Public Space for all Nations

Good public spaces enhance community cohesion and promote health, happiness, and wellbeing for all citizens.

It has been with this quote that UN Habitat launched the Global Public Space Programme in an aim to improve the quality of public spaces worldwide. Of course, without doubt, the programme stands for a crucial challenge to make our urbanised world better, but what to do? The ideas on this have been matured and agreements seem to saturate the scope at the recent Habitat III conference held last week in Quito. A list of final set criteria is emerging, but this cannot mean that we’re done… By no means this listing will work if stakeholders do not accept that people gather on a variety of places around the globe, in a variety of cultures, hence not just in those urban spaces which are created by Western idealists’ minds: publicly-owned outdoor space.
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Beijing Design Week 2016

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The Netherlands continues strong partnership
with Beijing Design Week in 2016

The key goal of these various initiatives is to explore a more holistic approach to design, connecting important issues such as quality of life and human needs. The Netherlands attaches great importance to creativity and innovation in general and to the creative industries in particular. It is therefore also our goal to foster more collaboration with China in this field by means of solid partnerships.

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Netherlands Embassy in Beijing

通过2016北京国际设计周,
中荷继续加强伙伴关系

设计师希望通过这些创意作品探索一种更为全面的设计理念,提高人们的生活质量,满足人类需要。荷兰非常重视开发与创新能力,尤其是创意产业的发展。因此,我们希望在稳固的伙伴关系基础上,加强与中国在创意产业方面的合作。

荷兰驻华大使馆

Human Cities and Activity Data

What may happen if we track people? Since Human released their first app version in September last year, they’ve collected over 55 million activities. This set of valuable activity data is growing crazy fast. Human Cities is their first attempt to translate data into useful insights. Interesting example bringing tech into life science!
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Public Space and Domesticity

Interior architecture needs urgently new approaches to research, notate and analyse interiors, explicitly interconnecting the complex and layered world of the city.

The KU Leuven and interior architecture students have been exploring the boundaries between public and private spaces, and between architecture and social sciences. Their experiments pay much attention to human action in the public space in order to decipher its meaning. What is the interior in a globalised, complex and layered world? How do private worlds manifest in the public space and vice versa how does the world echo into the interior?

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Design and People

 

Lecture

Design and People
Bringing the Urban and Architectural Together

on invitation of
Sveučilišta u Zagrebu

18 April 2016
14:30h

Faculty of Architecture
University of Zagreb

Room 422
Andrije Kačića Miošića Street
Zagreb, Croatia

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Predavanje

Dizajn i Ljudi
Objedinjujući Urbanistički i Arhitektonski

na pozivu
Sveučilišta u Zagrebu

18 Travanj 2016
14:30s

Arhitektonski Fakultet
Sveučilišta u Zagrebu

Učiónica 422
Ulica Andrije Kačića Miošića
Zagreb, Hrvatska

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Communities and Cities in Japan

Dual Lectures
Blurring Architecture, Urban Design and Planning at
14th March 2016, 13:30 – 17:00h

Delft University of Technology
Berlage Rooms
Julianalaan 132-134
Delft

In two cross-cultural lectures, views on architecture, urban design and planning merge. Yushi Uehara and Maurice Harteveld exchange observations in Japanese cities; from the inside-out and outside-in.
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Constructing the Commons

Conference
Constructing the Commons at
Delft University of Technology

3rd – 4th March 2016

Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment
Julianalaan 134
2628 BL Delft

Investigating ‘the commons’ at the intersection of philosophy, sociology and architecture, keynote speakers Atelier Bow-Wow, Richard Sennett, Margaret Crawford, Paola Viganò and George Baird, discuss the city, public space and social practices during this conference.
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Pritzker Prize

Alejandro Aravena of Chile has been selected as the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate. It is promising to see how Pritzker is opening-up to a next generation, by emphasising again social responsibility of designers and the design of human habitat and the city. Mr. Pritzker said today, “Innovative and inspiring, he shows how architecture at its best can improve people’s lives.” With this, the current jury re-acknowledged the importance of “human behavior” in design (as stated before in the jury citation of 1990, with Aldo Rossi as laureate) and “significant contributions to humanity through the art of architecture” (cited in 1991, with Robert Venturi as laureate, while jury forgot to award Denise Scott Brown too). …In response to being named the laureate, Mr. Aravena emailed: “No achievement is individual. Architecture is a collective discipline. So we think, with gratitude, of all the people who contributed to give form to a huge diversity of forces at play.” Happy to hear! More to come, for sure…

UN: Public Spaces for All

Happy World Habitat Day!

The purpose of World Habitat Day, October 5th 2015, is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter. It is also intended to remind the world that we all have the power and the responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns. This year the United Nations chose the theme ‘Public Spaces for All designed to live Together’ as very relevant for the Habitat Agenda.

World Habitat Day 2015

The objectives of World Habitat Day 2015 aim to raise awareness about the need for well designed and managed public spaces and streets. Great to see that one of the key themes of my research group Design of Urban Fabrics takes centre stage also for UN Habitat.
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see:
Urban October: World Habitat Day
UN-Habitat – United Nations Human Settlements Programme
United Nations Office at Nairobi