Editorial: Social responsibility

Abstract

A quick glance at the table of contents of this issue of Urban Design and Planning may create the impression that the topics on offer are somewhat disparate; after all, post-disaster rebuilding, tourist wayfinding and Dutch urban design do not seem to have much in common. A subsequent scan of keywords reveals ‘social impact’ listed in four of the six contributions. Dexter Hunt and his five co-authors make no such claim in their paper ‘Appraising infrastructure for new towns in Ireland’, but do use the keywords ‘social importance’, ‘social infrastructure’ and ‘social needs’ (Hunt et al. 2012). Similarly, although Han Meyer’s keywords are ‘design methods and aids’, ‘floods and floodworks’ and ‘urban regeneration’, his paper refers to ‘social conditions’, ‘social vulnerability’ and the ‘social characteristics of Rotterdam’ (Meyer, 2012). Interestingly, every contribution features the term ‘public space’.