Urban Public Space Research Articles

The politics of restor(y)ing: towards a conflictual approach to art in urban public space

This paper investigates the political implications of public art using frameworks of conflict and antagonism. We introduce ‘restor(y)ing’ as an analytical scaling device for examining public art’s potential to destabilise official planning processes and reclaim cities through acts of re-telling (restorying) and re-making (restoring) urban spaces. We probe how commissioned/formal and unsolicited/informal public art practices can concurrently operate as artistic activism – or ‘artivism’ – to subvert the status quo in urban contexts that encounter rising socio-spatial inequalities. We deploy restor(y)ing both as an epistemic and real-world commitment to challenging hegemonic powers, and thus amplify activist agendas of marginalised communities. Our argument demonstrates how such politics of restor(y)ing works as a device to unpack conflictual interrelations between ‘æffects’: affects and effects that political public art can invoke simultaneously, yet potentially unevenly. The politics of æffects reveal contestations around public art in urban planning contexts and policies, public communication, and reception. They foreground intended inclusions vs. systemic exclusions (politics of effects) and the emanating impacts on urban belonging vs. alienation (politics of affects). While much public art scholarship accentuates its alleged positive benefits, we attend to the (oft-ambiguous) negative, conflict-attuned æffects of public art. Ultimately, we advocate for an intersectional approach to restor(y)ing urban justice through public artivism.

The Use of the Smart Technology for Creating an Inclusive Urban Public Space

This paper strives to enhance the inclusivity of urban public spaces, which play a crucial role in providing essential services for all citizens, including community building, physical and mental well-being, social interaction, civic engagement, citizen participation, and economic vitality. Despite the importance of these spaces, as recognized by the UN’s 2030 sustainability goals, the 2023 UN sustainable development report and scholars have drawn attention to their low availability, particularly for low-income individuals, women, children, and people with disabilities. To improve the inclusivity of public spaces, this paper offers the following contributions. (i) The establishment of a comprehensive framework for assessing public space inclusivity. This framework incorporates eight indicators: spatial distribution, typology, facilities and services, green and humid areas, governance and management, safety, user categories, and user satisfaction. (ii) The utilization of the framework to assess the inclusivity of public spaces in Nablus, a major Palestinian city. This assessment confirms the observations made by the UN and scholars regarding the low inclusivity of public spaces; in particular, a lack of public space, poor spatial distribution, and user dissatisfaction with safety conditions and services. (iii) The introduction of the concept of smart public space, which involves citizens in the governance of this space and leverages smart technology for monitoring, providing real-time information and services to citizens, improving facility efficiency, and creating an eco-friendly environment that preserves resources and biodiversity. By addressing these aspects, this paper enhances inclusivity. It promotes the development of an urban public space that caters to the diverse needs of the community, fostering a sense of belonging and well-being for all.

Music as symbolic action

The aim of this paper is to describe and exemplify a theoretical perspective for the analysis of music as symbolic action in critical studies of discourse. We use deployments of music by legislatures in Australia, the UK, and the USA as exemplar cases to develop foundations for a critical, non-semiotic perspective that sees music work as gestalt complexes of physical and cultural forces that move people towards or away from specific actions and attitudes. In presenting our perspective we critique some semiotic assertions about music that are commonplaces in discourse studies and elsewhere. Our cases draw on news reports and scholarly discourse about the use of music as a means of torture in warfare and as a means of purifying urban public spaces by keeping youth and homeless people out of them at night.

Modeling of pedestrian turning behavior and prediction of pedestrian density distribution

As urban public spaces attract more pedestrians, it is essential to prevent excessive pedestrian aggregation. Use of a walking behavior model is crucial to predict the distribution of pedestrian density. In earlier studies, the modeling of walking behavior generally focused on straight walking or aimless strolling. In recent years, more complex models of walking behavior, including turning behavior, have increasingly gained attention. Because the majority of models are calibrated using data gathered from experimental settings, research on the prediction of turning behavior of multi-scale walking passages in life scenarios remains in its development.The aim of this paper is to develop a turning behavior model suitable for multi-scale pedestrian passages. The expected walking direction was predicted by combining the global path planning model with a gradually changing expected direction with the local path planning model based on the attention field. Then, it was integrated with social force model to predict the pedestrian walking behavior and density distribution. Settings in the turning behavior model such as adaptively changing the expected walking direction according to the particular circumstance, approaching the inner curve upstream of the passage intersecting space, and appropriate pedestrian heterogeneity traits were found to help make predictions more accurately. The proposed turning behavior model is applicable to physical environments with different widths without recalibrating parameters and is suitable for predicting the distribution of pedestrian density in urban life scenarios with a variety of passage widths, which helps in the effective design and renovation of pedestrian space.

