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Purpose: This paper investigates the potential of virtual reality (VR) technologies—specifically, building information modeling (BIM) (“Autodesk Revit”) and game engines (“Unreal Engine”)—to enhance public involvement in the design and execution of architecture and urban projects. The main research question focuses on comparing the effectiveness of these two methods in creating an interactive design model for participatory design in public spaces. Methods: The study employed a VR exploratory experiment with 33 participants, followed by semi-structured interviews to analyze two recent developments in London: the Sky Garden, and Crossrail Place Roof Garden. Participants interacted with the design models and provided feedback on their experiences. Results: The findings demonstrate that integrating VR with BIM software using the Enscape plugin effectively enhances user involvement, enabling real-time generation and testing of design alternatives. While both methods were found to be beneficial, participants reported a preference for the direct implementation of VR in BIM software. Conclusions: This research highlights the potential of VR technologies—specifically, BIM and game engines—as a co-design approach for public and social spaces in urban environments. It also identifies limitations and future research opportunities in adopting these methods for participatory design.

Impervious surfaces are the greatest contributors to degradation of water quality and large volumes of stormwater runoff. Green infrastructure is the holistic solution to this problem which not only reduces flooding but also actively moves towards achievement of larger environmental goals. Green infrastructure has the co-benefits of reducing the heat island effect, traffic calming, beautifying the neighbourhood, improving the canopy within the city, the creation of parks and even supports economic development. The City of Falls Church is deeply concerned with the pressing matter of flood control due to the threats to human life and property in recent flooding events. The polluted waters of Falls Church also contribute to a highly impaired watershed- the Chesapeake Bay. This thesis recognizes the environmental crisis caused by polluted runoff and places equal emphasis upon reducing runoff as well as improving water quality. In order to mitigate the effects of inundation, it is most critical to intervene at the source of locations which create the most runoff and pollution. The thesis provides a systematic methodology of identifying such areas and intervening in them. The watershed which contains the downtown area of Falls Church has the greatest amount of impervious surfaces and the highest rate of stormwater runoff. The two intersecting streets of S. Maple Avenue and Annandale Road are identified as the location of intervention after tabulating a confluence of stormwater and public realm factors. S. Maple Avenue is a part of the Falls Church bike network and is also designated to become a civic great street. Meanwhile, Annandale Road has the potential to play an active role in collection and management of stormwater. Annandale Road runs along the watershed boundary as well as crosses several tributaries which are low points in the watershed. Furthermore, there is a dynamic urban character to the street as it transitions from a residential zone to the commercial zone. Both streets present excellent possibilities for road diets, pedestrianization and traffic calming which bolsters the implementation of stormwater management in the public realm. Master of Science Impervious surfaces are the greatest contributors to degradation of water quality and large volumes of stormwater runoff. Green infrastructure is the holistic solution to this problem which not only reduces flooding but also actively moves towards achievement of larger environmental goals. There is a growing recognition that gray stormwater infrastructure has no benefits other than the conveyance of water away from the site. Green infrastructure has the co-benefits of reducing the heat island effect, traffic calming, beautifying the neighbourhood, improving the canopy within the city, the creation of parks and even supports economic development. There are many cities today which have had positive results by implementing a green approach towards the management of runoff. The City of Falls Church is deeply concerned with the pressing matter of flood control due to the threats to human life and property in recent flooding events. This thesis recognizes the environmental crisis caused by polluted runoff and places equal emphasis upon reducing runoff as well as improving water quality. In order to mitigate the effects of inundation, it is most critical to intervene at the source of locations which create the most runoff and pollution.The two intersecting streets of S. Maple Avenue and Annandale Road are identified as the location of intervention after tabulating a confluence of stormwater and public realm factors. Both streets present excellent possibilities for road diets, pedestrianization and traffic calming which bolsters the implementation of stormwater management in the public realm.

This thesis interprets the significance of Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House through the framework of the public realm, as understood after the Second World War. In the 1950s, the Opera House was considered a monument for its potential to enrich civic life. This was perceived through the theories of New Monumentality and CIAM, which built upon Sigfried Giedion’s premise of the monument as a symbol – a form that had no apparent significance yet would seize directly upon the senses. Drawing on the Romantic idea of the imagination, Giedion celebrated the power of the symbol to rouse the emotions of the people, with hopes of stimulating their engagement in public life. These endeavours reflected democratic ideals of the post-war period, with a conception of the public realm as a space for both individuality and commonality. The impact of this was felt in architectural circles in 1951, when the eighth CIAM Congress titled ‘The Heart of the City’ adopted the Greek concept of the polis in its planning of new civic centres. Parallels are drawn between the ideas of this congress and those of Hannah Arendt, a contemporary of Utzon and Giedion, who saw the public realm as the space for distinctiveness to appear within the existing conditions of a shared world. By situating the Sydney Opera House within this broader historical narrative, one can comprehend its power as a monument to capture the concerns of its time, while meeting needs that have persisted from antiquity until this present moment.

Digital technologies have transformed how we connect and socialize. Although virtual spaces command much of our attention, physical spaces remain essential to our everyday lives. This report synthesizes existing research on public spaces that potentiate, facilitate, and enhance relations between people beyond networks of primary relations, to better understand where sociability between strangers happens, where it does not, and how it may be enhanced. As central spaces of sociability, public spaces are an essential part of our social infrastructure.bAs spaces of sociability, public spaces improve quality of life by increasing opportunities for social contact, learning, leisure, play, and simply sharing space with strangers. Sociable public spaces facilitate interactions across social difference and create belonging; they can be both planned and flexible, and support a range of uses that respond to local needs and residents. The best sociable public spaces attend to historical, social, cultural, and community context; they include careful planning and programming and facilitate playfulness and improvised uses; they attend to basic human needs and foreground accessibility in multiple ways. To make public spaces better spaces of sociability, planners and policy makers need better more granular data on the social life of public spaces. Investments in public spaces as social infrastructure that supports diverse populations will counter social isolation, social fragmentation, and political polarization. Co-funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Employment and Social Development Canada.

Starting from the arendtian distinctions of the concept of public as appearance, exhibition and publicity and public as sharing a common world I will try to show how our perception of reality is dependent on common sense. This own characteristic of the human condition submits all societies to the challenge of creating and maintaining a public realm, in which the different opinions can, in confronting each other and both with the perceived world, rise from the level of self-opinion to common vision of reality, thus making the world shareable. Next I present the characteristics of neoliberal reason to conclude that it can not found a public realm and even needs its destruction. I present this threat of the hegemony of neoliberal reason over contemporary common sense in terms of tendency, why the total destruction of public realm would also mean the extinction of human societies as social aggregation and politic, which has already been tried in totalitarian regimes and failed. Partindo das distinções arendtianas do conceito de público na condição de aparência, exposição e publicidade e público como compartilhamento de um mundo comum tentarei mostrar como nossa percepção da realidade é dependente do senso comum. Essa característica própria da condição humana submete todas as sociedades ao desafio de criar e manter um domínio público, em que, ao confrontar-se umas com as outras e com o mundo percebido, as distintas opiniões possam elevar-se do nível da opinião própria ao patamar de visão comum da realidade, tornando, assim, o mundo partilhável. Em seguida, apresento as características da razão neoliberal a fim de concluir que ela não pode fundar um domínio público e precisa mesmo destruí-lo. Apresento essa ameaça da hegemonia da razão neoliberal sobre o senso comum contemporâneo em termos de tendência porque a total destruição do domínio público significaria também a extinção das sociedades humanas como agregação social e política, o que já foi tentado nos regimes totalitários e fracassou.

