Stand up for Public Space! A networking event at the Habitat III conference and a global online campaign

Abstract

At Habitat III, the United Nations conference on Housing and Sustainable Development, held in Quito, Ecuador (17-20^th October, 2016), we launched the global online campaign 'Stand up for Public Space!' - www.standupforpublicspace.org - which is a research project promoted by City Space Architecture in collaboration with the Queensland University of Technology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, LASE+CityUrb Ecuador and the University of Auckland (QUT Ethics Approval Number 1600000966). The purpose of this project is to foster a discussion on public space as a common good, through the collection of experiences, stories, habits and activities, documenting public space and its users from different geographical contexts. Participation will involve people taking a picture of their favourite public space and sharing it through their own Twitter or Instagram profiles. The project asks people to include also a short description of the picture, in order to know where the selected public space is located, what it means to them and why they would like to share it with a broader public. All entries are to be submitted using the following hashtags:

#standupforpublicspace     and/or     #myfavouritepublicspace

This project intends to provide a good insight of what a public space is for people in different countries and different continents. Data from the research will inform the development of a new taxonomy of public spaces and their uses, which might be useful to inform future planning documents and policies.