Publicness
Clementine: “Public places and public services are the main avenues through which population mixing policies operate in cities to counterbalance segregated housing markets. Having a space (and a time) to be present together is the precondition for interactions, meeting and eventually mixing into a cohesive society. While this is the purpose of (already diverse) central urban spaces, many peripheries were built with the purpose to distinguish or separate groups and individuals. New spatial forms have to be found to counteract segregative tendencies.”
Birgit: “Publicness is a quality that emerges when spaces welcome a diversity of people. By reaching beyond individual communities, these spaces create an inclusive common ground. Publicness thereby becomes an essential dimension of urbanity. This raises the question of what constitutes a new common ground amid the multiplicity of communities that characterises contemporary urban life.”
Francesca: “Design can enable publicness by creating spatial conditions that invite people to share everyday life. In peripheral and increasingly privatised environments, this means designing beyond individual and focusing instead on the spaces in between: streets, thresholds, routes and shared places. The challenge is therefore not only to provide public space, but to shape a spatial framework that encourages encounter, coexistence and a sense of collective belonging.”