Hosting seasonal urban events in open public spaces has a significant impact on urban vitality. By reviewing the categorisation of urban events, this paper explains the charactersitics of ‘Seasonal Urban Event’ through time, scale, location, format, content, function, and aim. It mainly focuses on leisure and entertainment events through two cases, Summer Beach and Winter Wonderland at Old Market Square in Nottingham, UK. The research explores ‘Seasonal Urban Event’ by literature review, open data, observation, and the survey data analysis of participants’ responses. The survey result indicates positive spatial and social engagement levels ranging from accessibility, legibility, permeability, flexibility to participation, satisfaction, and inclusivity. The potential benefits of social impact have been emphasised by participants’ responses to elevating civic pride and improving the level of social inclusion. It concludes that ‘Seasonal Urban Event’, as a useful supplement method, may enhance urban vitality in the hosting city Hosting seasonal urban events in open public spaces has a significant impact on urban vitality. By reviewing the categorisation of urban events, this paper explains the charactersitics of ‘Seasonal Urban Event’ through time, scale, location, format, content, function, and aim. It mainly focuses on leisure and entertainment events through two cases, Summer Beach and Winter Wonderland at Old Market Square in Nottingham, UK. The research explores ‘Seasonal Urban Event’ by literature review, open data, observation, and the survey data analysis of participants’ responses. The survey result indicates positive spatial and social engagement levels ranging from accessibility, legibility, permeability, flexibility to participation, satisfaction, and inclusivity. The potential benefits of social impact have been emphasised by participants’ responses to elevating civic pride and improving the level of social inclusion. It concludes that ‘Seasonal Urban Event’, as a useful supplement method, may enhance urban vitality in the hosting city

Importance of seeing and implementing children’s needs in the urban public realm is widely discussed among urban researchers in recent years. It is becoming more challenging, as nowadays there are more than one billion children growing up in cities,which is more than ever before. In this research, I discuss a specific context of a modernist area, Sykhiv, which represents the most widespread type of residential area in Ukraine. The research aims to understand the quality of Sykhiv’s neighborhoods for children and to understand the different perspectives of experts and parents onchild-friendliness in the public realm of Sykhiv. The first research question is dedicatedto parents’ perspectives and children’s spatial practices, the second part is dedicated toexpert views on existing policies, practices, narratives towards child-friendly environment in Sykhiv. The third question represents the synthesis of two previous and reflects on the rethinking of public spaces in Sykhiv in terms of child-friendliness. Three key theories that help to frame this study are: holistic theory on Environmentalchild-friendliness helps to envision a complexity of a phenomenon of child-friendlinessof the environment, critical study on reconceptualizing the playground, which reflects onan extension of the focus of researching a play in the physical environment, andaffordance theory, which bridges the physical environment and human behavior. Theresults showed that Sykhiv has lots of features of a child-friendly environment, noticedboth by experts and parents, however, play infrastructure has numerous disadvantages.The holistic strategy, effective cooperation of all actors (public authorities, civic activists,parents and children, urban planners), awareness and knowledge are lacking in order tocontribute to a child-friendly environment, or at least to prevent negative tendencies tointensity of traffic, shortage of greenery, densening residential areas, etc. Extended safegreen spaces are more likely to perform children’s needs in a public realm, thanplaygrounds that are very frequent but of poor quality in Sykhiv.

Partindo das distinções arendtianas do conceito de público na condição de aparência, exposição e publicidade e público como compartilhamento de um mundo comum tentarei mostrar como nossa percepção da realidade é dependente do senso comum. Essa característica própria da condição humana submete todas as sociedades ao desafio de criar e manter um domínio público, em que, ao confrontar-se umas com as outras e com o mundo percebido, as distintas opiniões possam elevar-se do nível da opinião própria ao patamar de visão comum da realidade, tornando, assim, o mundo partilhável. Em seguida, apresento as características da razão neoliberal a fim de concluir que ela não pode fundar um domínio público e precisa mesmo destruí-lo. Apresento essa ameaça da hegemonia da razão neoliberal sobre o senso comum contemporâneo em termos de tendência porque a total destruição do domínio público significaria também a extinção das sociedades humanas como agregação social e política, o que já foi tentado nos regimes totalitários e fracassou.

Through their everyday mobilities, young women forge and maintain social connections and often develop a sense of place belonging where they reside. Yet, young women’s mobilities are not solely a product of personal preference. Instead, they are influenced, and often curtailed, by familial, cultural and structural factors. These factors are wide-ranging and have complex gender dimensions. There is, however, a paucity of research examining how gender affects young women’s (im)mobilities and experiences of the public realm at different levels of analysis (i.e., individual, interactional and macro), particularly in the context of a small urban area. This research addresses this gap, and sheds light on the pervasive effects of gender and gender inequality on young women’s (im)mobilities. The aim of my research is thus to explore the everyday (im)mobilities of young women in Inverness, Scotland and the implications these have for their access to, and involvement in, the public realm. My research seeks to disrupt the historically adult male versions and narratives of social life in social science literature by meaningfully focusing on and including young women in the research process. To do this, I utilised a combination of qualitative methods, including participatory techniques and semi-structured interviews with 41 participants. The data were collected over an eight-month period (October 2018 to May 2019) in a cluster of three residential neighbourhoods in Inverness, Scotland. These neighbourhoods have a mixed demographic profile and experience several challenges including high rates of poverty, unemployment and crime. The neighbourhoods were selected because, due to their location, young women used a variety of different forms of transportation to move around including walking, cars and public transportation. The research was conducted with four participant groups including 12 young women between the ages of 13- 17, five parents/carers, 17 key adults and seven policy professionals. The age range for the young women is justifiable because adolescents often have more freedom of movement without an accompanying adult than younger children. Moreover, existing empirical evidence shows concern for young women’s mobilities compared to young men’s increases during adolescence. Ethical best practices were carefully considered throughout the research process. The three findings chapters explore several key themes. These themes include gender, (im)mobilities, space and place, place belonging and place-based stigma (territorial stigmatisation). In the findings chapters, I critically discuss the complex factors that constrain and enable young women’s mobilities. I argue that young women’s (im)mobilities are not simply a product of personal preference, but are influenced by intersecting social identities, environmental variables, self-imposed and parental regulations, transportation policy and infrastructure, and systemic inequalities, all of which have gender dimensions. Moreover, young women’s mobilities are interrelated with their social connections, and spending time with friends ‘on the move’ can both strengthen relationships, and at the same time, extend their mobilities. However, young women have varying degrees of access to the public realm and use it for different social purposes. The politics of sharing space with others also, at times, creates tensions as different generations and genders may have alternative understandings of acceptable spatial practices. Lastly, young women’s mobilities and subsequently their access to, and involvement in, the public realm are highly contextual, and shaped by where they live. In this research, the negative reputation attached to the neighbourhoods in the field site had implications for where young women wanted to go, where they were allowed to go, their sense of place belonging and their aspirations. By exploring young women’s movements in the public realm, as well as the meanings they and others give to their mobilities, this research lays bare the all too often hidden influence of gender. The findings conceptually contribute to literature on young people’s mobilities by highlighting how gender influences (im)mobilities at multiple levels of analysis. The findings also provide insight into the lives of young women in Inverness, a city which receives little research attention. This research moreover has implications for transportation policy, urban planning/design and youth work. Young women are overlooked in transportation design, services and policies in Scotland. The transportation sector would benefit from imbedding gender sensitive policies and programmes into their current and future activities. Those responsible for urban planning and design should also consider generational differences in social and spatial practices and take young women’s needs into account. The youth work sector would also benefit from considering young women’s desire to have a space to call their own. By focusing on the experiences and needs of young women new knowledge will emerge to inform more inclusive and effective local services and policies to support and value young women in Scotland and beyond.

