TG Public Spaces and Urban Cultures Annual Report 2021

 Annual Report for 2021

Prepared by Stefania Ragozino, Christine Mady, and Tihomir Viderman, supported by TG members

Introduction 

Public Spaces and Urban Cultures (PSUC) is a thematic group established in April 2010 with the initiative of Sabine Knierbein (Associate Professor, TU Vienna, Austria), Ceren Sezer (Chair of Urban Design and Institute for Urban Design and European Urbanism, RWTH Aachen University, Germany) and Chiara Tornaghi (Associate Professor, Coventry University, UK). The main aim of the group is to with the goal of promoting an international and interdisciplinary exchange on public spaces and urban cultures across research and practices. For more than 10 years, this thematic group has informed  research, planning and design agendas within and beyond the AESOP community. 

Despite logistical difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, the Thematic Group continued its endeavours to involve practitioners, academics, governmental and non-governmental professionals, and further interest groups into the TG’s activities and exchange knowledge across disciplines and domains of action through meetings, workshops, conferences and roundtables mainly conducted online. During 2021, the group’s membership increased to over 140 professionals from research, practice and urban activism, working with public space and engaging in urban cultures. The membership is steadily growing both in Europe and beyond.

Internal organization of the group 

The thematic group’s activities are discussed and organized by a collective made up of group members.. This core group continuously attends to the tasks that are central to the success of the thematic group:

-        establishing and promoting the Group’s agenda (working topics, calls, publications, events);

-        managing communication with the thematic group’s members, broader audiences and the AESOP Secretary General (AESOP TG blog, Facebook page, mailing list, newsletter);

-        preparing meetings and annual reports;

-        disseminating scientific results;

-        achieving and using synergies of group’s membership to promote research, exchange and publications.

The internal organization of the group is structured as follows: 

Group Coordination: Stefania Ragozino (Main Coordinator, Italy), Christine Mady (Lebanon) and Tihomir Viderman (Germany).

Active members: Patricia Aelbrecht (UK), Nadia Charalambous (UK), Gabriella Esposito De Vita (Italy), Sabine Knierbein (Austria), Christine Mady (Lebanon), Matej Niksic (Slovenia), Stefania Ragozino (Italy), Nikolai Roskamm (Germany), Mohamed Saleh (The Netherlands), Sara Santos Cruz (Portugal), Ceren Sezer (The Netherlands), Socrates Stratis (Cyprus), Tihomir Viderman (Germany), Burcu Yigit Turan (Sweden). 

Advisory Board: Ali Madanipour (University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK); Sophie Watson (Open University, UK); Sabine Knierbein (TU Vienna, Austria); Gabriella Esposito De Vita (CNR-IRISS National Research Council of Italy); Christine Mady (since August 2021, Notre Dame University-Louaize, Lebanon).

The list of members who (co-)organized meetings in 2021: 

Christine Mady (Lebanon), Stefania Ragozino (Italy), Tihomir Viderman (Germany), Regions in Recovery. Building Sustainable Futures - Global E-Festival, Special Session 44. AESOP V - What's going on in Public Spaces and Urban Cultures? Updates on Current Research, Policy and Practice, online event, 2-18/06/2021 

Patricia Aelbrecht (UK), Ceren Sezer (Germany), AESOP 2021 Online Conference - Adapting Planning: Rethinking Planning Practices, Faculty of Architecture, Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland, 12-14/07/2021 

Sabine Knierbein, Olivia Kafka, Angelika Gabauer (Austria), Christine Mady (Lebanon), Stefania Ragozino (Italy), Tihomir Viderman (Germany), AESOP TG PSUC Fika, Technische Universitat, Wien, Austria, 14/10/2021 

Evie Athanassiou, Athina Vitopoulou, Matina Kapsali, Maria Karagianni (Greece), Sara Santos Cruz (Portugal), Burcu Yigit Turan (Sweden), AESOP TG Conference Thessaloniki BETWEEN THE HOME & THE SQUARE. bridging the boundaries of public space, School of Architecture, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece, 22-23/10/2021

The list of members who (co-)organize meetings in 2022: 

Stefania Ragozino (Italy), Tihomir Viderman (Germany), AESOP Annual Congress Tartu Space for Species: Redefining Spatial Justice, TRACK #2 CULTURE: Reinterpreting the spatial value of culture, heritage and tourism, Estonian University of Life Sciences, 25-29/07/2022 

Group’s activities 

This year was dedicated to the development and conclusion of activities related to the working umbrella theme Public Spaces: Knowledge transition between Research, Policy and Practice (2019-2022):

https://www.aesop-planning.eu/blogs/posts/en_GB/urban-cultures-and-public-spaces/2020/01/13/readabout/call-for-interest-public-spaces-knowledge-transition-between-research-policy-and-practice-deadline-15-february-2020)

The first meeting to this theme took place in May 2019 in Cardiff, UK, and the second in July 2019 in Venice, Italy. During 2020 and 2021, due to the pandemic the meetings took place online, in September 2020 in Vienna, Austria, and in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in July 2021, in Gdańsk,Poland, in October 2021 in Vienna, Austria, and in October 2021 in Thessaloniki, Greece. 

