Putting the public back into public space

The exclusion of ‘the public’ from public space has been a growing source of concern in Australian and international urban research. A variety of models of ‘good’ public space are employed to criticise a range of ‘bad’ spatial arrangements and security technologies in contemporary public space. These models often receive less attention than the spaces themselves, but are a fundamental part of any project attempting to ‘put the public back into public space’. This paper compares four models of public space commonly employed by analysts of contemporary public space. Some of the models of ‘good’ public space are themselves inequitable and exclusionary in important respects. Iris Marion Young's“Justice and the Politics of Difference” (1990) develops a multi‐public model which has the potential to address some of these deficiencies, and the paper suggests ways in which this model might be improved.     

Hard rain gonna fall: Strategies for sustainable urban drainage in informal settlements

Inadequate drainage of stormwater, greywater and sewage plagues informal settlement ‘slum’ dwellers throughout the developing world. Residents, local governments and others find drainage solutions hard to come by due both to physical challenges – densely packed shack homes and few roads or open spaces – and social challenges associated with the often contentious, turbulent and legally uncertain nature of informal settlements. While concepts of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) and integrated water resource management (IWRM) hold promise for informal settlements, we find little practical guidance available for their application in these contexts. To begin filling this gap, we propose a simple model for understanding various informal settlement contexts and ‘upgrading’ strategies that affect drainage development strategies. We then use this model to report on a series of small projects in South Africa that illustrate social and structural dynamics and practical techniques relevant to implementing collaborative drainage efforts in informal settlements.     

A comparison of tenurial change and privatization in two Garden City communities: Sunnyside Gardens,New York City and Garbatella,Rome

The paper problematizes public housing privatization. It compares the trajectory of tenure change in two garden communities – Garbatella, Rome and Sunnyside Gardens, New York City – which privileged public and private ownership, respectively. The cases are currently dealing with tenure change. Sunnyside experienced the enclosure of gardens and citizens’ attempt to reclaim what was held in common in order to bring back the communal spaces. Garbatella is a place where growth over time of rights, powers, immunities, and privileges is manifested in long-lasting processes of appropriation of public housing goods. Despite their different stories, Sunnyside helps to problematize the process of public housing privatization in Garbatella which is further complicated by tenure complexity, State-induced rent gap and institutional displacement. The analysis of tenure change, done by using the ‘incidents of ownership’ notion developed by Marcuse, contributes to the understanding of what public housing privatization means in social and spatial terms. Housing privatization leads to an erosion of the in-between space where individual and collective aspiration meet as a precondition for the reproduction of what is held in common: spatial goods such as open spaces and housing – a fundamental aspect of our citizenship.     

Zombie monument: Public art and performing the present

Art in public space in South Africa is increasingly a more visible locus of sociopolitical resistance and recalibration of the public sphere. This article focuses upon an emblematic example: the sculpture of a former colonialist, removed from its public university site in Cape Town following sustained protests. Since April 2015, the empty plinth of Cecil John Rhodes has become a site of re-imagination – from graffiti interventions to performance and installation art. While the plinth continually morphs in symbolism and significance, its ousted artwork waits at an undisclosed location for its fate to be decided. This interregnum represents a liminal condition that theorists call ‘third space’, extended in this research towards a fourth dimension of performativity. The physical disappearance of the artwork has triggered a second life, its apogee a national protest movement with global resonance. Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall are student-led calls for university decolonisation and free education arguably best understood as provocation around systemic issues in society. As this deeper work ensues amid fractious contestations, the artwork's re-animation of the public sphere is clear. Its leftover plinth is political, making visible other kinds of structural voids. It is also poetic: a zombie monument demonstrating through its reinventions public space as common space – contested, negotiated and performed in the daily creation of city futures.     

Homelessness and social control: a typology

Abstract

The use of ‘social control’ interventions in housing and welfare policy often courts intense controversy, and never more so than when attempts are made to bring about change in the conduct of street homeless people. To date, academic scrutiny has focused on the so-called ‘regulation’ or ‘criminalisation’ of rough sleepers occupying public space, but a range of ‘softer’ control mechanisms are also now in evidence within homelessness support services. This paper explicates the relationship between the distinct forms of social control that have been used in this field – force, coercion, bargaining, influence and tolerance – and compares the perspectives of policy makers, frontline practitioners and homeless people regarding the appropriateness of their deployment in England. It emphasizes that the use of every one of these modes of social control, and indeed the absence of such controls, raises moral and practical dilemmas, the nuance of which is often unacknowledged in academic accounts.     