Evaluation and Review of the Phase 1 Covid-19 Mobility and Public Realm Works undertaken by Dún Laoghaire- Rathdown County Council. Interim findings, June 2021.

Submitted by José Fernando Toledo Paniago (paniagojfernando@gmail.com) on 2022-01-05T15:23:42Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação de mestrado PPGCS Unesp-Marília (José Fernando Toledo Paniago) - VERSÃO FINAL folha de rosto, ficha catalográfica etc.pdf: 679513 bytes, checksum: e6348fa38cfc686b90ece3bdcb2e5dd5 (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Eder Ludovico de Matos (eder.ludovico@unesp.br) on 2022-01-05T17:57:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 paniago_jft_me_mar.pdf: 679513 bytes, checksum: e6348fa38cfc686b90ece3bdcb2e5dd5 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2022-01-05T17:57:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 paniago_jft_me_mar.pdf: 679513 bytes, checksum: e6348fa38cfc686b90ece3bdcb2e5dd5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2021-09-10 Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) No mundo antigo, havia uma distinção clara entre a esfera pública e privada, e os assuntos relativos a cada uma eram mutuamente excludentes. Questões ligadas ao trabalho do corpo e à necessidade se restringiam ao âmbito doméstico da esfera privada, enquanto a esfera pública era dedicada à ação política de cidadãos em conjunto. A modernidade, devido ao “advento do social”, promoveu um rompimento dessa rígida distinção entre as esferas pública e privada e a atividade humana do trabalho assumiu preponderância sobre a ação, que perdeu espaço. Arendt busca uma esfera pública coerente e que permita aos cidadãos a ação política em conjunto. Nesse sentido, diversos autores refletem sobre a ação política no plano internacional. Pensadores da teoria crítica discutem sobre a viabilidade da esfera pública transnacional e propõem a superação do tradicional conceito de Estado-nação, baseado em povo, território, soberania e distinção entre nativos e estrangeiros. Este trabalho busca analisar o conceito de esfera pública em Hannah Arendt, avaliar a proposta da teoria crítica sobre a esfera pública transnacional e refletir sobre o possível diálogo entre as duas matrizes de pensamento. In the ancient world there was a clear distinction between public and private realm, and matters relating to each were mutually exclusive. Issues related to the work of the body and need were restricted in the domestic sphere of the private realm, while the public realm was dedicated to the political action of citizens in concert. Modernity, due to the “advent of the social”, promoted a break in this rigid distinction between the public and private realms, and the human activity of work assumed preponderance over action, which lost its space. Arendt seeks a coherent public sphere that allows citizens to take political action to get her. In this sense, several authors reflect on political action at the international level. Critical theory thinkers discuss the viability of the transnational public sphere and propose an overcoming of the traditional concept of the nation-State, based on people, territory, sovereignty and distinction between natives and foreigners. This work seeks to analyze the concept of public realm in Hannah Arendt, evaluate the proposal for critical theory on the transnational public sphere and reflect on the possible dialogue between the two matrices of thought. CAPES: 001

The article elaborates Hannah Arendt’s thought on the public realm to analyze the performed ‘radio’ that women prisoners ‘produced’ with their voice at the Majdanek concentration camp, Poland, in Spring 1943. The authors reconstruct the rationale that clarifies why an image of a radio was meaningful at a death camp. The documented memories reveal that the ‘radio’ created a resistant, harm-preventing and despair-relieving space. Mobilizing the meanings Arendt gives to the public realm as the shared reference and shared belonging, the authors show that the memories point towards the prisoners’ efforts to break their exclusion by decisively continuing their belonging to the public world through their own performance. In Arendt’s concepts, ‘broadcasting’ and listening to ‘programmes’ actualized prisoners’ being and subjectivity, the both of which were under constant assaults. Conceptualized through Arendt’s thought, the performed ‘radio’ reveals amid the extreme exclusion, isolation and cruelty of the death camp how profoundly meaningful the public realm is to humans. The article elaborates Hannah Arendt’s thought on the public realm to analyze the performed ‘radio’ that women prisoners ‘produced’ with their voice at the Majdanek concentration camp, Poland, in Spring 1943. The authors reconstruct the rationale that clarifies why an image of a radio was meaningful at a death camp. The documented memories reveal that the ‘radio’ created a resistant, harm-preventing and despair-relieving space. Mobilizing the meanings Arendt gives to the public realm as the shared reference and shared belonging, the authors show that the memories point towards the prisoners’ efforts to break their exclusion by decisively continuing their belonging to the public world through their own performance. In Arendt’s concepts, ‘broadcasting’ and listening to ‘programmes’ actualized prisoners’ being and subjectivity, the both of which were under constant assaults. Conceptualized through Arendt’s thought, the performed ‘radio’ reveals amid the extreme exclusion, isolation and cruelty of the death camp how profoundly meaningful the public realm is to humans.

The essay addresses the problem of normativity of law from the point of view of phenomenological hermeneutics. First, the author briefly reconstructs the theory of hermeneutic experience as an experience of understanding or an experience of meaning, highlights the inherent normative dimension in the structure of hermeneutic experience and describes its aspects. Then, the essay traces the connection between this initial normativity and the formalized normative systems that largely mediate our lives in the modern world. In particular, using the concept of human dignity as an example, the author shows that hermeneutic optics enables us to see the foundations of legal norms in the very mode of our being in the world. Finally, the essay explains the modern crisis of law as an integral part of the general crisis of meaning, which is associated with the destruction of public realm and a radical transformation of our fundamental experience.

Informal settlements are a natural and necessary part of urbanization. Occupied by victims of unsuccessful migration and viewed by the city dweller as a dystopia, these are incredibly self-sustaining parts of the city. Inhabited by the socially marginalised, informal settlements have been neglected in terms of infrastructure and public processes by the formal sectors. Recent efforts to deal with these settlements, like forced evictions, show evidence of social and spatial injustices inflicted on the inhabitants. By 2050, more than two-thirds of the global population will live in cities. Of those, one-third will live in sub-par informal settlements without their own right to the city. With this reality, is it time to reassess how we talk about informal forms of urbanization?

The toppling of slave trader Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol on 7th June 2020, and its dispatch into the waters of the nearby harbour – a defiant act of protest by members of Britain’s ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement – helped to raise international awareness that far too many statues and other artefacts within the urban realm carry troubling histories, even if their contentious associations might have been forgotten. Acting as quasi-Trojan horses, they can appear benign enough within their cultural landscapes while yet silently continuing to reinforce socio-economic inequalities. This essay investigates the incident in Bristol to offer a wider reassessment of those cultural legacies now seen as ‘difficult heritage’, particularly those associated with slave trading in the former British Empire. It looks at how the cultural value of the Colston statue, when viewed over time in relation to material and ideological conditions in Bristol as a declining port city, creates a real tension in their meaning today given that they so obviously represent a highly selective construction of local history. The increasingly vociferous demand globally for the removal of such sculptures, especially by the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, exposes the ongoing evasiveness and indecisiveness of official bodies in dealing with such artefacts. While the final outcome of the toppling of the Colston statue remains in the balance in terms of its legal resolution, the role of urban art as part of activism and protest clearly demands more attention. This essay traces the emergence of debates about ‘difficult heritage’ as a combination of social performance and civil disobedience. As this kind of struggle continues, the urgent questions become who should be allowed to determine what is considered history and how should it be displayed in our urban public spaces?

