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.

The programme encourages people to think about an expanded concept of public space for an open society and to understand it as an important design theme. This is not only about public spaces in the legal sense, but also about spaces that are generally accessible and offer special services that are important for coexistence – for experiencing community, cultivating exchange and reassuring oneself of one's own role in society.

These can be spaces that are intended for a specific group or programme, offering shelter for a community or for specific uses, both indoors and outdoors: churches, kiosks, libraries, parks or sports fields, for example. Their role is made visible in order to strengthen them and expand their offerings. In a series of events that build on each other, the BDA Hessen, in cooperation with universities, aims to draw attention to the potential of these spaces, record them and make them visible.

The BDA Hessen is an association of freelance architects and urban planners who care deeply about the quality of the built environment. They are united by their willingness to commit themselves to the interests of building culture, to planning and building in a manner that is responsible towards the environment and future generations.