Since 2021, organizational activities (Track #2 CULTURE text editing, call for abstract dissemination, call for papers options) have been developed for thematic group’s participation at the AESOP Congress in Tartu (Estonia, 25th-29th July 2022). During the annual congress, as usual a group’s meeting is scheduled for presenting the group and discussing the new umbrella topic 2022-2024 (a call for events and contributions is planned to be launched in September 2022). The group is involved in chairing the Track #2 “CULTURE: Reinterpreting the spatial value of culture, heritage and tourism”. 

The TG has started to support the project “Hands-on Famagusta” (http://www.handsonfamagusta.org/home)  by contributing to the solidarity network for Famagusta, Cyprus. The solidarity network supports collective and public activities for Famagustians to claim their common public infrastructures in a reunified island. It also supports the safe return of those Famagustians who are deprived of their homes, and as such countering the unilateral opening of Varosha by Turkish authorities disregarding the United Nations resolutions. The solidarity network consists of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot residents of Famagusta as well as Cypriots from all over the island and active citizens from all over the world. On Friday, January 14th 2022, 18.00 Cyprus time (CET+1) Hands-on Famagusta (HoF) Open Doors event will take place online, in this occasion the TG PSUC officialise its solidarity to the project and new activities will be programmed. 

The AESOP TG PSUC Workshop Cardiff “Knowledge Exchange Workshop in Public Realm Design Research and Policy” (Institution: Cardiff University, UK; Local organizers: Patricia Aelbrecht, Hesam Kamalipour, Nastaran Peimani) and the AESOP TG PSUC Conference Uppsala “What is the problem now? Searching for the radical turns in theory and praxis of public space” (Institution: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Local organizers: Burcu Yigit Turan, Mia Ågren, Johan Pries) were accepted within the current working theme but postponed for new thematic call 2022-2024 due to pandemics and logistic issues. 

Table of the TG’s current working theme events (2019-2022) 

Note: Apart from the general AESOP Annual Congress, the AESOP TG PSUC has established the policy that all meetings should be free of cost to AESOP TG members and that affordable accommodation proposals are provided by the local host.

In times of open call for hosting an AESOP TG PSUC, group members and other interested parties could submit a proposal for hosting a TG event (conference/call for abstract/call for paper/workshop/meeting) about current themes of the PSUC Thematic Group. This proposal should contain information about timing, place, host institution, concept and issues to deepen.

Once the event has been accepted and scheduled, the working group has been constituted from local members and TG representatives, the working group will work on the call that will be shared with active TG members prior to dissemination in order to start the discussion of themes of relevance and to promote the participation to the event. A finally agreed version of the call will be shared with local and TG network through Social Media and Public Relations TG volunteers. 

Group’s activities in 2021

This year was entirely dedicated to the working theme Public Spaces: Knowledge transition between Research, Policy and Practice.

Consolidating the umbrella topic “Public Spaces: Knowledge transition between Research, Policy and Practice” 

Public space has received increasing attention in urban research, policy and public debate. This is evident in the growing academic literature on the themes related to public space, including accessibility, healthy living, inclusiveness, democracy, urban justice, self-organization, social movements and other. The 2016 UN Habitat Conference, Habitat III, adopted what is called The New Urban Agenda, which focused on public space as a promoter of ‘inclusive, connected, safe and accessible’ cities (UN Habitat, 2016). UN Habitat’s public space programme operates in various countries to promote the design and management of public spaces through participatory approaches engaging different stakeholders. Other initiatives include the Project for Public Space (PPS) Placemaking approach, which has been adopted in several cities. The contributors to public space provision go beyond state actors to include panoply of residents, activists and different combinations of interest groups. 

Within this context, one realises the shifting boundaries and roles of public spaces that include: self-organization in reclaiming public spaces on the one hand and market-led celebration for economic attractiveness as well as political manipulation of the public realm for undemocratic purposes on the other hand, with several shades in the middle. This complexity requires relational perspectives to analyse these spaces as well as further proposals for transdisciplinary methods, which are very much needed to engage knowledge, concepts and theories from various disciplines, allowing them to permeate policy-making and practice processes in different contexts. 

To this end, the working theme poses the question: which actors and which transdisciplinary methods can engage knowledge on public spaces in a transformative manner that directly influences public space policy and practice processes towards meeting the role of promoter of ‘inclusive, connected, safe and accessible’ cities?  

The AESOP Thematic Group Public Spaces and Urban Cultures develop this working theme addressing the following topics:

• Changing typologies and roles of players and actors: multiplicity of publics and public space cultures, arenas for rebuilding participation;
• Public spaces and changes: climate change, social movements, circular economy;
• Changing needs and roles: homelessness, refugees, immigrants and integration, age, gender, social, cultural, ethnic and religious considerations and urban justice;
• Questioning the global north-south divide and public space dynamics;
• Changing environmental awareness: public space as a buffer zone, contribution to public health (mental and physical well-being);
• Changing intangible cultural heritage: adapting the genius loci to multiple and dynamic cultural identities. 

Productive steps in 2021