Security in cities can make some people feel safe while excluding others. New ways of planning and policing public space are needed to ensure cities are safe and accessible for all.
A group of young Asian men play basketball in the evening at Prince Alfred Park, Sydney.
icsnaps/Shutterstock
Expo 88 helped to create Brisbane’s South Bank Parklands by raising expectations of what the city could be like.
Originating in the Netherlands, the concept of ‘woonerfs’, areas designed to invite walking, playing, socialising and cycling while curbing motor vehicles, has spread to cities in other countries, including Berlin.
Eric Sehr/Flickr
All around us, the places we inhabit send us physical and visual cues that influence our behaviour. Good design can tilt the balance so our surroundings help us act in ways that fulfil our needs.
Overflowing bins are one way to spoil the amenity of public space, but sensors can now alert councils when bins need emptying.
Wikimedia
Researchers are installing sensors to collect data about the use of public spaces. This can improve the management and public amenity of these places, but will users see the technology as intrusive?
People stroll along Moshoeshoe Street in Emfuleni.
Darya Maslova
By expanding our understanding of streets and enhancing their design, every street corner could become a space to socialise, to exercise, to play, or to trade.
Third places are most effective when, like Waverley Community Garden in Sydney, they appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds.
d-olwen-dee/flickr
Third places are shared spaces where people can informally socialise. As a potential antidote to the modern scourge of loneliness, it’s worth asking what makes the best of these places tick.
It’s impossible to put a price on the value of Federation Square as a gathering place for the citizens of Melbourne.
fabcom/flickr
It took Melbourne a very long time to create a civic square that served the citizens rather than commerce. Now an Apple store is to be built there, unless parliament supports a disallowance motion.
Functional, yes. Possibly clean, too. But most of our public toilets aren’t inviting.
Kgbo/Wikimedia Commons
Public toilets are an essential amenity, but most of them aren’t places we’d want to go to unless we have to. What does the failure to provide more restful and inviting places say about us?
Campo Santa Maria Nova, in Venice, is a fine example of a compact, human-scale European plaza.
Dina Bacvic
Done right, a plaza can bring life and a sense of identity to an area. So why has urban design in Australia neglected the town square in favour of green space, and what makes for a successful one?
Children’s right to play outdoors depends on them having access to safe and inclusive public spaces.
For a public space to be seen as safe, welcoming and accessible, a diverse range of people need to actively use it. That’s why any space-changing project needs to engage broadly with the community.
An artist’s depiction of the new Apple store proposed for Federation Square.
Daniel Andrews
The benefits of walking are widely promoted, but most Australian communities still aren’t walker-friendly. Young people, who rely heavily on walking to get around, are clear about what has to change.
Telstra and the City of Joondalup have joined forces in a trial of ‘smart park’ applications at Tom Simpson Park.
Public spaces have become more, not less, important to our experience of cities in the digital era. These technologies can be used to confound and enlarge our experiences of and connections to place.
RMIT University transformed the look and function of its city campus as part of its New Academic Street project.
Tess Kelly
European ideas of the campus as a place apart shaped Australia’s “sandstone” universities. Now universities are adopting urban regeneration strategies, bringing the city to the campus and vice versa.
The Wray Avenue Solar Parklet by Seedesign Studio is in Fremantle.
Jean-Paul Horré
Many parklets are privately funded, but these projects often allow for more public participation than more traditional public spaces.
Stony Creek drain: untidy and often slightly threatening, informal green space still has value for residents, which appropriate intervention can enhance.
Residents often have concerns about informal green space but some still use it. Work to enhance these areas should aim to resolve these concerns without destroying what residents do value.
Two young boys in helmets, playing soldiers with toy guns (1908-1928).
State Library of South Australia (B 28519/136)