The most cost-effective ways to maintain public open space with less water: Perth case study

Local governments in Perth, Western Australia, use groundwater to irrigate high value public open space. Due to a sustained decline in rainfall current groundwater extraction rates are unsustainable and are set to be reduced. We investigate the cost-effectiveness of different water efficiency improvement technology solutions. There is significant variation in the cost-effectiveness of different techniques, with the cost of water saved varying from a low of AUD 0.27 per kilolitre to as high as AUD 13.49 per kilolitre. In most cases the water efficiency solutions considered delivered water savings for less than the cost of the backstop technique – scheme water – which costs AUD 2.09 per kilolitre. For the case study area we find that 5, 10, and 15% saving in the volume of water used to irrigate public open space can be achieved for average per kilolitre water costs of: AUD 0.38, AUD 0.43, and AUD 0.62, respectively.     

‘Fourth places’: the contemporary public settings for informal social interaction among strangers

This paper introduces ‘fourth places’ as an additional category of informal social settings alongside ‘third places’. Through extensive empirical fieldwork on where and how social interaction among strangers occurs in the public and semi-public spaces of a contemporary masterplanned neighbourhood, this paper reveals that ‘fourth places’ are closely related to ‘third places’ in terms of social and behavioural characteristics, involving a radical departure from the routines of home and work, inclusivity and social comfort. However, the activities, users, locations and spatial conditions that support them are very different. They are characterized by ‘in-betweenness’ in terms of spaces, activities, time and management, as well as a great sense of publicness. This paper will demonstrate that the latter conditions are effective in breaking the ‘placelessness’ and ‘fortress’ designs of newly designed urban public spaces and that, by doing so, they make ‘fourth places’ sociologically more open in order to bring strangers together. The recognition of these findings problematizes well-established urban design theories and redefines several spatial concepts for designing public space. Ultimately, the findings also bring optimism to urban design practice, offering new insights into how to design more lively and inclusive public spaces.     

Let’s meet at Citicorp: can privately owned public spaces be inclusive?

In US cities ‘privately owned public spaces’ (POPS) are spaces, indoors or outdoors, that are owned and managed by the private sector and by law are accessible to the public without payment. In exchange for providing these ‘bonus’ spaces, developers are permitted to build larger buildings than would otherwise be permitted under local zoning ordinances. In actuality, POPS are not always easily accessible to the public and are often criticized for their exclusive character. Researchers have studied the variation in the design, management and use of POPS but without the benefit of an explicit operational definition of exclusivity. Nor, in recent studies, have they differentiated between the observed use of the space and features of its location, design and management. The study reported in this paper addresses these concerns. It outlines a series of empirical questions to measure exclusivity and presents findings from field observations of interior bonus spaces in Manhattan and from interviews with managers of these spaces. Levels of diversity of users and activities were higher than expected, resulting from particular design features and management practices. The observed group activities indicate that virtual communication, rather than detracting from face-to-face communication in public space, can support and enhance it.     

Simulation-based life cycle cost modeling and maintenance plan for water mains

Life cycle cost (LCC) is an essential approach to decide on alternative rehabilitation strategies for infrastructure systems, such as water mains. The research presented in this article identifies several rehabilitation methods for water mains, which are classified into three main categories: repair, renovation and replacement. A simulation-based LCC (SLCC) model is developed to compare different rehabilitation scenarios/alternatives for various types of water mains (i.e. cast iron, ductile iron, concrete, polyvinyl chloride and asbestos cement). Results show that ‘open trench’ and ‘slip lining’ are the most appropriate methods for the ‘repair’ and ‘renovation’ categories, respectively. However, the most suitable method for the ‘replacement’ category is ‘pipe bursting’ for pipe diameters less than 750 mm (<30″) and ‘open cut’ for pipe diameters greater than 750 mm (>30″). A rehabilitation plan is developed based on the SLCC results. This plan recommends repairing pipes using ‘open trench’ until the breakage rate reaches 0.5 breaks/km/year, then, replace the pipe beyond this threshold. Based on the designed SLCC model, web-based software is developed to determine the optimal rehabilitation scenarios. The developed model and software help academics and practitioners (e.g. municipal engineers) to predict the suitable new installation and/or rehabilitation programs as well as their corresponding costs.     