A momentary lack of rituals: urban festivities cancelations in Geneva, Turin, and Zurich during the COVID-19 lockdowns

Rituals of territorial belonging as established practices of inclusion improve dynamics of belonging and coexistence. They are particularly significant in the city where people need rituals to trust each other. But what happens when rituals disappear? The Covid-19 pandemic is an experiment on a societal level on the role of rituals. We will analyze three canceled or strongly modified traditional events in Geneva, Zurich, and Turin. We conclude that these cancellations of rituals in urban public spaces generated a lack of territorial belonging and produced mistrust and anger, but at the same time pushed people to develop new dynamics to fill this void. Frustration over the cancellation was transformed into agency. This sense of emptiness was filled through the multiplication of personal and social rituals, through the rediscovery of the city’s territory alone or with their groups of affiliation, and through new digital rituals linked to the urban ritual.

Cultural transcendence and urban-rural linkages of fairs in the Central Andes of Peru

Motives: In the public space of the city of Jauja, culturally significant fairs have been held since the times of the Inca Empire. The diversity of agricultural production in Mantaro Valley favors the emergence of fairs as the main sites for the sale and exchange of local products in the city. The following research question was formulated: what is the physical and spatial impact of the activities organized in public space on fairs, the city, and the region?Aim: The aim of the study was to analyze the physical and spatial impact of fairs in Mantaro Valley, and to explore fairs as urban-rural linkages in urban public spaces. The research methodology involved participatory observation and a review of local urban policies.Results: The results of the study indicate that fairs promote social coexistence. The typological diversity of fairs at the architectural level, their spatial organization, and impact on the urban structure of Jauja were identified.

Urban Public Space Initiatives and Health in Africa: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review

Urban Public Space Initiatives and Health in Africa: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review

The spatial nexus of monuments, memorability and identity formation in Chatsworth and Durban Central, South Africa

AbstractThe monumentalization of public space has received significant scholarly attention both globally and locally. In the South African context, this interest has been further heightened by the #Rhodes Must Fall campaign in 2015, which raised questions about the relevance of colonial statues in the post-transformation era. This campaign sparked extensive debates regarding monumentalization within the country’s cultural landscape. Against this backdrop, the present empirical study aims to contribute to these discussions by examining the role of monuments, particularly their spatial characteristics, in shaping processes of memory and identity reconstruction within urban public spaces. The study employed cultural mapping techniques, including participatory GIS (PGIS) and semi-structured interviews, to generate data in the areas of Chatsworth and Durban Central. Additionally, the study draws upon Henri Lefebvre’s (1974) conceptualizations of monuments and Proshansky’s (1983) place-identity theory to explore the constitutive relationship between the spatiality of monuments and embodied memories in the production of spatial identities. The empirical findings of the study affirm monuments as sites for negotiating spatial identities, acknowledging the diversity and multiplicity of memories and identities that emerged. Furthermore, the study highlights the significance of the spatial context of monuments, including dimensions such as aesthetic appeal, geographic prominence, positionality, and discernibility, in influencing the symbolic value of monuments in memory-making and identity formation processes. In conclusion, the paper emphasizes the importance of reconfiguring the spatial context of monuments to ensure their efficacy in processes of memorialization and identity reconstruction.

The conflictual governance of street experiments, between austerity and post-politics

Car dependency greatly contributes to the climate crisis and the corrosion of public space. In response, cities are introducing pedestrianisation, cycle lanes or tactical urban interventions aimed at repurposing streets for other road users. Framed as ‘experiments’, these reallocations of street space disrupt traditional transport planning procedures, often with promising results in promoting active travel. They are also associated with deep conflicts and criticism, especially by citizens defending the right to drive. Despite their ability to stop experiments, such conflicts have been little explored in the debates about experimentation and automobility. Similarly, street experiments have in most cases been uncritically embraced as a panacea for urban mobility problems, with little attention paid to experimentation as an expression of austerity urbanism. This paper aims to deepen our understanding of street experiments and their relationship to automobility by contextualising their conflictual unfolding as an expression of post-political planning in the age of austerity urbanism. Through a critical examination of the Torino Mobility Lab, a collaborative pedestrianisation experiment in Torino, we show how the governance-beyond-state setup of such projects masks a complex and contested coexistence of different meanings and processes for reimagining urban mobility and public space. We show how conflicts emerge embedded in the problematic and post-political governance of transport experiments. Nested within austerity urbanism, the experiment remains limited in its ability to create healthy spaces for participation. We conclude by highlighting the limitations and contradictions of attempts to overcome car dependency embedded in post-political frameworks and neoliberal-austerity planning practices.

