on the Sydney Opera House in 1999 was considered an international coup and opportunity for healing and closure to the controversy sparked by his departure 32 years ...earlier. This paper investigates the consequences of Utzon's reengagement and analyses the work completed by Utzon and his collaborators thereafter, both with respect to Utzon's original work and to the work of Utzon's successor, Peter Hall. A focus of the paper is the proposal by Utzon and JPW Architects, for a New Opera Theatre to replace the existing theatre completed by Hall in 1973. This controversial project challenges pre-existing narratives which focus on the Sydney Opera House as either an "unfinished" or "salvaged" masterpiece. While 50 years of successful operation can be attributed to the contribution of both Utzon and Hall, this becomes more complicated when considered within the context of monumentality. The need to accommodate evolving functional requirements within a fixed external form highlights inherent contradictions in the concept of a "modern monument." By agreeing to become reassociated with his most important work, Utzon signalled that he recognised these challenges and, through three projects, demonstrated how the building could continue to evolve into the future.
Relationship management is critical in public–private partnership (PPP), especially when the PPP concept is adopted to build community flood disaster resilience. In this regard, this study aims to ...conduct a systematic review to explore the relationship management strategies for using public–private partnership to build community flood disaster resilience. A systematic literature review was conducted to retrieve relevant publications related to the subject area. Through a thorough three-stage search using Scopus, a total of twenty-nine relevant journal articles were selected for analysis. From the review, a total of twenty-eight individual relationship management strategies for building community flood disaster resilience using PPP were derived. These strategies were put into six categories based on their individual meaning and relation to other factors; these include effective communication, legal and coordination, knowledge co-production, monitoring and evaluation, social initiatives, and consistent funding. Further, a conceptual framework was developed using a meta-governance approach, in which a four-step process is proposed to make the derived relationship management strategies actionable. The outputs of this study will be impactful for future empirical investigations on the use of PPP in building flood resilience.