Social Public Space? by Haziqah Howe

cial blic ce?

soc pub spac

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Haziqah Howe 160670572 Stage 3. BA (Hons) Architecture Newcastle University SAPL ARC3060 : Dissertation in Architectural Studies

Acknowledgement The study of social public space were inspired by my stage 3 design studio theme of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Future Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and with a lot of help from my design tutors, Kieran Connolly and Luke Rigg. This research study ventured into a dissertation and would not have been made possible without guidance from my dissertation tutor, John Kamara. Thank you.

Contents 1 Introduction Understanding ‘Social Public Space’

Research Methodology Chapter Theme / Case Study Approach

3 Social Public Space as a Stage 34 4 Social Public Space as an Event Place 54 5 Social Public Space as an Art-Scape 72 6

Critical Reflection Lessons from Case Studies 92

Conclusion Future Outlook and Approach

104

Bibliography 111

List of Illustrations 117

1. introduction

understanding â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;social public spaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

OUTLINE AND INTENT

As a stage 3 undergraduate, I have come to realise that my critical stance as an architecture student plays a pivotal role in determining my response in design projects. We are taught to be readily equipped with architectural theories and apply them purposefully in the context of a specific site and a curated design brief, where criticality is needed when thinking of all aspects of the users, particularly in urban cities. A simple way to look at the relationship between architecture and the society is what Rem Koolhaas briefly describes in a recent interview in Moscow, â&#x20AC;&#x153;architecture is a profession that could define content of society and intervene in shaping society as it is a way of scriptwriting with buildings rather than wordsâ&#x20AC;?.1 The role of architecture in cities is essentially part of the bigger picture, a wider sphere of being merely just physical. It includes the societal aspect of a city where its existence is a collective effort of many.

intro duction

In order to understand this unspoken shared responsibility, this study takes on an architectural approach of the public life of the city through themed chapters. In the spirit of building the future of cities better through architecture, these chapters include public space projects done by contemporary architects as case studies and ends of with a critical reflection and a conclusion. On the topic of building for future cities in architecture, what is deem imperative when designing spaces in an urban context is the public life of the users. The relationship people forge with others and their surroundings is what makes a city. This is an integral part of determining the progress of urban cities as a social entity rather than just at face value. Unfortunately, it is not always the case or the most rational way of thinking living in a neo-liberated capitalist world.

However, I am hopeful of the social status of future cities that architecture can play a part in. One of which are the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;leftoverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; spaces in cities, particularly public spaces. In the effort to understand how public spaces have an impact on the social urban fabric of a city like London, specific public space projects by three contemporary architects (Muf Architecture/Art, Studioweave and Assemble) exude the idea of placemaking in their design approach. In a huge and diverse society like London, public spaces exemplify many aspects of the society. In this way, this research study goes beyond the superficial of promoting better design in public spaces and touches on the complexity of design approaches on the contemporary subject.

intro duction

BACKGROUND OF PROBLEM

Major cities are generally hyper local and hyper global at all once with them being heavily tailored and dependant on the capitalist economy. With that in mind, it is inevitably for a city like London to disregard the fact that the contention for public space revolves around land control. Where land is high in demand, public spaces are at risk of being pressured to develop as they are seen as expensive commodity to keep and can thus, be dispensed with. Public spaces tend to reduce the size due to development pressures or the struggle experienced by local authorities (with smaller budgets) in sustaining large open public spaces. This result in the competition over land between different stakeholders. Where deprived neighbourhoods are targeted for gentrification, their public spaces attract new attention, as they are gateways to underused land that is expected to re-enter the marketplace.2

Contemporary spaces of exchange are then only accommodating to the people with power and money, therefore establishing a higher demand and need for social inclusivity. Modernity suggest the idea that things can be improved but we have created generic cities and what we believe is progressing towards a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;healthyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; global economy and unity.3 Understanding various approaches in defining public spaces that facilitates social aspects of the cities give us the chance to forge new kinds of unity between architecture and the communities we seek to serve.

intro duction

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

City life is not to be understood as the city’s psychological well-being but a complex and versatile life that unfolds in public space.4 Architecturally speaking, public life of the people is demonstrated in spaces of the city. These spaces, as known as public space, need to be re-established and improve as they relate systematically the urban life and social coherence of cities. As the book, Transient City, suggests that public life ‘is about how to reinvent public spaces, and restore social contacts between different communities – class, ethnicities, cultures, etc. – and, ultimately, to re-invent our cities as dynamic and lively urban centres as exemplary examples in the making of a new network of global cities.’5

“Social process happens neither in a vacuum, nor against a ‘neutral backdrop’, and the built environment is thus both the medium for and the outcome of social process and change.”6 However, leaves room for interrogation of the terms like ‘public space’, ‘social’ in this study. It is only recently that architects pay extra close attention in thinking about social aspect of public spaces. There are infinite ways to build a community, but public space, designed as the core for directing successful community development, is increasingly prevalent.7

intro duction

PURPOSE OF STUDY

Still-expanding cities are now assessing the quality of the recently created public space, as well as studying new strategies for supplementing and enriching it, to be implemented in coming years.8 This sets foremost challenge for future public spaces in cities raising questions of how they mitigate societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s need for public life. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This puts things into perspective, in order to create healthier and sustainable communities in a city, public spaces have to respond to the social needs of the people. In relation to architecture, it is an alarming issue that questions the way we run our cities today and even more so, putting the social consideration of future public spaces in critical danger. On the topic of public space, this study cross-examines the specific type of space where publicness happens. What are the places in which our societies are rendered public? What does public space contribute to the social urban fabric of a city?