Dissertação de Mestrado em Gestão da Mobilidade Urbana apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia O modo como o ser humano se comporta em relação a outros indivíduos e ao ambiente envolvente, pode ser compreendido através de obervações comportamentais. As distâncias que mantemos de nossos familiares diferencia-se da mantida perante colegas de trabalho, com estranhos ou com quem cruzamos no espaço público. Estas distâncias são conhecidas como proxémica. Assim como no reino animal, distanciamentos podem ocorrer por questões de defesa de território, garantia de escape e pela preservação de conforto imediato do seu espaço pessoal. O conceito de Espaço Pessoal relaciona-se também com o comportamento social, tratando-se do mesmo território que buscamos proteger/salvaguardar/confortar pelo exercício da comunicação proxémica. O espaço pessoal nos envolve a todo o tempo e quando seus limites são ultrapassados ou sofrem pressão involuntária (além da desejada, há desconforto e acionam-se sistemas de defesa de território. Ainda que possa parecer que, diferentemente dos territórios animais e tribais, os centros urbanos carecem de demarcação territorial, basta uma reflexão identitária para percebermos que tal disputa existe e reside em difusos limiares.A presença humana no espaço público faz-se sentir essencialmente no movimento, nas viagens pelos mais variados motivos (trabalho, cultura, consumo, prazer), reside a espontaneidade do encontro com a alteridade, com o rotulado 'estranho' propriamente dito.Dito isto, o convite à alteridade inerente aos encontros e desencontros próprios da vida urbana e a promoção de urbanidade dos espaços públicos, dependem (também) da promoção de modos de transporte que possam fomentar encontros sem disputa, partilha sem pressão e pleno sentimento de pertença ao território. Embora o andar a pé seja uma condição natural do homem (seja qual for a alternativa de transporte sempre se é pedestre em algum momento da viagem), ela tem sido uma questão cultural que aparentemente varia conforme questões de política e de sociologia. Portanto, é necessário devolver à escala humana seu papel definidor da qualidade do espaço público e para isto, nesta investigação, utilizou-se a noção do Espaço Pessoal ditado pelo enquadramento da proxémica, para analisar e comparar algumas das alternativas de mobilidade urbana.A mobilidade no espaço público é o resultado da nossa silenciosa - e na maioria das vezes pacífica - disputa territorial. Uma corrida esbaforida pelo último assento de um transporte coletivo atrasado que chega a um ponto de embarque lotado; o constrangimento de se sentar no assento na fileira do avião. Ou ainda a tensão corporal e o olhar furtivo mantidos durante todo o desconfortável - porém necessário - trajeto numa carruagem superlotada, onde não há qualquer distância ou garantia de espaço pessoal, à parte do mero e óbvio espaço vital. Esta dissertação apresenta o desenvolvimento de uma investigação sobre as variáveis que caracterizam a qualidade do espaço pessoal e sobre o modo como nos podem fornecer informação para facilitar uma comparação entre os meios de transporte e as diferentes necessidades de espaço que os utilizadores sentem ao utilizá-los e em diferentes cenários. Estas análises comparativas podem fornecer argumentos para a tomada de decisão na gestão e planeamento da mobilidade urbana, inclusive em um cenário como o da COVID-19, onde o distanciamento interpessoal se tornou extremamente relevante.Deste modo, ao propor uma metodologia de análise comparativa capaz de incorporar a escala humana enquanto aspeto transversal que percorre toda a mobilidade urbana e todos os modos de transporte, poder-se-á avaliar a integração e confrontação dos aspetos referentes ao espaço pessoal com aspetos operacionais da mobilidade.Assim, ao assumir a relevância da escala humana podemos analisar comparativamente as alternativas de transporte do ponto de visto urbano, operacional e na perceção do utilizador, estabelecendo uma relação entre mobilidade e o consequente comportamento social que promove no espaço público – variável definidora da vivência urbana de grande importância para a realidade pós-Covid. The way in which the human being behaves in relation to other individuals and the its environment can be understood through behavioral observations. The distances we keep from our family members differ from those kept before co-workers, as well as from those perpetrated with strangers with whom we come across in the public space. These distances are known as proxemics. As in the animal kingdom, distancing occurs for reasons of defense of territory, guarantee of escape route and the preservation of immediate comfort of your personal space. The concept of Personal Space is also related to social behavior, being the same territory that we seek to protect/safeguard/comfort by the exercise of proxemic communication. Personal space surrounds us at all times and when its limits are exceeded or suffer involuntary stress (beyond the desired), there is discomfort and activation of territory defense systems. Although it may seem, unlike animal and tribal territories, urban centers lack territorial demarcation, a reflection upon identity would be enough to realize that reality is different and such dispute lies within diffuse thresholds.The human presence in the public realm occurs substantially during traffic; along the displacements for the most varied reasons (work, culture, shopping, pleasure), lies the spontaneity of the encounter with the otherness, with the labeled 'stranger' itself.That said, the invitation to the otherness inherent to the encounters and disencounters proper of urban life alongside with the promotion of urbanity to public spaces, (also) rely on the promotion of transportation modes that can foster meetings without dispute, sharing without stress and full sense of belonging to the territory. Although walking is a natural condition of man (whatever the alternative for travelling it is always pedestrian at some point in the trip), it has been a cultural issue that apparently varies according to issues of politics and sociology. Therefore, it is necessary return to the human scale its defining role of the quality of public realm and for this, in this research, the spatiality of personal space dictated by proxemic communication was used to analyze and compare some of the alternatives of urban mobility.Mobility in the public realm results of the front line of this silent and, in most cases, peaceful territorial dispute. A squeeathing race for the last seat on a delayed bus reaching a crowded boarding point; the embarrassment of sitting in the middle seat on the plane. Or yet the body tension and stealthy gaze maintained throughout an uncomfortable yet necessary commute in an overcrowded tube where there is neither distance nor guarantee of personal space apart the mere vital. This dissertation presents the development of an investigation about the variables that characterize the quality of the personal space and how they can provide us with information to facilitate a comparison between the means of transport and the different needs of spacement felt by their users in different scenarios. This comparative analyzes can provide arguments for decision making in the management and planning of urban mobility, including in a scenario such as the one with COVID-19, where interpersonal distancing has become extremely relevant.Thus, by proposing a comparative analysis methodology capable of incorporating the human scale as a transversal aspect that runs through all urban mobility and all modes of transportation, it would be possible to evaluate an integration and confrontation of aspects related to personal space with operational aspects of mobility.Thereby, by assuming the relavance of the human scale, we can comparatively analyze the transportation alternatives from the urban and operational point of view and also in the user's perception, establishing a relationship between mobility and the social behavior that it promotes in the public space - the defining variable of the urban experience with great importance for the post-Covid realityThereby, by returning to the human scale its relevance, it is possible to comparatively analyze the alternatives of transport from the urban, operational point of view and the user's perception, it was possible to predict its implication in the social behavior promoted in the public space – a defining variable of the urban experience of great importance for the post-Covid reality.

Infrastructure is all around us: under, above, even inside our built and natural landscapes. Sometimes hidden, sometimes visible. The flows that course through them make our cities, economies, and lives possible. Cities could not even exist without infrastructure. Life is endowed with more possibilities by infrastructure. The centrality of infrastructure is pervasive. Worldwide, cities embrace infrastructure for economic competitiveness, well-being, access, environmental protection and knowledge creation. As cities are crucibles that concentrate the human condition, infrastructures are conduits that enable that concentration and empower human achievement. As infrastructures shape almost every aspect of daily life, this article assays the various ways it currently makes places both less sustainable and resilient, as well as more so, and how we can minimise the former and optimise the latter.