Streets as experienced through the body, mind, and screen: The smartphone and the pedestrian's engagement with an urban public space

This study investigates the influence of smartphone use on the embodied experiences of pedestrians in urban public spaces. Participants in this study engaged in leisure walks in a bustling urban environment. The study employed a multi-sensory, multi-modal data collection approach, which incorporated mobile eye tracking, screen capture, think-aloud, and participant data review. Findings revealed dynamic relationships between the urban pedestrians’ embodied experiences (“streets as experienced through the body”), digital content (“streets on the screen”), and spatial knowledge (“streets in the mind”). The study explored the “unfolding” practice between multiple versions of the surrounding environment and sheds light on the complex interplay of cognitive, experiential, and digital inputs in shaping pedestrian actions. Moreover, the study uncovers the paradoxical effects of smartphone usage and introduces both serendipity and familiarity into the pedestrian's journey through public spaces. Further, the implications of this research highlight the need for mobile media studies to embrace “messy” and “noisy” data for a more comprehensive understanding of the interconnections between minds, bodies, places, and mobilities.

Exploring the Construction of City Public Reading Space from the Perspective of Third Space

Under the third space perspective, urban reading space provides the public with a full range of reading services. With rich functions, diversified business forms, elegant environment, and convenient counting wisdom, they are favored by readers. Based on the current situation of city public reading space construction in Hangzhou, this paper combines the useful experience of urban public reading space construction in other regions, and puts forward improvement initiatives such as diversification of services, quality of activities, rationalization of layout, diversification of participation, and continuity of system. Continuously leading the direction of reading, expanding reading space, meeting reading needs, perfecting the reading system, designing reading carriers, and really making Hangzhou a city of books and a learning city.

Urban Renewal Path, Streetscape Enhancement, take green as a Strategy: a case study in Mong Kok

Rapid urbanization and high-density development will continue to reduce people's access to nature, which has aroused people's concern about the quality of urban green spaces. Urban green spaces have been recognized as a vital element in enhancing the overall livability and aesthetics of cities. As an integral component of urban green space, street greening is a commonly employed strategy within streetscape enhancement, with the aim of enhancing the overall appearance and functionality of urban streets. However, strategies for green spaces as a common enhancement method along street environments should be reevaluated. This paper aims to investigate how open spaces can play a crucial role in enhancing street environments and address the challenges of limited public space in high-density cities like Hong Kong. The study is conducted in Mong Kok, in Hong Kong which serves as a unique example of high-density urban streets. In the context of the urban framework from 1950s, Mong Kok's spatial constraints coexists with its continuous and vibrant street facades, giving rise to its unique Mong Kok culture and becoming a distinctive emblem of Hong Kong’s street character. Based on the present situation and challenges of public open space in Hong Kong and the review of international cases, theories and policies, this paper discusses the methods to strategize the shortage of urban public space while improving its quality. As a result, more opportunities will be provided for leisure and social interaction and ultimately enriching the quality and sustainability of public realm as a whole.

Thermal–Acoustic Interaction Impacts on Crowd Behaviors in an Urban Park

As urbanization accelerates, parks, as vital urban public open spaces, and their acoustic and thermal ambience directly impact visitors’ comfort and the sustainability of parks. Selecting Xihu Park in Fuzhou, China located in the subtropical region as a typical example, this study utilizes covert observational experiments with different typical sounds (grass cutting, music, and no sound source) across temperature levels to examine the influence of thermal–acoustic interactions on crowd behaviors in the park. The findings are as follows: (1) melodious music can attract more tourists, while strong stimulating grass cutting noises under high temperatures reduce crowd flow. Excluding unpleasant audio sources, park soundscapes across temperatures have a relatively limited influence on attractiveness to people flow. (2) High temperatures diminish tourists’ interest in landscape experiences and persons staying, especially when the soundscape quality is poorer. Under non-high temperatures, audio environments have a minor impact on the staying time. (3) The soundscape quality plays a role by affecting people’s path choices of approaching or avoiding sound sources, where grass cutting noise has the most negative influence. Music, grass cutting sounds, and natural sounds demonstrate conspicuous differences in their effects under varied temperatures. (4) Comfortable acoustic environments can draw larger crowds and decrease the walking pace. High temperatures make crowds take slower steps. Different sound types have significant influences on crowd movement velocity under three typical temperature levels. This study comprehensively investigates the mechanisms of typical thermal–acoustic environments’ impacts on park crowd behaviors, providing important references for optimizing the acoustic and thermal environments of urban parks, while also enriching related research on landscape design and environmental psychology. Future studies can conduct in-depth explorations by creating more abundant thermal–acoustic combinations and probe differences across diverse populations.

