scholarly journals Using drawing as a tool to explore public space

2018 ◽  
pp. 115-148
Author(s):  
Richard Briggs
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Simple Form ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
The Political ◽  
Drawing Process ◽  
Political Landscape

With my background in architecture, my approach to better understanding public space is to use a process of exploration, observation and drawing on location, or as it’s called in some forums as “urban sketching”. With observation I try to understand the elements of the built environment which contribute to the vitality of a city. My drawings become comments on either the political landscape or social context of a particular place. Before I start the drawing process, I explore, observe, and talk to local people, gathering information on the layers complexity that exist in order to better understand place. This observational approach forms a framework to work within and enables me to begin the process of making an interpretation, through drawing, of a place. A key aim of this approach is to distill what I see into a simple form. Whether it be a large expansive wall drawing, or a small scale drawing in a sketch book, my artwork has the aspirational aim to provoke a wider discussion about our cities, public spaces, and the built environment. It also tries to look at how people use these spaces, and document what’s important to a “soul” of a place and how this approach resonates with its characteristics. Using drawing as a tool to highlight a message has enabled me to express ideas on how public space can be improved and enhanced from a social, political and experiential point of view.

scholarly journals Uma trilha sonora no largo da carioca: caminhadas de escuta e observação como método de investigação dos espaços públicos/A soundtrack on the Largo da Carioca: listening and observation walks as a public spaces investigation method

2018 ◽  
pp. 235-253
Author(s):  
Renato Coimbra Frias
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Political Geography ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The Political ◽  
Audio Recording ◽  
Street Vendors ◽  
Investigation Method ◽  
The Relationship

RESUMOO presente trabalho discute a relação existente entre sons, política e espaços públicos. Tal discussão é conduzida pela análise dos dados obtidos em um trabalho de campo realizado no Largo da Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, que consistiu no mapeamento das diferentes atividades que ocupam esse espaço público e no registro em áudio dos sons ao longo de uma caminhada pelo Largo da Carioca. A análise evidencia como o som produzido por camelôs, artistas de rua e outras atividades observadas em campo exerce um importante papel no jogo de posições entre elas, configurando-se como importante fator na geografia política dos espaços públicos.Palavras-chave: Espaços Públicos, Caminhadas Sonoras, Paisagens Sonoras. ABSTRACTThis paper discusses the relationship between sounds, politics and public spaces. This discussion is conducted by the analysis of data obtained in a fieldwork in Largo da Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, which consisted in mapping the different activities that occupy this public space and in the audio recording of the sounds present on a walk along the Largo da Carioca. Our analysis shows how the sound produced by street vendors, street performers and other activities observed in field plays an important role in the positions established between them, becoming an important factor in the political geography of public spaces.Keywords: Public Spaces, Soundwalks, Paisagens Sonoras.

scholarly journals The (No-)Public Space. Reviewing the Transformation of Al-Qaed Ibrahim's Urban Image

2020 ◽  
pp. 177-192
Author(s):  
Iman Hegazy
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The Political ◽  
Urban Image ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Political Events ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Public spaces are defined as places that should be accessible to all inhabitants without restrictions. They are spaces not only for gathering, socializing and celebrating but also for initiating discussions, protesting and demonstrating. Thus, public spaces are intangible expressions of democracy—a topic that the paper tackles its viability within the context of Alexandria, case study Al-Qaed Ibrahim square. On the one hand, Al-Qaed Ibrahim square which is named after Al-Qaed Ibrahim mosque is a sacred element in the urban fabric; whereas on the other it represents a non-religious revolutionary symbol in the Alexandrian urban public sphere. This contradiction necessitates finding an approach to study the characteristic of this square/mosque within the Alexandrian context—that is to realize the impact of the socio-political events on the image of Al-Qaed Ibrahim square, and how it has transformed into a revolutionary urban symbol and yet into a no-public space. The research revolves around the hypothesis that the political events taking place in Egypt after January 25th, 2011, have directly affected the development of urban public spaces, especially in Alexandria. Therefore methodologically, the paper reviews the development of Al-Qaed Ibrahim square throughout the Egyptian socio-political changes, with a focus on the square’s urban and emotional contextual transformations. For this reason, the study adheres to two theories: the "city elements" by Kevin Lynch and "emotionalizing the urban" by Frank Eckardt. The aim is not only to study the mentioned public space but also to figure out the changes in people’s societal behaviour and emotion toward it. Through empowering public spaces, the paper calls the different Egyptian political and civic powers to recognize each other, regardless of their religious, ethnical or political affiliations. It is a step towards replacing the ongoing political conflicts, polarization, and suppression with societal reconciliation, coexistence, and democracy.

scholarly journals Evo-lución: The Economic Situation of Evo Morales’ Bolivia Under Scrutiny

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 67-104
Author(s):  
Christian Dalenz
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Economic Model ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
The Government