A report proposing the adoption of a Low Traffic Zone (LTZ), focused around Palmerston Road, in central Southsea. The proposal addresses the need to improve the public realm and the public health provisions for users of commercial premises on Palmerston Rd. and instilling public confidence in use of the area by allowing those premises to re-open safely by offering improved public space assets.

Sustainable development presents one of the most complex challenges in Egypt in particular of keeping up with the global march. According to what Egypt possesses of original cultural spatial components, the need has necessitated taking care of the investments, but in a sustainable way in the historical cities centers where its possession of cultural spatial elements with high economic importance. However, Egyptian historical centers have suffered from Degradation and dissipation of energies and capabilities resulting from the negligence of urban conservation projects, and its incompatibility with the ongoing social changes. The pathway taken by urban development have been considered as incomprehensive methods for all the levels of effect of the historical centers.These levels are the international, national and local levels with the Totalitarian goals for the city and the national economy which has been aimed at the methods of conservation of the urban in the domain of the historical area only. That narrow perspective hasn’t achieved an increase in economical and job opportunities, without relying on the attracting the investments and tourism that can achieve a change of the value of the targeted area from the actual value towards the highest probable value. The historic core is considered as an attraction for the tourism activities but in the centers of the Egyptian cities, the public realms are the outcomes of the undersigned remaining realms. Therefore, they cannot perform their function as public spaces expressing the local character, as they are the center of social relations and cultural product. The research paper has dealt with the Urban Regeneration of the public realm and analytical applied survey study on the heritage core of the city Rashid. The research ends with a number of recommendations related to dealing with the basis of urban regeneration of the public realm. Which have been applied on the historic core of Rasheed city.

Introduction: This paper presents a theoretical framework that helps identify visual sustainability in urban projects and evaluates its relevance for the use, design and making of public space. Aim: It is aimed at showing how the process of urban regeneration is far more nuanced and sophisticated than much of today’s building industry allows for. Methodology: The first part of the article provides an outline of this framework, by drawing from the notion of ambiguity and discussing regeneration around a concept of trojans of ambiguity: by which we simply mean that modern-day regeneration projects are often a confusion of meaning. The framework is then applied to two case studies: Heygate and Sidewalk Labs Toronto. Findings: The Heygate regeneration produced a negative emotionally charged process and social displacement. By contrast Sidewalk Labs Toronto exemplifies a technologically clean start for regeneration, on a site with little social vitality or history. The starting points for each ultimately point to two very different outcomes. Recommendations for further research: Visual sustainability represents ‘the technology before the technology’ and future research must recognise how human needs, not technology, provide the meaning into ‘how’ we may create a successful, smart, and sustainable urban.

The imperative to address the challenge of transforming car-dependent cities and promoting sustainable mobilities requires that we engage with the relationships between urban morphology and forms of urbanity in public spaces surrounding transit nodes. While there has been a surge of interest in investigating the agency of urban planning and design in mitigating urban sprawl and its environmental impacts by creating mixed-use, dense, and walkable places, the extent to which the public space can enable streetlife intensity in proximity to transit remains underexplored. Through extensive urban mapping and comparison of two transit nodes in Tehran, this paper articulates the key morphological elements of building density, functional mix, and access networks, how they work in relation to forms of urbanity and informality in public space around stations, and what inferences can be made on how public space within station areas work in the context of rapidly urbanising cities compared to those in Western contexts. The nexus between functional mix, retail edges, and forms of urbanity has been found critical to the spatial configuration, performance, and transformation of transit station areas. Forms of informality have also been found integral to how public space works in the context of transit urban design. This paper contributes to the newfound accent on urban design dimensions concerning TODs in the context of less formal and more congested cities of the global South.

Among various modes of the vita activa considered by Hannah Arendt, the ability for action and particularly political action is the crucial one as it endows life with meaning and constitutes human freedom. The question I address in this essay is whether it is possible – according to Arendt – to create active citizenship by means of democratic education. In order to answer this question I consider three models of democratic education, two of which should be rejected if one agrees with Arendt’s assumptions. The third model, aimed at developing abilities to think critically, is the only one that can support those values, which are essential for a healthy democracy. 5 1 200 218 11 Filozofia Publiczna i Edukacja Demokratyczna

Recent quantitative investigations consistently single out considerable gender variations in the experience of loneliness in Australia, and in particular how men are especially prone to protracted and serious episodes of loneliness. In 2017 the Director of Lifeline implicated loneliness as a significant factor in suicide among Australian men – currently three times the rate of suicide among women. Compared to women men also struggle to talk about loneliness or seek help from a range of informal and professional sources. We know very little about men’s experience of loneliness or why they are so susceptible to it currently and research is urgently needed in order to design specific interventions for them. To date, psychology has dominated the theoretical research on loneliness but in this article we argue that sociology has a key role to play in broadening out the theoretical terrain of this understanding so as to create culturally informed interventions. Most researchers agree that loneliness occurs when belongingess needs remain unmet, yet it is also acknowledged that such needs are culturally specific and changing. We need to understand how loneliness and gender cultures configure for men; how they are located in different ethnic, class and age cohort cultures as well as the changing social/economic/spatial/public/institutional bases for belonging across Australia. Theoretical enquiry must encompass the broader social structural narratives (Bauman, Giddens and Sennett) and link these to the changing nature of belonging in everyday life – across the public sphere, the domestic sphere, work, in kinship systems, housing and settlement patterns, associational life, in embodied relationships and online Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This special issue is comprised of five articles which explore the modes and forms of decision-making in open communities, i.e. in organizations having loosely coupled, often informal, structures with flexible and permeable boundaries. These communities are emerging in the public realm and performing actions which can be described as a collective. More and more of these organizational environments are perceived to be highly democratic, innovative, and leading to successful social innovations, cohesion processes and governance. The articles represent an attempt to capture the nature of decision environments specific to open communities, and the dynamics of their decisions. The articles discuss characteristics of these communities and how they enable more democratic decisions and, at the same time, identify decision-making constraints that create obstacles for effective collective actions.

In this introductory article to the special issue Co-Design and the public realm', we discuss a common interest in how meso- and macro-political institutional contexts frame and are informed by Participatory Design (PD) and Co-Design processes. We argue that a unilateral focus within PD and Co-Design on the micro-political scale of fieldwork obscures interactivity with institutional framing processes, undermining their potential as sites of critique and political change. Our argument is drawn from a study of literature on the role of institutions in relation to PD and the public realm and our experience as participants in an EU-funded research project. The case study descriptions unpack how various institutional frames inform PD processes and how, conversely, PD processes inform various institutional frames: metacultural frames, institutional action frames and policy frames. To highlight the move to engaging with and creating new institutions, we introduce the notion of institutioning. This work was supported by Marie Curie Initial Training Networks (ITN), FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN.

This paper intends to begin a conversation on public theology in the Romanian context. The launching of the Global Network for Public Theology and of the International Journal of Public Theology some 10 years represent two significant markers for this new field of study. Public theology is a serious engagement of Christian faith with the public domain in all its social, political, cultural and economic spheres of life in society. It is proposed that the engagement of theology in conversation with issues of public domain becomes not only relevant but extremely urgent if we consider the historical, postcommunist, post-dictatorial, transitional context of Romania and the entire region of Central and Eastern Europe, where faith was privatized and excluded from the public discourse for many decades. It is argued that in this context one of the most important and urgent tasks of the church as well as of Christian theology is to become an authentic witness in the public realm, toproclaim and embody the gospel as public truth, i.e. a theology concerned with and addressing the entire reality of life in society.It is thus shown that a crucial preoccupation for Christians in Romania and in this part of the world isan articulation of a solid public theology of culture, of work, of social justice and reconciliation, a public theology for the common good and human flourishing.After a brief presentation of a particular aspect of the Romanian regarding religion and public life, the paper offers an introduction to this new field of study by looking at some definitions, characteristics, approaches and tasks of public theology.

