Public space public life - learning to look at the city
Story by Stine Kronsted, Dreamtown’s Urban Designer
In Dreamtown, we believe that public spaces, if rooted in local aspirations and dreams, can be drivers of change for the individual, for the community and for the city. Recently, we have started a journey towards getting closer to understanding and documenting the added value of working with public space as a driver for wellbeing of young people in cities, and ultimately, wellbeing of all people in cities. This story is about our process of building a methodology for studying public life in cities, together with young people.
We have been working with supporting young people being at the forefront of development of local, urban space interventions through several projects. We have experienced that this process, where the voices of young people are heard, where they have a say in the development of their cities, has a big impact in their feeling of agency and empowerment as individuals and as groups. With more and more of our projects extending into the public sphere of the communities; water points; public artwork; streetlights; teahouses, just to mention a few, we are starting to recognise that these youth-driven projects not only have an impact in the lives of the young people driving the development but additionally affects the larger community surrounding the spaces, far beyond the scale of the project. To understand how the youth-driven urban space interventions affect the larger community, we have set out to develop a methodology for studying the public life in these spaces
The idea for studying the public life in urban spaces is based on the work of the Danish architect, Jan Gehl. His studio has since the 60’s been advocating for human-centred urban development, based on the argument that in order to make cities for people to thrive, we must understand how people interact with the physical environment. The approach is contextual and takes a starting point in what is present in the public space, rather than being based on interpretations and assumptions.
Public life studies imply, on a practical level, studying the use of a space before, during and after an intervention. Who is present in the space, considering, for example, age, gender, or ethnicity? Which activities take place? How does the use and level of activity change during the day? Across seasons? Conducting these studies systematically, in the process of developing a public space intervention, can reveal patterns of cause and effect related to how people interact with the physical environment. Maybe more people will visit the space after an intervention? Maybe less? Maybe more women will visit the space? Maybe less? These studies will tell if, and how, people’s behaviour in public spaces, and their perception of the spaces, will or will not change, as a consequence of the urban intervention. Ultimately, this will be a part of understanding how youth-driven public space interventions have the potential to create a change, not only in their own life, but in their community, and ultimately, in the city.
Our first pilot of public life studies is currently taking place in Kunya in Kampala, Uganda. Our partner, Network for Active Citizens (NAC), have gained access to an open space, in which they intend to develop a green, public space with urban gardening and recreational areas. To understand how this youth-led, green space development potentially affects the community, we have set out to study the public life in the space before, during and after the implementation. Together with NAC, we have developed a survey template, inspired by the tools of Gehl. The surveys include ‘people moving counts’, ‘age+gender counts’, and ‘stationary activity mapping’, among multiple tools. Until now, NAC has counted the people moving through the space at multiple intervals during the day, as well as the different activities taking place in the space. Based on their findings they have developed ideas for what to include in the space design, responding to the current activities and users of the space. Furthermore, they reflect on the process being useful for identifying the adequacy of specific spaces to be transformed into green public spaces, based on how many people move through the space and its general accessibility. The tool becomes a new way to look at the city. The next step is for NAC to start transforming the open space into a green, public space. Both during and after the space transformation, they will conduct studies similar to the ones they have already done, and compare how the use of the space have, or have not, changed.
The development our public life studies is a slow but steady process. We are still in the very beginning of this process, taking small steps, trying things out, failing, readjusting, trying again. In this process of co-producing the methodology with NAC, we are learning a lot about ourselves, about our partners, about communication and collaboration. This is a process of finding the right balance between using established tools and methodologies, while at the same time making them our own, and ensuring that they are relevant and straightforward for both Dreamtown and our partners to use.
We see the development of our public life studies approach as an opportunity to understand and unveil the potential of working with public spaces to create safe, green, and creative spaces for youth in the city, and ultimately, the potential for this to create wellbeing for all people in cities.
Stay tuned for more process updates.