This paper deals with economic changes in the last 12 years in Bolivia under the presidency of Evo Morales. After a short introduction about the political landscape of the country, I will explain how Morales’ party, Movimiento al Socialismo, planned to change Bolivia’s economic model. Here I will rely on the works by former Bolivian Ministry of Economics and Public Finances, Luis Arce Catacora. Then I will show the improvements in social conditions of the Bolivian population during the Morales’ presidency, and I will relate them to the Cash Conditional Transfers adopted by the government, otherwise known as bonos. Finally, I will assess the intricate issue of economic and environmental sustainability of this model. My point of view is that since Bolivia will soon face less revenue from its gas exports, efforts in diversifying its economy will have to improve. At the same time, no major crisis should happen.

scholarly journals Possibilities to Apply the Urban Acupuncture Concept in Kaunas: Social Aspect

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 18-27
Author(s):  
Aurelija Daugelaite ◽  
Indre Gražulevičiūte-Vileniške ◽  
Mantas Landauskas
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Public Art ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Street Art ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Ecological Design ◽  
Social Aspect ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The City

The concept of urban acupuncture, which has been gaining ground in recent decades, is based on the activation and revitalization of urban environments using small architectural or landscape architectural interventions in precise carefully selected locations of urban fabric. However, the rapid and unexpected design solutions of urban acupuncture, based on ecological design, nature dynamics, street art, material re-use, can cause different social and psychological reactions of urban population and these reactions may vary depending on cultural contexts. Consequently, in order to implement successful urban acupuncture projects in Lithuanian cities, it is very important to find out public opinion and priorities in the fields of public space management, aesthetics, and public art. The aim of the research was to analyze the opinion of Kaunas city residents regarding these issues. For this purpose, a sociological questionnaire survey was used. The questionnaire containing 20 questions was designed, with the aim to find out the trends of use of public spaces in the city, the attitudes of residents towards street art and other small-scale initiatives in public spaces implemented in the recent years, possibilities of creating landscape architecture based on ecological ideas in urban environment, the attitude of inhabitants towards community spaces and community space design in the city, etc. 100 residents of Kaunas participated in this online administered survey. The survey has demonstrated general positive attitude towards contemporary design trends of public spaces and public art; however, the surveyed population expressed preferences towards fully equipped public spaces offering possibilities for a wide range of activities.

An Evaluation of the Influence of Environmental, Social and Cultural factors on the Socialization of Traditional Urban Spaces (Case Study: Iranian Markets)

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-296
Author(s):  
Jamaloddin Mahdinezhad ◽  
Bahram Saleh Sedghpour ◽  
Rana Najjari Nabi
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Q Methodology ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Effective Parameters ◽  
Future Design ◽  
Social And Cultural Factors

The ‘bazaar’, or the marketplace has been one of the most influential bases of the city in terms of social, political and economic development, and is considered as an active public space for initiating fundamental changes in society. Across Islamic cultures and civilizations, as well as their historical precedents, the marketplace has occupied a broad and complex social meaning, especially in Iran. In this research, the marketplace is considered from a socio-commercial point of view. In order to improve the efficiency of public spaces, it is necessary to identify their effective parameters of socialization, and utilize them towards the future design or improvement of built environments. While the socio-cultural influence of a bazaar determines the development of human relationships around it, its environmental components are also effective in responding to ‘physical needs’ of a populace, that is, the provision of necessities such as food and clothing as well as repair services. The relationship between environmental, social and cultural elements is found to be the most influential factor in increasing the sociality of the public space. In order to analyze bazaar socialization, the research methodology employed in this article comprises a descriptive survey that uses Delphi and Q methodology. According to the results, six key factors were identified: activity-behavioural-movement (ABM) components, physical-functional qualities, enviornmental impacts, physical components (PCs), cultural values (CVs), social cohesion and integration, diversity and spatial attraction. Crucially, the study also finds that the socialization of space is formed through the interaction between human experiences in place and the prevailing cultural forms within it, that is, the regional customs, traditions and overall ‘way of life’ of the native populace. Therefore, the cultural features of urban spaces are another important factor in their development. Studying these factors opens the possibility for facilitating greater levels of interaction and participation in public spaces in a manner that also accommodates different groups of people and their varying subcultures.

“We are all republicans”: Political Articulation and the Production of Nationhood in France's Face Veil Debate

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 938-967 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Laxer
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Boundaries ◽  
The Face ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractIn July 2010, following a year-long nationwide debate over Islamic veiling, the French government passed a law prohibiting facial coverings in all public spaces. Prior research attributes this and other restrictive laws to France's republican secular tradition. This article takes a different approach. Building on literature that sees electoral politics as a site for articulating, rather than merely reflecting, social identities, I argue that the 2010 ban arose in significant part out of political parties’ struggles to demarcate the boundaries of legitimate politics in the face of an ultra-right electoral threat. Specifically, I show that in seeking to prevent the ultra-right National Front party from monopolizing the religious signs issue, France's major right and left parties agreed to portray republicanism as requiring the exclusion of face veiling from public space. Because it was forged in conflict, however, the consensus thus generated is highly fractured and unstable. It conceals ongoing conflict, both between and within political parties, over the precise meaning(s) of French republican nationhood. The findings thus underscore the relationship between boundary-drawing in the political sphere and the process of demarcating the cultural and political boundaries of nationhood in contexts of immigrant diversity.