An emerging theme within the mega-events literature is the ways they affect the provision, regulation and design of urban public spaces. Host cities seem keen to bring events out of traditional arenas into public spaces. Urban parks, streets and squares are also used for supplementary occasions and facilities associated with hosting mega-events. Using the examples of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, this paper examines the long-term significance of mega-events for urban public spaces. The paper contends that these events can be used as ‘Trojan Horses’ which allow new systems to be introduced under the cover of an event. It also emphasizes how temporary mega-events transform public spaces into venues for subsequent commercial events. Finally, the paper acknowledges more positive legacies, showing how mega-events can change how public space is imagined by users and by those responsible for managing it. The Glasgow and London cases both highlight the ways events can highlight the potential of spaces, influencing the ways spaces are used, designed and managed.

"Doha, the Capital City of Qatar. A cosmopolitan, diverse and ever-growing international hub in the Arabian Gulf. It’s recent and continuous rapid expansion necessitates the careful planning of its roads infrastructure. This challenging task is been managed by the Ministry of Transport & Communications (MOTC). The Ministry’s Land Transport Sector has developed the Concept Design of Roads & Infrastructure for Phase 4 Project which includes Design of Haloul Road” as Package 26 and Design of C-Ring Road, D-Ring Road, Al Muntaza Street, Al Mansura Street, Najma Street, Rawdat Al Khail Street, Al Khalidiya Street and Airport Street as Package 27. Following a detailed study, the Land Transport Planning Department (LTPD) developed a solution that provides optimum mobility, safety, accessibility and efficiency of traffic movement in and around the project area by assessing and designing public realm improvements which will provide additional traffic capacity to accommodate the city’s future growth, as well as improve the urban environment through a series of landscaping enhancements."

Governments are increasingly recognizing the contribution that cultural heritage makes to the social wellbeing of diverse groups living within progressively multicultural towns and cities. This could not be more evident than in the case of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE—a city which has undergone a significant transformation in the last five decades and has been known for its cultural diversity. Several government initiatives and community programs are being launched to promote more sustainable alternatives to urban development. Recognizing the urgent need to safeguard the surviving stock of modern buildings dating back to the late 1960s, the Abu Dhabi government launched the Modern Heritage Preservation Initiative five years ago. This paper explores the role that built cultural heritage can play to improve the public realm within sustainable urbanism. It considers the changing definitions of urbanistic heritage before outlining the broad contribution this cultural resource can make. Insight gained from participating in public workshops and interacting with government agencies and community organizations is presented. This is followed by case studies that highlight some of the trends and challenges to the preservation of urban heritage and the creation of quality public spaces. The paper concludes with a discussion of the shortcomings of existing approaches to urban development and suggests a holistic approach to achieve a greater understanding of how to integrate physical public realm heritage conservation into sustainable urbanism.

The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic motivated this paper, which revisits the nexus of public health and the city, itself a main source of a pandemic which similarly threatens the lives and properties of the world population gradually one glacier at a time: climate change. We argue that pandemics expose both the vulnerability and resilience of the urban system expansively, from rooftop to the region, but also serve as change agents for the planning of resilient cities and regions globally. The discussion of the urban system and the pandemic is comparative, with the recent coronavirus and climate change, a persistent, long-lasting pandemic. The historical and critical review and synthesis of the durable concepts of the urban system at the kernel of the theories and practices of urbanism is highlighted by place matters, cyberspace, density, access, and the city-region. We note the implications for reconfiguring the resilient urban system of the future effectively with pandemic as change agent and the comprehensive plan and its regulatory zoning ordinance as implementation tool., Highlights • Pandemics expose both the vulnerability and resilience of the urban system, from rooftop to the region. • Pandemics are change agents for the comprehensive planning of resilient cities and regions. • The discussion of the urban system and the pandemic is comparative, with the recent coronavirus and persistent climate change. • We highlight durable concepts of the urban system at the kernel of the theories and practices of urbanism. • The resilient urban system is characterized holistically by place matters, cyberspace, density, access, and the city-region.

The world is a crucial term in Hannah Arendt’s oeuvre, as might be concluded from the title of the biography on her work and life For the Love of the World by Elisabeth Young Bruehl. World is not just the abstract globe, but consists of concrete artefacts, produced by human beings to make the earth in an environment that is inhabitable for human beings. It is a world-of-things, she states. As is clear, Architecture plays an important role in this perspective, as it in a very concrete way constructs houses, roads, townhalls, schools, and other interventions that make the earth inhabitable and that enable human life to flourish. Arendt moreover stresses how this world is both the context of collective life (it is the world that we have in common), but also the prerequisite for political life. Arendt briefly addresses how she understands this common feature of the world in a well-known passage in her book The Human Condition (1958) ‘To live in the world,’ she writes, ‘means essentially that a world of things is between those who have it in common, as a table is located between those who sit around it; the world, like every in-between, relates and separates men at the same time.’ In this paper I will discuss Arendt’s notion of the world as an entity that at once gathers and separates, and how that informs her important notion of ‘the space of appearance’ as a model for the public realm.

The republic can never be taken for granted. Democratic republics face two perennial problems: one is maintaining the openness of the public realm to the whole public and the independence of the public realm from government; the other is keeping the process of governance firmly embedded in the public realm, where it is visible to the public, rather than allowing it to disappear inside the walls of government. The U.S. is challenged on both fronts today. Republika nigdy nie może być traktowana jako oczywistość. Demokratyczne rządy republikańskie borykają się z dwoma odwiecznymi problemami: jednym z nich jest utrzymanie otwartości sfery publicznej na ogół społeczeństwa oraz niezależności sfery publicznej od rządu; drugim jest utrzymanie procesu rządzenia mocno osadzonego w sferze publicznej, gdzie jest on widoczny dla opinii publicznej, a nie pozwalanie, by zniknął on za murami instytucji państwowych. Stany Zjednoczone stykają się dzisiaj z problemami na obu frontach.

As the Gulf cities are in the process of diversifying their economic base, with the vision of transitioning to a sustainable post-oil future, they are positioning themselves as places to visit, work and live. Place-branding has emerged as a significant trend across the Gulf cities in the construction of this image and consequently in the production of places. The past decades have seen Abu Dhabi actively focus on developing and creating an image of the city. While tasked with the immediate requirement of enhancing the visibility of the city and marking it as a destination, the large investments in place-branding are also expected to help realize the vision for a sustainable future. Thus, the evolving urbanism becomes a subject for research with important implications. This paper attempts to contribute towards the body of research on the urban fabric of Abu Dhabi by examining the nature of the contemporary public realm as shaped by place-branding measures. Through a two-stage, mixed-method approach, the paper identifies and discusses related urban patterns, public space typologies and patterns in public life. The paper first outlines the urban trend at the level of two districts – the Yas Leisure District and the Sadiyat Cultural District, due to the active place-branding measures involved in their conception. After an initial scoping exercise, smaller units of study are identified within Yas Island to allow more detailed study in order to record aspects of public life and social use of space. Carefully-timed spot observations are used to record public life and to examine the temporal variation in the use of public spaces. The paper concludes with a discussion on emerging patterns observed in the public realm created through place-branding.