Visualizing conviviality in the fortress of the Italian far-right: the case of Veronetta

ABSTRACT In Italy, the city of Verona is known not merely for its stunning historical scenery, but also for its reactionary environment foreshadowing the nativist turn in the wider society. Against this backdrop, the racialized neighborhood of Veronetta offers much needed insights into convivial practices with pluralist interconnections. Part of a three-year fieldwork, this research investigates possibilities of everyday conviviality and intercultural sociability in urban spaces, tracing those dynamics that allow a racialized neighborhood to strive in a hostile city. Alongside participant observation, in-depth interviews, and archival research, the visual method of photo-elicitation is utilized to draw out multidimensional aspects of conviviality, where migrant and non-migrant residents photographically narrate their everyday practices. The article argues that the juxtaposition of intentional urban encounters and accessible public spaces, alongside everyday community-building practices of grassroots actors complement each other in transforming a “no-go zone” into an anti-racist movement space that challenges exclusionary territorial identities.

Understanding vitality of public space: A review with an example of capital city Kathmandu in Nepal

By definition, public spaces are areas or locations that are open and accessible to all people, and in cities they are open space that is specifically concerned with public health, social cohesion, and the quality of urban life. This paper reports a review of literatures on urban public spaces attempting to gauge the research gaps on public spaces through a scoping-review analysis of relevant studies. The review of relevant literatures published from 1990 to 2023 led to an inference that there is a huge gap in defining the publicness (non-excludable and non-rival) of the public spaces in Nepal. Furthermore, knowledge about public spaces is found to be scattered. However, all Nepal-based research identified that open spaces in Kathmandu valley were severely encroached upon. Rapid urbanization, along with a lack of resilient urban planning and governance, appears to have a significant influence on urban public spaces and social cohesion, as well as diseconomies in emerging economies. Social inequalities, health disparities, environmental injustice, economic instability and stifled cultural expression are all intricately bound to urban public spaces, particularly green public space, which still remains a research priority for new evidence-based urban policymakers and urban planners in developing countries. Future research should therefore focus on a multilevel approach preferably using network model to cover and comprehend the societal-benefits of public space, extending large-scale quantitative assessments with field evaluations of each public space, community surveys, and other qualitative research in Nepal. Component-wise research gaps are also evidently explored in the course of separate domains.

Preferences and Perception Influencing Usage of Neighborhood Public Urban Green Spaces in Fast Urbanizing Indian City

In rapidly expanding Indian cities, the current provisions for public urban green spaces (PUGS) falls below the minimum standards recommended by the WHO, linked with the well-being of urban dwellers. The local authorities are struggling to fulfill the supply side gap, with a disparity in PUGS provisions. Currently, the provisions focus on fulfilling the prerequisites identified by the planning agencies and do not appropriately address the urban greenspace demands. However, effective planning has been emphasized as a way to respond to the diverse, competing and changing demands of PUGS, allowing the incorporation of the needs and preferences of urban dwellers in the planning and management of PUGS to help determine their multifunctionality, usefulness, and popularity. In response, this study attempts to capture the demands of urban dwellers through local social data for neighborhood PUGS of the fast-urbanizing Nagpur. We attempt to assist local authorities in better understanding the provisions for planning and managing PUGS that can fulfil the growing PUGS needs of urban dwellers. Via a social survey of users and residents, we capture visitations, usage, activities, motives of visits, and perceptions about neighborhood PUGS characteristics. The findings highlight the determinants that influence the usage and favored activities. Urban dwellers have a strong tendency to use neighborhood “parks and gardens” due to their convenient proximity, emphasizing how crucial their location is in shaping urban residents’ engagement with these spaces. The socio-demographics shape the preference, and the locals hold negative perceptions about size, vegetation, amenities, as well as maintenance. The identified determinants (access and availability), influencing factors (socio-demographic), and the barrier to usage (negative perceptions) need prioritized attention from the local authorities to accommodate the diverse and competing demands of different sub-groups of the urban dwellers.

