Part 1 Public spaces at the heart of the city

Public spaces have changed throughout history. The traditional role of the central square as a gathering place for trade, political and religious expression has evolved into a multitude of other uses and new interactions. The ways in which citizens access, engage and relate to public spaces have changed, and urban public spaces have become vital areas of urban life: places for communication, gatherings, political demonstrations, artistic and cultural performances and all sorts of entertainment. They represent places where people come together, interact and encounter differences .

The political discourse about public spaces has changed over time as politicians now generally consider them as “public goods” and recognise the leading role played by local authorities in managing them. Local and regional governments are committed to investing in public spaces as a means to strengthen social cohesion, improve the quality of life, and enhance the image and attractivity of cities. Indeed, numerous studies have shown that well maintained, healthy and safe public spaces improve security and people’s feelings of insecurity.

What is a public space?

As defined by UN-Habitat, “public spaces are all places publicly owned or of public use, accessible and enjoyable by all for free and without a profit motive”.2 They are a key element of individual and social well-being, the places of a community’s collective life, expressions of the common natural and cultural richness in all its diversity and a foundation of cities’, and hence citizens’ identity, as expressed by the European Landscape Convention.3

Public spaces can be defined as any open place that is accessible to all without direct cost, such as streets, roads, public squares, parks, shopping centres and beaches, as well as closed places accessible to citizens, such as government and official buildings.

1- Barker, A. (2017). Mediated Conviviality and the Urban Social Order: Reframing the Regulation of Urban Public Space, British Journal of Criminology, 57(4), 848-866.

2- UN-Habitat (2015). Global Public Space Toolkit: From Global Principles to Local Policies and Practice.

3- The first international treaty devoted exclusively to all dimensions of the landscape, the Council of Europe Landscape Convention promotes the protection, management and planning of the landscapes and organises international co-operation on landscape issues.

1.1. The complex challenge of protecting public spaces

Because they are highly frequented and by nature open, public spaces can be the target of a number of threats, such as terrorism, the presence of large crowds and panic movements, or other types of malicious extremist attacks. Ensuring that they remain safe, inclusive and open to all is a complex challenge.

Being the level of governance closest to citizens, local and regional authorities are best placed to understand their concerns in relation to safe and open public spaces and implement appropriate measures to reduce feelings of insecurity. Public spaces require a security policy that is based on cooperation between the different organisations, the private sector and institutions concerned (local authorities, police, emergency services, urban planners and user representatives), in other words, genuine co-production of security that guarantees that public spaces remain both safe and accessible to all.4

1.2 The protection of public spaces, a priority for the EU

Council of the European Union (2021). Council Conclusions on the Protection of Public Spaces of 7 June 2021

Preventing and protecting public spaces against terrorism

As stated in the new EU Security Union Strategy, adopted in June 2020, responsibility for combating crime and safeguarding security primarily lies with Member States. This publication is not intended to be an exhaustive account of the international and national efforts in the field of counter-terrorism. Rather, we will present and discuss the main insights and learnings we have garnered in this domain through PACTESUR and other EU-funded projects that we have led or in which we have been a partner, such as PRoTECT, Secu4All and IcARUS 5

Although European cities have been experiencing acts of terrorism for decades, it can be argued that the modern-day face of terrorism emerged in the wake of the 9/11 attack in New York in 2001.6 Together with the attacks in Madrid (2004, 193 killed) and London (2005, 56 killed), these events have marked a “before and after”. While in the past, terrorist attacks in Europe used to be mainly perpetrated by separatist and political extremist movements acting independently from one another, the phenomenon is now more transnational in nature, which highlights the importance of a shared European response.

As a consequence, the role of local and regional authorities in safeguarding their residents and public spaces from such attacks has become more prominent, along with the traditional role of national governments and police. Indeed, we at Efus have noted over the past two decades the increasing mobilisation of our member local and regional authorities to directly act to safeguard urban public spaces. Efus members are particularly keen to explore the role and responsibilities of local and regional authorities when faced with terrorist threats.7

The key role of local and regional authorities

Since the early 2000s, the European Union has increasingly acknowledged the key role of local and regional authorities in protecting public spaces, affirming that they, “alongside national governments and international organisations and agencies, have a clear responsibility to protect their citizens against terrorist attacks and threats to a democratic way of life.”8 In the wake of the terrorist attacks in France and Belgium in January 2015,9 the EU (re)emphasised the need to enhance public space protection and community resilience. It developed several initiatives, guidelines and tools to support the sharing of knowledge to better understand and anticipate threats in public spaces. These initiatives are based on a holistic and horizontal approach, connecting EU and relevant national and local strategies, as well as public-private partnerships.10

In 2017, the European Commission adopted an action plan to support EU Member States in the protection of public spaces through funding, the exchange of promising practices and lessons learnt, enhancing cooperation and facilitating networks. Thanks in part to Efus’ lobbying work to convey to European institutions the need to tackle urban security questions through a multi-stakeholder, local approach involving all relevant parties, a Partnership on the Security in Public Spaces of the Urban Agenda for the EU was established in 2019. Led jointly by Efus and the cities of Madrid (Spain) and Nice (France) and gathering 10 European cities, the Partnership sought to “provide concrete European responses to real needs identified at the local level, encourage the exchange and dissemination of good and innovative practices and allow better targeting of interventions as far as legislation or funding instruments are concerned.” It produced a six-point action plan on issues such as evaluating artificial intelligence or developing security by design guidance (to name a couple), which is now being implemented.11

The Commission also developed different guidance materials and compiled available guidance. As a result of an extensive consultation process, good practices were identified to improve the protection of public places against terrorist attacks.12

8- Council of Europe. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. Resolution 159 (2003) on tackling terrorism the role and responsibilities of local authorities.

9- Attack against Charlie Hebdo magazine followed by an attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris, as well as an attack on police in Belgium.

10- Namely, the 2017 EU action plan to improve the protection of public spaces; European Commission staff working document on good practices to support the protection of public spaces 2019; the EU Security Union Strategy 2020-25; the EU counter-terrorism agenda.

11-Urban Agenda (2020). EU Partnership on Security in Public Spaces (2020), Action Plan.

12- Communication from the Commission of 20 March 2019 on good practices to support the protection of public spaces.