We the people, We the public space. An interactive exhibition at the 9th World Urban Forum

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Cover image: Gantry Section D, RMIT Swanston St, Melbourne 2016-2017. Artwork: Grace Leone. Photo Credit: Nura Sheidaee.
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Published: Apr 30, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5204/jps.v3i1.325
Keywords:
public space WUF9 interactive exhibition awareness

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Luisa Bravo
City Space Architecture
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4911-8002
Valerio Francia
City Space Architecture

Abstract

At the Ninth session of the World Urban Forum, convened by UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, held on 7-13 February 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, City Space Architecture was selected to be part of the event as an exhibitor: it was included in the exhibition area, held at the main venue of the Forum, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, besides the Petronas Towers, as the only Italian exhibitor, together with 200 selected exhibitors from 50 countries.
The exhibition space hosted the exhibition ‘We the people, We the public space’: recalling the well-known United Nations’ campaign ‘We the people’ for the Global Goals[1] launched in 2015, the exhibition was intended to stress the concept that people and public space, intended as the space for democracy, social justice and equity, are strongly intertwined, so that talking about people is the same thing as talking about public space. The UN commitment ‘Leaving no one behind’[2] (United Nations, 2016 and 2017) for inclusive development is strictly related to people and therefore to public space: it is a demand for country leaders to prioritise the needs of those most marginalised and disadvantaged, facing poverty and discrimination, so that the goals for sustainable development are delivered by 2030[3].


 


[1] https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2015/09/we-the-people-for-the-global-goals/


[2] https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2016/leaving-no-one-behind


[3] https://action4sd.org/leavenoonebehind/

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How to Cite
Bravo, L. and Francia, V. (2018) “We the people, We the public space. An interactive exhibition at the 9th World Urban Forum”, The Journal of Public Space, 3(1), pp. 153–162. doi: 10.5204/jps.v3i1.325.
Issue
Vol. 3 No. 1 (2018)
Section
Reports from 9th World Urban Forum

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Author Biographies

Luisa Bravo, City Space Architecture

Luisa Bravo is an architectural engineer and an academic scholar, educated in Italy, France and the UK. After completing her PhD, with a thesis on contemporary urbanism, at University of Bologna in Italy (2008), she has been researching, teaching and lecturing in several Universities, in Italy, UK, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Lebanon, USA, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Australia. Visiting scholar at IURD - Institute of Urban and Regional Development, University of California Berkeley (USA, 2012), Visiting Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture and Design, Lebanese American University in Beirut (Lebanon, 2015), she is currently Adjunct Associate Professor at the Queensland University of Technology, Creative Industries Faculty, School of Design in Australia.
Luisa is Founding Member and President of City Space Architecture, a non-profit organization based in Italy that performs as multidisciplinary platform for scholars, professionals, artists and citizens engaged in architecture, public space, cities and urbanity. She is Founder and Editor in Chief of ‘The Journal of Public Space’, established by City Space Architecture in collaboration with the Queensland University of Technology and in partnership with UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme.

Valerio Francia, City Space Architecture

Valerio Francia holds a five-year MSc degree in Architectural Engineering (University of Bologna, 2016) and is co-founder of City Space Architecture, a non-profit organization based in Italy with a mission to studying, making, spreading and sharing public space culture, through an interdisciplinary approach involving art and architecture. He is keen on urban issues, especially on those regarding life within public space. He is currently committed to contribute the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, especially the Goal 11, by studing the interaction between public life and public space. In 2017 he founded CoUrbanLab, a cognitive urban think tank that studies urban life, empowers citizens and creates solutions to foster social inclusion and better quality of public life. He is the project leader of “MUP – Mapping Urban Perception”, an interactive web-GIS tool for public space design and management. Valerio is one of the awarded recipients of “Youth in Action for Sustainable Development Goals” competition (2018), promoted by Fondazione Italiana Accenture, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli.

References

Bravo, L., Guaralda, M., Tieben, H., Saltos Espinoza, L. and Manfredini, M. (2017) “Stand up for Public Space! A networking event at the Habitat III conference and a global online campaign”, The Journal of Public Space, 2(1), pp. 163-166. doi: 10.5204/jps.v2i1.61.

United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs (2016), Leaving no one behind: the imperative of inclusive development, Report on the World Social Situation 2016, Executive Summary, available at http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/rwss/2016/executive-summary.pdf

United Nations (2017) Leaving No One Behind: Equality and Non-Discrimination at the Heart of Sustainable Development. A Shared United Nations System Framework for Action, available at https://www.unsceb.org/CEBPublicFiles/CEB%20equality%20framework-A4-web-rev3.pdf