There has been a continual emergence of shopping centres in the 21st century. In recent years the prevailing shopping centres have been designed as an indispensable part of city centres having all the urban elements and qualities of traditional streets in combination with convenience, commercial efficiency, and high functioning design. The evolving shopping malls are challenged to add diversity to the range of shopping facilities and add on to the new experience keeping up with the ever-changing trends in society. This study aims to investigate if shopping malls are over-managed consumer spaces embedded in privatisation and commercialisation, thus creating a hindrance for true public spaces to emerge, or do they have a possibility of becoming a real public realm with true public spaces. Two case studies of shopping centres provided valuable insights on how stakeholders pursued planned public spaces in shopping centres and how the public perceives them. The placemaking model, highlighting the fundamental rights in a public space by covering the tangible and intangible aspects, has been central to this research. The results indicate that the malls should integrate more into the cities. They should focus on incorporating adaptive flexibility with the diversity of usage inclusive of changing demographics and increased urbanisation, which means a greater need for public spaces for mingling and congregation. Det har skett en ständig uppkomst av köpcentra under 2000-talet. Under de senaste åren har de rådande köpcentrumen utformats som en oumbärlig del av stadskärnan med alla urbana inslag och kvaliteter av traditionella gator i kombination med bekvämlighet, kommersiell effektivitet och hög fungerande design. De utvecklande köpcentrana utmanas att lägga till mångfald i utbudet av shoppingfaciliteter och lägga till den nya upplevelsen som följer de ständigt föränderliga trenderna i samhället. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka om köpcentra är överhanterade konsumentutrymmen inbäddade i privatisering och kommersialisering, och därmed skapa ett hinder för att verkliga offentliga utrymmen dyker upp eller har de en möjlighet att bli en riktig allmänhet med verkliga offentliga utrymmen. Två fallstudier av köpcentrum gav värdefull insikt om hur intressenter förföljde planerade allmänna utrymmen i köpcentra och hur allmänheten uppfattar dem. Platsframställningsmodellen, som belyser de grundläggande rättigheterna i ett offentligt rum genom att täcka de konkreta och immateriella aspekterna, har varit centralt i denna forskning. Resultaten indikerar att köpcentra bör integreras mer i städerna. De bör fokusera på att integrera anpassningsbar flexibilitet med mångfalden av användning inklusive förändrad demografi och ökad urbanisering, vilket innebär ett större behov av offentliga utrymmen för mingling och församling.

This paper discusses the public aspects of architectural craftsmanship. Since architecture intervenes in and deal with the world common to its inhabitants, architects bear public responsibility. This public aspect of the field is part of craftsmanship, not simply through explanation of intentions, but needs to be intrinsically immersed in the act of design., Dialectic VI, The Art of Making Architecture, ISBN:978-1-940743-41-7

The public realm of the ancient, Western city evolved situationally – over time and in response to the ethos of its citizens. Some of the urban forms that were born within the context of the ancient city are still in use today. These now archetypal forms met the specific needs of the ancient city, and as they were repeated, patterns arose that came to define what a physical city was. The physical form of the city and the citizen body were intrinsically linked in the ancient world – and in ancient Greece were defined by the same word – polis. In Rome, the city and the collective citizenry come to be defined separately – as urbs and civitas, respectively. The Romans continue to use and elaborate upon the urban forms and patterns developed in Greece, in support of the Roman civitas. The development of the public realm and its most archetypal forms, from the stoa to the public plaza, of a selection of ancient cities will be examined in three parts; Greece, Rome, and Roman colonies. Within these three representative examples, a tripartite examination of the myths, rituals, and development of the public realm will give a complete picture of the city – its form and its ethos. First, the Greek city will be discussed using the architectural development of the Athenian agora within its historical and political context. With an understanding of the Greek public realm, specific architectural advancements, including the stoa form, of the Greeks can be better understood. Second, the Roman elaboration of the Greek forms will be traced in the growth of the Forum Boarium in Rome. While situationally-developed, the archetypal urban forms that grew in Greece and Rome came to define urban patterns that could be used in new settings, like those of colonial settlements, while retaining the ethos of the original. From its first colony of Ostia to its exemplary Gallic capital of Lyon, Rome established a codified set of urban patterns that both represented and explained Roman urban values to its expanding populace. Finally, the Roman contributions, particularly the colony and fora patterns that evolved in Gaul, will be examined in detail using the colonial capital of Lyon as the primary example. As new socio-political systems evolved – the polis in Athens and the Empire in Rome – correlating urban forms developed in support of them. In the ancient city, the city and the public realm were the containers for ritual action – and the architecture that developed reflected this basic purpose of the city.

This article analyses the structure of heritage conservation in the national context of Portugal. It assesses the political context in which planning operates, and the place of conservation and heritage planning within the planning system. By exploring how heritage conservation discourses developed within the national planning framework it is possible to understand the emergence of conservation practices and to consider recommendations for improved efficiency. The World Heritage cities in Portugal inform this research, as its designation should stand for best historic practices, internationally recognized and thus also compliant to an internationally coherent approach towards conservation policies. The narrative unveils a regulatory legislative framework exposed in general considerations rhetorically formulated as policy, usually setting out objectives and requirements, but saying ‘very little about the methodologies to be followed in the preparation of the plans’ (Rosa Pires 2001, p. 185). The resulting overlapping and sometimes conflicting competences, aims and objectives, all at play in the management of the historic city, thus call for concerted strategies underpinned by appropriate organizational and institutional structures and consistent policy making, where inclusive participation of all key stakeholders involved is critical.

Designing for the (semi)public realm, like for public infrastructure, mobility, community-building or health care, involves a large complexity of human and non-human actors. Fields like Participatory Design (PD) and Co- Design have used and experimented with qualitative research methods to support the democratic involvement of this complexity of actors when designing for issues of public concern. In the seventies, PD researchers focussed a lot on using research as a vehicle to involve workers, management or policy in deciding how new technologies would be introduced in their work environments. Today, they have extended their activities beyond the workplace and have entered many more areas of public realm, within much less defined spatial and professional boundaries. This makes it challenging to make sense of who is concerned and thus need to be involved. This session reflects on how different scholars use and experiment with qualitative research methods to represent and bring together different voices in giving form to aspects that are part of the rich complexity of the public realm. Which methods of representation do you chose? How to decide when you have represented enough different perspectives on the issue? How do you represent the gaps (who/what you have left out)? Etc. https://kuleuvencongres.be/ECQI2018/abstract-boek-ecqi-2018-final.pdf

This research studies two memorials to the Holocaust victims in Minsk, Belarus with the aim to identify how these spaces of commemoration were formed. The study builds upon the analysis of three spheres: the physical space of the chosen memorials, decision-making process regarding their installation, and social practices that have happened around. Additionally, this thesis analyses the correlations of these areas. The methods for the research are qualitative and explorative case study analysis. An extensive review of documents and media is done. Additionally, direct observations of the urban memorials were conducted.

