PUBLIC SPACE UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF URBAN CHANGE

In this presentation, I investigate some of the key features of public spaces in relation to the challenges that cities are facing today. In particular I discuss six groups of challenges: technological, economic, social, cultural, ecological and political, and what contributions the public spaces might make to address these challenges. Technological changes have relocated some social interactions to a digital sphere; global changes are transforming the nature of work and the fundamental bases of urban economies; the growth of social inequality has fragmented and segregated the urban space; cultural fractures have emerged as a result of increased social diversity; car-based urbanism and environmental degradation have created an ecological crisis; and political intolerance and privatization of urban processes have undermined democratic governance. Can the public spaces of society, in their broadest meaning, make a difference?

Ali Madanipour is Professor of Urban Design at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, UK. His latest books include The Handbook of Planning Theory (Routledge, 2018) and Cities in Time: Temporary urbanism and the future of the city (Bloomsbury, 2017).