Public – urban spaces for everyone

The project aims to raise awareness of an expanded understanding of public space and its importance to society. Churches, libraries and vacant shop premises, for example, can also function as public spaces – places for encounter and for experiencing a sense of agency and identity.

Public spaces in the city are also those that have been built or made accessible with public funding, form part of our shared infrastructure and could only come into being through public support. Property, too, is subject to a constitutional commitment to the common good and is protected by state policies.

However, access to these spaces is often restricted, or their potential to be used as genuinely public and consumption-free spaces is not widely recognised.

This project seeks to draw attention to the potential of such spaces through a series of interconnected activities. In the first step, it aims to raise awareness. In the second, it will identify and make visible these under-recognised public spaces. In the third, it will present examples – also through design – of how public spaces might be opened up within existing structures such as those mentioned above.

Additionally, unused spaces in the city’s built environment can supplement these offers, temporarily or permanently and purposefully expand the range of accessible public space.

In this way, public spaces can be (re)discovered and used both by the general public and by groups with specific needs. This approach also helps foster a sense of shared responsibility for shaping a successful and inclusive coexistence.