This paper is set within the context of late 20th century Australian capital city revitalisation. It focuses on Adelaide, South Australia, and in particular on the remaking of a sector of the city known as the West End. The paper refers to cultural regeneration, one strand in the capital city revitalisation literature, to the revival of attention to urban design from the 1980s and to a concomitant refocusing on the public realm through urban design-led regeneration initiatives. The paper adopts a case study approach centring on the University of South Australia’s City West campus that opened in 1997 in Adelaide’s West End. The discussion introduces the historical and physical context of the campus site, as well as the City of Adelaide Plan 1991-1996. The influence of these and other factors on the City West plan, by Raffen Maron Architects, is considered along with the contributions of the new campus to the revitalisation of the West End and especially to the North Terrace West and Hindley Street West precincts where it is situated. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

В эссе «Истина и политика» Ханна Арендт рассуждает о роли исторических фактов в политике. С ее точки зрения, хотя политик по природе своей деятельности склонен относиться к фактам без уважения, он не может полностью их игнорировать. Более того, в новейшее время, когда преемственность существования общности больше нельзя обеспечить средствами устной традиции или городской архитектуры, именно исторические факты образуют рамку, внутри которой политика может иметь долговечные результаты. Ключевую роль в деле формирования такой рамки Арендт приписывает фигуре «рассказчика фактической истины». Однако при ближайшем рассмотрении оказывается, что под этим именем могут скрываться люди разных призваний и профессий – историки, литераторы, журналисты, политические советники – и что никто из них, похоже, не в состоянии играть роль, возлагаемую на них Арендт. В этой статье будет показано, что рассуждения Уистена Хью Одена об уделе поэта позволяют как восполнить пробел в представлении Арендт о роли фактов в политике, так и увидеть принципиальные ограничения ее концепции., In her essay ‘Truth and Politics’ Arendt discusses the role of historical facts in politics. According to her, although the politician, by nature of his activity, shows little respect towards facts, he cannot completely ignore them. Moreover, since in the modern age it is no longer possible to maintain continuity of a community’s existence by means of verbal tradition or public architecture, it is historical facts that constitute a framework, within which political activity may have durable results. Arendt attributes the key role in the constitution of such a framework to the figure of ‘the teller of factual truth’. However, on closer examination, it turns out that this description may signify people of diverse vocations and professions, such as historians, writers, journalists or political advisers, and that none of them seems to be able to play the role assigned to them by Arendt. The article shows that Wystan Hugh Auden's discussion of the poet's condition allows one to close the gap in Arendt’s conception of the role of facts in politics and at the same time to see the fundamental limitations of that conception.

Architecture communicates a message about the purpose of a space, the prestige of those who use or own the space, and the values associated with both users and owners. The aesthetics of this architecture elicit specific emotions, communicate histories, and inform worldviews. In the United States, homeland security architecture is largely a physical representation of a perceived threat of a terrorist attack in public spaces. Architecture has sociological, psychological, and cultural effects, as well as security impacts, but there is little research or discourse on the physical manifestation of homeland security in the United States. What are the consequences--intended and unintended--of homeland security architecture? How does a democratic government protect itself and design buildings and public spaces that are open, attractive, and promote both physical and psychological security? This thesis is a starting point for broader awareness and discussion within the emerging discipline of security design about the importance of aesthetics in homeland security. http://archive.org/details/fortressamericae1094556169 Public Space Management/Emergency Management, Seattle Department of Transportation Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

Urban Planning is the activity aiming at organizing the urban space, ordering the land use and the built environment where human activities take place. In the past decades cities located in the GCC have experienced a concurrent rapid urban development and regeneration. Scholars stress that [1] in the past two decades the urban planning process, which has led the urban growth of GCC cities, has been mainly based on western patterns with no much consideration of the unplanned urban evolution and social complexity of the city, and that [2] land speculation has succeeded in distorting the intended orderliness of urban space. This approach to urban planning has resulted in the urban regeneration and modernization of the built environment with a philosophy based on land speculation and urban sprawling causing negative effects on the live ability of cities. The effects of land speculation and sprawling consist of poor land subdivision and dominance of private residential land use over recreational and public land use which represented the vibrant unplanned and social nodes enhancing the live ability of the urban space. This paper argues that in order to plan the urban growth of GCC cities and to pursue modernity, a comprehensive urban planning strategy should be aiming at preserving and regenerating the city’s[1] cultural heritage (or historical urban evolution) and [2] social complexity, which are source of generative ideas and principles for the design of liveable communities.

Contemporary living is increasingly marked by different kinds of associationisms, collective but not necessarily longlasting actions, and either little or very determined communalities. This article will discuss forms of living that reject individualism and shy away from communities. Indistinct forms, based on living “side by side, walking in step” which Bauman (2002) described as “a desperate need for networking”; and Sennett (2008) said was “the force of wandering emotions shifting erratically from one target to another”. Characterised by values such as ecology, frugality, reciprocity and solidarity. We believe that the key issue is to understand whether these forms are capable, as they say they are, of metaphorically rebuilding the city. In other words, can they implement a different concept of urbanity and public space by adopting the role played in late capitalist cities by conflict, rationality, functionalism, and the market. To tackle the problem we must first understand how they affect three different issues: the first involves changes in the values assigned to living; the second, the new logic of spatial organisation; the third, the revision of the notion of public and its political consequences. In order to provide greater clarity, we will deal with these three issues by briefly referring to European case studies carried out by a group of town-planners and sociologists.

Well-functioning urban environments are good causes of societies living healthily and happily. The performance of the public realm plays an important role, in this regard, where societies are in direct contact with their physical environment. Urban environments should be created in which economic prosperity, social cohesion, and citizenship occur. The concept of urban vitality achieves this through being concerned with the socio-cultural, experiential, and spatial dimensions of the urban environment. On the scale of intimate communities, vitality plays a significant role in encouraging behaviours, social interactions, in the neighbourhood. Three domains are studied to define urban vitality: the society, its activities, and its physical environment. Considering the local context of the thesis, the rapid growth of vehicle-oriented neighbourhoods in Doha is leading to a decline in their degree of vitality. In many cases, this leads to a lower quality of urban life and a decline in the vitality of the city. Therefore, this thesis aims to assess the degree of neighbourhood vitality in Doha in order to recommend actions for areas of improvements. Study neighbourhoods are selected based on their geographical location within Doha and filtered by the average population density. Fereej Bin Mahmoud (downtown), Al-Thumama (suburban), and Al-Dafna (waterfront) neighbourhoods were selected. The assessment is approached through establishing a neighbourhood vitality index which was aggregated from the individual scores of socio-cultural, experiential, and spatial dimensions of neighbourhood vitality. This approach is supported by three data collection tools: questionnaire survey, observations, and semi-structured interviews. A total of ninety questionnaires were collected from residents, along with six neighbourhood observations, during morning and evening hours to study the functionality of the public realm. Results of the vitality index calculations showed that downtown and suburban neighbourhoods were indexed as moderately vital, whereas waterfront neighbourhoods were indexed as vital. Results of the analysis showed that three main factors should be considered to enhance the degree of vitality in neighbourhoods: culture, climate, and context. Planning and design approaches should consider these factors to create well-functioning public realms through accessible streets and shaded, green public spaces.

The modern emphasis on authenticity and the individual not only caused an ‘astonishing flowering of poetry and music’ and ‘the rise of the novel’ states the philosopher Hannah Arendt in her well-known book The Human Condition, but also the fall and ‘decline of the more public arts, especially architecture.’ In this study Hans Teerds takes up the challenge to address the public aspects of architecture, as they emerge from the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt. Starting from a reflection upon the contemporary urban landscape and its seemingly loss of public space, he challenges the contemporary theoretical discourses on the fall of the public character of architecture. Architecture, this study argues, shapes the experience of public appearance rather than being able to guarantee public life. It enables the human being to appear in public and to be ‘at home in the world’. The essential task of architecture is to shape and make tangible the common in society, to ‘thicken our understanding of the world.’ Architecture therefore is to be understood as a public enterprise, not simply a matter of the architect and other stakeholders only. After its fall, the challenge thus is to recover architecture as public art.