Public Space Contributions to Sustainable Development Goals - Local cases of success

There are few public resources that provide the payoffs and benefits of public space for a just and sustainable city. Whether you are concerned about the climate mitigation, economy and jobs; ecosystem services; physical and environmental health; mental and social well-being; or justice, equity, and belonging, public space delivers positive outcomes based on empirical evidence. Public space promotes more Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) than other infrastructural interventions, including SDGs 3, 8, 11, 13, and 16. Public spaces have the added advantage of being shareable, replicable, and scalable from the local neighbourhood, city-wide for urban development, and globally to mediate climate change.

Many of the SDGs reference the importance of public spaces. Among the benefits identified are social interaction and inclusion, health and well-being, economic opportunity, cultural expression, resilience to disasters and climate change, public safety for women, and more liveable cities and settlements. These impacts are crucial in an age of rapid urbanization, growing climate stress, surging informal settlements, threats to the well-being of vulnerable populations including migrants, growing urban inequality, and increasing trends of sprawl and fragmentation, resulting in degradation or loss of public space.

A Social Justice and Public Space Framework is also necessary for public space to reach its potential. It can be used to assess whether a park, plaza, sidewalk, or street provides access, opportunity, respect, safety, mobility, and belonging. Without a values framework, public spaces can become places of inequality and exclusion. Community members, planners, and managers can draw upon justice principles to evaluate, imagine, or improve a public space. Each identifies a relevant and quantifiable indicator of equity and inclusion.

Case studies from UAE, Vietnam, India, United States, and Kenya demonstrate how the localization of public space actions make a profound difference in health indicators, climate adaptation, food systems, collaborative design, and women and children's safety. The presentations consider the outcomes of local interventions and suggest strategies for planning and managing public space with an eye to the SDGs and applying a social justice framework that demonstrates why public space matters to all.

As an added lens, after the panel, the event will include a workshop showcasing the pilot case study from Abu Dhabi in an engaging session addressing the visionary initiative to transform the city into a haven for families led by the Early Childhood Authority of Abu Dhabi. This workshop will focus on showcasing the spectrum of initiatives that spans this project, from shaping policies to proposing new and renewed urban design, and the piloting of public space interventions.