Why do we need investing in public spaces

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Why do we need investing in public spaces?
Presentation at Waste of Space? Maximising the
benefits of public space a Northeast
perspective, Durham, 26 January 2007

• Ali Madanipour
• Professor of Urban Design
• Newcastle University

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Why do we need investing in public spaces?

• 1. What sort of space is public?
• 2. Structural dimensions of investing in public
  spaces
• 3. Values of physical transformation
• 4. Role of design

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1. What sort of space is public?
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Public space criteria

• Access
• Is space accessible, physically and socially?
• Are the activities, information and opportunities
  in that space available to all?

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Public space criteria

• Agency
• Who is in control of the space?
• Who owns it?
• Who manages it?

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Public space criteria

• Interest
• Who benefits from this space?
• Whose interests are served by the development,
  control and use of space?

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What sort of space is public?

• Public space is
• provided by the public authorities,
• concerns the people as a whole,
• is open or available to them, and
• is used or shared by all
• Different degrees of publicness

• Multi-purpose spaces distinguishable from, and
  mediating between, the exclusive territories of
  households and individuals
• A spatial infrastructure for social life

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2. Structural dimensions of investing in public
spaces
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Public space for economic competitiveness

• Cities in global economy
• Promoting and marketing the city
• Inward investment and firm relocation
• Changing the image of industrial decline
• Improving the potential for tourism
• Catering for gentrified cities
• Catering for service economy
• City as the node for leisure

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Public space for good governance

• Multiplication of agencies
• From government to governance
• From functional to spatial focus
• From sectoral to area-based
• Place as a node for horizontal and vertical links
• Place-based visions and good governance
• Public space as visible outcome
• Citys display window
• Legitimacy of the city authorities

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Public space for social cohesion

• Liberalized economies and social polarization
• Social exclusion and inclusion
• European social model
• Reintegration of fragmented cities
• Promotion of togetherness
• Nodes for sociability
• Enhancing local roots (vs globalization)
• Face-to-face communication
• Local specificity and identity
• Public sphere for exploring difference

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Healing the wounds of divide
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Core and periphery

• Major public spaces as European citys identity
• Focus on the main public spaces, rather than the
  marginal ones

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Marginal public spaces

• Neglect and decline
• Entrapment of difference within limited space
• Competition for space (use, development)
• Communication within space

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3. Values of physical transformation
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Exchange Value

• Investment in physical stock
• Improvement in areas property market
• Beneficial to the development industry
• Beneficial to investors
• Beneficial to home owners
• What about social housing residents?

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Use Value

• Spaces that are better for their purpose
• Better homes
• Better shops
• Better open spaces
• Safer neighbourhoods
• Better functional value

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Symbolic Value

• Positive image (removal of stigma, vibrant new
  image, attracting new residents activities,
  creating new opportunities and higher hopes)
• Shared experience (participation in development
  process, emotional investment)
• Confidence and trust (real and substantial
  changes, being looked after, enabled to look
  after themselves, optimism and hope)

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4. Role of design
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• Good design can help achieve all the three sets
  of values, and combine them in new and exciting
  ways.
• Good design ensures good value for public
  investment.

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Public space as catalyst for change

• Wedding, Berlin
• Kommunales Forum

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Public space as catalyst for change

• Ostersbaum, Wuppertal, Candles in public spaces

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Public space as catalyst for change

• Walker, Newcastle, parties in the street
• Overtoomse Veld, Amsterdam, Moroccan fathers

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Boundaries

• Design as drawing boundaries
• Interdependence of public and private
• Boundary as means of dividing space
• Constant struggle between the two (medieval city)
• Boundary as protection against intrusion of
  public into private space
• Hard or porous boundaries

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Boundaries

• Boundary as protection against intrusion of
  private into public space
• Boundary as a means of communication
• Urban design and the articulation of the boundary