scholarly journals HOW ARE PUBLIC SPACES SUSTAINING CULTURAL IDENTITIES IN THE CONTEXT OF CHINA’S INCREASINGLY GLOBALLY FOCUSED URBAN DEVELOPMENTS: USING A CASE STUDY OF PUTUO IN SHANGHAI

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 198-205
Author(s):  
Hee Sun (Sunny) Choi
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Urban Change ◽  
Global Presence ◽  
The City

This paper explores what it means for a public space to embody the city within rapid urban change in contemporary urban development and how a space can accomplish this by embracing the culture of the city, its people and its places, using the particular case of Putuo, Shanghai in China. The paper employs mapping and empirical surveys to learn how the local community use the act of communal dance in everyday public spaces of this neighborhood, and seeks not to find generalizable rules for how humans comprehend a city, but instead to better understand how local inhabitants and their chosen activities can influence their built environment. The findings from this emphasize the importance to identify how public spaces can help to define cities with China’s emerging global presence, whilst addressing the ways in which local needs and perspectives can be preserved.

Autochtonie, Libéralisation Politique, et Construction d'une Sphère Publique Locale au Cameroun

2011 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 71-99
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Mouiche
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Political Liberalization ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
Plural Form ◽  
Political Roles ◽  
Emerging Democracy

Abstract:This study focuses on the hegemonic struggles between two ethnic communities, the Mbo and the Bamiléké, in Santchou, West Cameroon. At issue is the sharing of political roles in this locality, which point to issues of political representation. In this district, these roles (mayor, representative, etc.) were under the single party rule of the ethnic minority Mbo, who are a majority in this area but a minority in the rest of the district, where the Bamileke are the majority. In this monolithic context, where all protests were banned, the Bamileke had given up and accepted this arrangement. With the advent of the multiparty system and democracy, in which mayors are now elected and no longer simply nominated, uncertainty has been hovering over this political stronghold of the Mbo. Nevertheless, the Mbo have been able to hold onto the post of mayor and acquire other political posts as well. However, unlike during the single party era, the situation created by the political liberalization has offered to the Bamileke a public space where they can discuss the allocation of local political positions, and manifest their disagreement with the hegemonic trend. In the footsteps of Habermas and many other authors such as Cottereau, this study underlines the need to talk about public spaces in a plural form, instead of a single public space, in order to put in context the internal dynamics of popular cultures engendering subcultural public spheres or places of emerging democracy.

scholarly journals Conviviality as a Spatial Planning Goal for Public Open Spaces

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 4382-4387
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Modern Democracy ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Tendency ◽  
Public Open Spaces

Conviviality is a popular concept in urban design while referring to the good qualities of public spaces. This concept is the need for current times when social life in physical public spaces is declining away largely to forces like social media and the virtual world. The human tendency to feel satisfied and happy exists in existence with others. The social media has taken away the role that established Greek agora as the first centre of public interaction which initiated the concepts of modern democracy. Where popular public spaces have big roles to perform, the small public spaces in the neighbourhood and markets perform an important role to stage the everyday local nuisance in people's life. Even If public space is satisfactory enough to take away the loneliness and boredom of everyday course of modern living a lot can be achieved. Conviviality is one such factor which helps to elevate the satisfaction of spending time with others. This paper is an attempt to understand conviviality and relate it to public open spaces from the physical planning point of view.

scholarly journals Liminal Publics, Marginal Resistance

IDEA JOURNAL ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 88-101
Author(s):  
Menna Agha ◽  
Els DeVos
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Spatial Justice ◽  
The Public ◽  
Liminal Spaces ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Definition Of

In 1964, indigenous Nubians were displaced from their original land – the land between what is now Egypt and that of Sudan – to modernised settlements built by the Egyptian state. The Nubians dissatisfaction with the novel built environment translated into transgressive public spaces. One of the most common transgressions was the addition of an external bench called Mastaba. Since power relations between men and women have changed, the built environment now acts as a catalyst in the exclusion of women from formal public spaces such as conventional coffee shops and squares. Mastabas function as liminal spaces, spaces which blur the boundaries between public and private spheres. As these spaces do not suit the formal understanding of public spaces, we investigate these liminal spaces in order to reveal the spatial tactics of the marginal. We argue that the existence of these spaces raises issues of spatial justice and spatial resistance.    The behaviour of liminal public spaces varies; they have the ability to transform adjacent spaces. This research investigates the role of the Mastaba in opening up the public space for women, thereby giving them the ability to contribute to the writing of their social contract. We base our analysis on extensive fieldwork, consisting of auto-ethnographic observations and participation, informed by a feminist epistemology. We use tools of spatial analysis to explore an alternative public space offered by liminality. To question the binary notions of private and public space, we ask ourselves: where does that space start? As spatial professionals, we also wonder: can we contest the hegemonic definition of public space and contribute to spatial resistance? Drawing lessons from the case of the Mastaba, we propose contingencies for designing the liminal that serve the marginal.

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