Public Spaces and Urban Resilience

Public Spaces and the COVID-19 Pandemic

The point of departure was public space as a site for intervention, while learning from the ongoing developments surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. During the early phases of the pandemic, governments initially focused on preventing the virus from spreading. Public spaces came to be seen as potential places for contamination. In response, fences, markings, and barrier tapes were put into place to orchestrate people’s movement and promote physical distance.

Exploring Public Space Beyond Prevention

With this research project, the AUAS explored the role that public space could play beyond such often ad hoc preventive measures. What other challenges can public space address concerning the various shocks and stressors that cities and neighborhoods face, both now and in the future? And how can these challenges be tackled in an integrated way?

Human / Non-Human Public Spaces Design Perspective

An integral approach to designing public spaces involves many disciplines and is largely dependent on local governments' perspectives on public spaces. To this end, the researchers asked relevant experts to share their disciplinary reflections on a design perspective they developed in the FPtR project, called Human / Non-Human Public Spaces.

An earlier version of this design perspective was handed over to experts for feedback from an urban climate adaptation perspective and from a governance and cultural change perspective. Together, these analyses provide an overview of the current state of affairs in public space and urban resilience.

Authors

• Boudewijn Boon
• Martijn de Waal
• Frank Suurenbroek