Prediction approach on pedestrian outdoor activity preference under factors of public open space integrated microclimate

This study conducted measurements of microclimates and investigations of spatial environments and human activities in six typical waterfront public spaces in Shanghai. The aim was to explore the synergistic influence mechanism of public open space (POS) integrated microclimate (POSIM) on pedestrians’ activities to predict the utilization of public space. The measurement period was during the spring and early summer when outdoor activities were more diversified. 121 observation points were set up in urban waterfront public spaces, and an outdoor activity characteristic database of 25,583 people was established. In addition, multiple linear regression and nonlinear neural network models were introduced to analyze data from different types of activities to calculate the fitness of the models and the influence weights of the variables. The results indicated that the neural network had stronger predictive ability for the spatial integration of microclimate demands of different activities. The prediction degree for strolling and sitting activities was the highest, with R2 (goodness of fit) of 0.704 and 0.844, respectively, while the prediction degree for viewing and sports activities was lower (R2 < 0.5). This study integrated the synergistic influence of urban waterfront public open spaces and microclimates factors on pedestrian outdoor activities to predict the preference patterns of different activities for spatial types. Focus on the requirements of space occupants, this study analyzed the public space environment from the bottom up and provided reference and inspiration for subsequent design optimization of urban waterfront areas.

INNER AND OUTER SPACES AND THE CREATION OF IDENTITY IN VIRGINIA WOOLF’S “JACOB’S ROOM”, “MRS. DALLOWAY” AND “THE YEARS”

Space plays an important part in all of Virginia Woolf’s writings, whether we are speaking about her novelistic output or her essays. Space becomes an interstitial realm between modernity and tradition. Solitude, privacy, become the key ingredients of successful artistic creation, with creativity being described as a privilege of the solitary, of those capable, and allowed, to function outside the pressure of larger social groups or even outside the close family circle. Space is never just space in Woolf’s novels – instead it becomes an engine that drives creativity, identity, and one could almost argue that space becomes a deeply political reality in all of her writings. Nowhere is this more evident than in her urban novels, where the cityscape takes on various roles and functions. Space in her fiction is both external and internal, with the two being in constant interaction. Whether we are speaking about the distinction between male and female spaces, spaces meant for creation and spaces meant for work, shared or individual spaces, real or imaginary borders, movement across such borders, mental and internal spaces, space always fulfils important narrative and metaphorical functions in Woolf’s texts. In the present paper we will try to relate Virginia Woolf’s creation of urban landscapes to several theories regarding the creation of space identity from the field of architecture, urban design and renewal, and political studies. Thereby we will attempt to prove that the creation of space equals the creation of identity across the wide spectrum of meaning of the term. Public and private spaces become antithetic, with the public realm mirroring the established cultural and social stereotypes, whereas private spaces are associated with artistic creativity and individual freedom. Public spaces, being the spaces of established social norms, are usually “male” spaces, whereas private ones are perceived as predominantly “female”. Because of this “male”, “traditional” component, urban public spaces are described in distinctive ways which will be analyzed in the novels “Jacob’s Room”, “Mrs. Dalloway”, and “The Years”.

Retracted: Comparative Analysis of Urban and Rural Public Space Environment Design Based on Multimedia Information

Retracted: Comparative Analysis of Urban and Rural Public Space Environment Design Based on Multimedia Information

Designing Public Soundscapes through Social Architecture and Soundscape Approaches: Reflective Review of Architectural Design Studio

This paper provides a reflective review of an architectural design studio that utilized both social architecture and soundscape approaches to create human-centered and context-based designs for urban public spaces. During field research, students in the studio analyzed four different public spaces in Marina Central BID, Singapore, employing a combination of social architecture (behavioral trace and activity mapping) and soundscape (acoustic measurement and soundwalk) methods. Through this process, the students identified issues related to social architecture and soundscapes and developed soundscape design strategies to improve the quality of the public spaces. The soundscape design strategies were categorized into three groups: the introduction of desirable sounds, the reinforcement of desired sounds, and the reduction in unwanted sounds. This paper shows that the integration of social architecture into soundscape design education enables students to better comprehend the social–behavioral aspects of the environment and create more comprehensive and enjoyable public soundscapes.