Adaptive Public Spaces Key Ingredients for Optimizing Public Space Activation, Safety and Accessibility

Salma Nassar

Facilitator

November 6, 2024 | 11:00 - 12:30

Voices from Cities - room D

Architecture Department Faculty of Engineering Cairo University

Egypt

English

Reference:

VC-D 7

WUF12

Voices from Cities

Summary

In theory, public spaces in the city are considered a valued asset and a common good and an essential need for cities’ sustainable growth and development. The quality of life in high-density mixed-use areas is often dependent on the existence of inclusive and accessible public places. Their benefits and realization are not limited to enhancing city livability and competitiveness through improving public safety and security, vulnerable citizen inclusion (like women, children, older persons, and persons with disability), and social cohesion. Public spaces fundamentally act as catalysts for local economic development andlocal revenue generation, increase land valuation, build social capital, decrease inequalities, and finally mitigate climate change risks.
. However, the erosion of publicly accessible open spaces in many cities worldwide has drastically increased, especially in dense and highly contested contexts. This phenomenon is rooted in multiple causes such as privatization, disuse, weak management, and

Objectives

1. The proposed event discusses different types of interventions to regenerate public spaces, the panelists will present various approaches, from different points of view leading to viable, safe, inclusive public spaces.
2. Understand the linkage between adaptive planning models and sustainable public spaces.
3. Engage, and expose local governments and key stakeholders to a different array of activation and revitalization methods to address public space-poor and middle-class areas.
4. Explain how public spaces can be considered a revenue source for local government if well-designed and managed.
5. Create a knowledge-sharing platform for different countries to collaborate and build collective knowledge capital on availing public spaces to local communities through innovative responsive implementation methods.
6. Challenge current urban mechanisms on sustaining public spaces.
7. Activate ‘Research-Practice-Partnerships’ and stakeholder partnerships towards increasing the provision of public spaces in c