Private Sector Housing Improvement in the UK and the Chronically Ill: Implications for Collaborative Working

The principal thrust of the UK ‘Supporting People’ (SP) programme is concerned with packages of long-term support for older and disabled people, but there is concern that in spite of its declared aims, owner-occupiers may miss out. A recent study has identified a substantial group of poor owner-occupiers, who suffer from chronic illness but currently receive little in the way of housing or health support.

Aimed at people who have serious coronary disease, the ‘Housing for Healthier Hearts’ project in Bradford has shown that a short-term task-centred programme of intervention and support by housing and health workers – focusing on immediate health-care concerns and specific housing improvement – can make a rapid and substantial difference to health and quality of life and the ability of residents to retain independence. Nevertheless there was concern that multi-agency participation – prominent at policy level, and crucial to the success of the SP programme – proved far more difficult to effect at ‘grass roots’. The article concludes with an analysis of the issues, and barriers, affecting collaborative working between housing and health agencies, and suggests some strategies for developing good practice.     

Determinants of a successful public open space: the case of Dataran Merdeka in the city centre of Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

Successful public open spaces are comfortable arenas where people of different backgrounds, genders and ethnicities benefit from miscellaneous opportunities. This paper seeks to determine the components of a successful public open space. First, a self-administered questionnaire survey identifies the users’ evaluations. Second, structured interviews explore the experts’ opinions about the relevant issues. The results show that social success is the most important factor in making successful public open spaces, while the physical attributes play the least significant role in such spaces. The paper presents a series of pragmatic suggestions that assist urban designers, landscape architects, architects, policy-makers and urban planners in creating lively communities in city centres, which contributes to the social sustainability of cities.     

Green regions and local firms' innovation

Technological innovation is essential to achieve simultaneously economic, environmental and social goals (i.e., the green growth). Indeed, many studies found that environmental innovation spurs overall innovation. However, this topic has not been investigated by taking into account the geographical context. Therefore, our paper seeks to investigate whether ‘green regions’, with an increased public and private commitment in environmental issues, are related to innovation of local firms. Using data on Spanish manufacturing firms and regions, we find that environmental technologies (especially in green energy), environmental investments, and environmental management at the level of regions are positively associated to local firms' innovation.     

Sanitizing Jakarta: decolonizing planning and kampung imaginary

ABSTRACT

This article offers a critical view of the water and sanitation sector within the broader trajectory of Jakarta’s spatial development and planning. Its territorial focus is on kampungs and it traces their historical journey from the periphery of the colonial city – Batavia and its modern planning domain – to the centre of the post-independence planning regime. ‘Kampung’ is an indigenous term for rural-agricultural settlements. In the colonial period, it was used to label non-European and non-Chinese settlements in and around the city. Colonial modernity created certain stigmatizations: kampungs came to be seen as undisciplined and insanitary communities, sources of insurgency and threats to public health. But the kampung realm was also (re)produced through practices of segregation within the colonial planning system. The imaginaries of colonial modernity linger on within today’s planning practices, resulting in a persistent failure to improve the environmental health of kampungs and the city as a whole. Postcolonial kampungs remain as a cosmopolitan enclave open to different cultures and socio-political contestations. The article argues that, given the kampung’s resilience in varying socio-ecological conditions, urban kampungs should be seen not as a problem, but as an opportunity for new planning approaches.     

THREE FEMINIST ANALYSES OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

This paper addresses the diversity of academic feminist analyses of the relations between sex/gender/bodies and space/place/design. This is approached through categorising feminist approaches into three main groupings, that have been named: ‘liberal humanist feminist’; ‘critical theory feminist’ and ‘postmodern feminist.’ The paper outlines the main elements which constitute these three categories, and illustrates each one with examples of analysis, firstly, of certain issues of design and secondly, of problems that women encounter in the profession of architecture.     

Temporary use and the onto-politics of ‘public’ space

This paper is situated amidst concerns that public spaces are diminishing in both quantity and quality (Low & Smith, 2006), with this trend exacerbated by the excising of state budgets for their provision, maintenance or development, their privatisation and/or devolution of their management to corporate interests. Here we interrogate what ‘public space’ is using the lens of temporary use projects undertaken on privately-owned land. As a distinct form of DIY urbanism, it could be argued that temporary use projects might be least likely to promote enduring change but, in this paper, we demonstrate that it is their very transience that enables the interstices between the actual and the possible to be exploited in innovative ways. We explore how a distinctive methodology associated with temporary use projects, and a reconceptualisation of what public space is, creates new opportunities to restore the emancipatory potential of (increasingly) emaciated public places.     

