Public works with Demos will contribute to a one day symposium at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation entitled 'Rethink! New Perspectives on public spaces'.
“Democratic innovation in public spaceâ€
Facilitator: Emma Daniels (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
Contributors: Melissa Mean (Demos), Andreas Lang (Public Works)
The rise of corporately owned malls... private CCTV security systems... radical demographic and cultural diversity... The dominant urban story of the past 10 years has been of creeping privatisation and social fragmentation resulting in the loss of shared spaces in our towns and cities. This session will question this ‘new conventional wisdom’ and explore how people and communities are experimenting and innovating, reclaiming corporate spaces and creating new kinds of shared spaces. The session will then ask what this means for the planning, design and management of our towns and cities and how people’s power to produce better public spaces can be better supported.