City profile: Medellin

After being known as the ‘murder capital of the world’ in the 1990s, Medellin has pioneered innovative forms of city planning and management and was acclaimed the most innovative city in the world by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in 2013. Hosting the World Urban Forum in 2014 allowed it to showcase its approach, key elements of which have been: creation of innovative transport infrastructure linking poorer peripheral districts to the city centre; culture-led regeneration; strong support of local development from the local business sector; and a successful municipally-owned utilities company. However, the city is spreading outwards without services and employment being provided; new low-income developments are replicating high-rise models which failed worldwide; there is limited intervention in the existing informal areas, many being in highly vulnerable locations where the level of risk is likely to increase with climate change; development has little regard for topography, ecological and environmental considerations; investment in accessible and good quality public space is restricted to some areas; the quality of the public realm does not always support health and wellbeing of the ageing population. This paper explores the institutional and socio-economic context in which Medellín has achieved the internationally recognized status of an ‘innovative city’. It questions to what extent social equity, environmental sustainability and citizen empowerment have been promoted as per the ULI claims when it conferred the prize. The paper queries the extent to which ‘urban innovation’ is happening in Medellín, which has considerable implications given its recently found role as a ‘model’ city in Latin America and beyond.     

Operating in the shadowland: Why water utilities fail to manage decaying infrastructure

Decaying water infrastructure is a growing challenge in high-income countries while at the same time being under pressure from other socioeconomic and environmental issues. This paper analyses why addressing these challenges is so challenging, despite the critical role of water service for society. The paper is based on a study of the Swedish water sector and reveals how the utilities are influenced by several factors that constrain their agency. Most importantly, the utilities operate in a ‘societal shadowland’ where the public and politicians take their services for granted, lowering the sense of urgency and impeding their ability to take action.     

南京中心城区居民社区满意度差异特征及优化策略研究

在宜居城市建设的推动下,居民的社区满意度作为衡量社区建设、管理和服务水平的重要指标日益受到政府、社会学家、规划师等的密切关注。以南京中心城区为例,论文利用问卷调查数据,采用描述性统计分析方法,对城市居民社区满意度特征及其差异进行研究。结果表明:1)大多数居民对社区总体状况基本满意,但对社区公共服务的评价不高;2)居民对其所在社区的评价存在分异现象,这与社区区位、社区类型、居民社会经济属性等因素密切相关;3)公共空间、美学设计、公共服务设施、公共信息平台等社区条件对社区满意度的影响较大。基于上述分析,论文从公共环境营造、美学设计评估、公服设施供给、信息平台建设等四个方面提出社区优化策略建议。     

Community forests as heterotopia. The case of the Mu community forest – Ngoc Son – Ngo Luong Nature Reserve,Vietnam

This paper examines issues of culture and power in regard to the Mu sacred forest, Vietnam, a community forest. The research uses Foucault’s notion of ‘heterotopia’ as a heuristic tool to interpret forest management. It appears that the Mu sacred forest can be understood as a space of ‘self reflective construction’, but also a space that might dissolve, destabilize, interrupt and suspend power. The moment of power suspension frees people from their usual frames. They can escape to some extent from authority and repression. This suggests that sustainable forest management can be promoted through acceptance of local culture and that community forest can be a ‘space of suspension and learning’.     

A walk in the long grass: agriculture,aesthetics, and wildness on Hampstead Heath

Abstract

This article traces a battle over grass mowing and scrub clearance between local campaigners and land managers on London’s Hampstead Heath during the late 1970s. I discuss one of the key arguments in favour of maintaining long grass: its look of ‘naturalness’, which effaced centuries of grazing by sheep and cattle, as well as the extensive land management that went into maintaining this ‘wild’ aesthetic. The 1978 conflict over scrub clearance resulted in a widely reported claim that 20 dead bodies were dumped on the Heath annually. Here, I consider the reality of the claim and the ways in which frictions between local actors point towards a fluid and constantly changing understanding of what is properly ‘wild’ and ‘natural’ on Hampstead Heath. The debate highlights the degree to which both management and historical narratives of public open spaces are the product of complex negotiation.