Have public spaces develop and enhance social aspects of people in cities? Have these spaces successfully shape and maintain the existing social urban fabric spatially? These questions drive the importance of this study as to how architecture and role plays a part with societal interest at its core. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Public spaces in London have been ‘challenged about the lack of social relevance’9 and has since peaked in the last few years, raising the importance of contemplation and the term ‘social public space’. This study attempts to define, interrogate and rethink of present-day ‘social public spaces’ within London in the essence of public spaces to enlighten architectural issues. In this way can it only address plausible responses from contemporary architects that heavily deals with the public realm as a practice, to rectify and reclaim ‘social public spaces’ for future cities.

intro duction

DEFINITION OF TERMS ASSUMPTIONS, LIMITATION

Devised to focus on public spaces designed to facilitate social activities in cities, the term, ‘social public space’ need to be understood. Just a disclaimer, this requires a few amendments to the definitions of terms that are closely related and used in this study to bring across the ideas that ‘social public space’ encapsulate clearly. Public life is defined as the engagement between people and their environment on a large scale of the society. The more a city expands, the more public life is needed to thread not just between buildings, but among social urban fabric of the society.

Public space is defined as a spatial representation for possibilities of engaging civic life within the community. Placemaking is defined as a collaborative process by which can shape the public realm in order to maximize shared value. It subsequently becomes a collective effort of reimagination and reinvention of spaces as the heart of every community in cities. The nub is the interplay between life and space in all its guises10 which sieved a distinct characteristic of public spaces – ‘social space’. As they inevitably go hand and in hand, it does not exist without the other.

intro duction

Hence, the extract on the term ‘social space’ from the book, Spatial Agency, is referred to in addressing the themes for the next few chapters (chapter 3-5): Social space is dynamic space; its production continues over time and it is not fixed to a single moment of completion. This dynamic inevitably shifts the focus of spatial attention away from the static objects of display that constitute the foreground of so much architectural production, and moves onto the continuous cycle of spatial production, and to all the people and processes that go into it. The dynamic, hence temporal, nature of spaces means that spatial production must be understood as part of an evolving sequence, with no fixed start or finish, and that multiple actors contribute at various stages.11 The word, dynamic, visibly declares how ‘social space’ is perceived in architecture.

“Dynamic space” explains that social space is described as transitional, always evolving with time and intangible. While “the dynamic”, here equates to social space being a noun, a physical entity and has a dimensional quality to it. The usage of the term ‘social public space’ is therefore, derived from the ideas of ‘social space’ and ‘public space’. CONCLUSION

The history of architecture is also the history of a series of incredibly responsible ambitions.12 In the interest to address placemaking as a concept and a tool for social production in city of London, this creates a necessity to address ‘social public space’ as architects play a huge role in shaping the existing and future urban structures. Fostering the economy may be a priority and driving factor for thriving cities, but it is the people that provides the toolkit.

intro duction

LITERATURE REVI EW

For the past 40 years, capitalism has effected a twopronged assault on spaces often called public13 resulting in unclear and contested public spaces of today. They play a vital role in shaping communities as the architectural ‘approach to spatiality goes beyond notions of literal geography to include realms, or domains of social formation.’14 In that aspect, ‘social public space’ essentially encompasses that. The degree of investment in one’s physical community, or neighbourhood, is largely dependent on its quality, and particularly the characteristics of the collective public realm.15 By exploring its prevalent characteristics in a city (more in the next chapter). the main objective of this study is introducing, defining and establishing the term ‘social public space’ from the perspective of architecture in regards to social quality and urban planning. Fortunately, in London, many of these ‘social public spaces’ produced in the last decade seems promising in the development of public life.

These projects can be categorised into three themes (architectural characteristics) – as a stage, an event place and an art-scape. Subsequently, the interpretation of ‘social public space’ in architecture capitalize on creativity to promote public life. By addressing past projects and approaches in a manner suited to the context of a city like London, it gives the opportunity to uncover the potential and ideas of ‘social public space’. Lefebvre’s notion of space as process – as produced in inseparable, yet shifting physical and social contexts – is widely understood to have provoked a new area of study.16 Hence, learning a range of contemporary approaches from London-based architects pursuing a similar interest in rethinking public spaces through their work will come to a viable conclusion in the effort to eventually inform and navigate the future of public life in cities.

endnotes

Archdaily, Interview with Rem Koolhaas at MUF 2018 “Moscow,

Archeology of the Future” (English), (Youtube, 2018), <https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=tsycvWfu4F8> [Accessed 28 Oct 2018] 2

Ali Madanipour, Whose public space? International case studies in

urban design and development, (London: Routledge. 2010), p.118 3

Archdaily, Interview with Rem Koolhaas at MUF 2018 “Moscow,

Archeology of the Future” (English), (Youtube, 2018), <https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=tsycvWfu4F8> [Accessed 28 Oct 2018] 4

Jan Gehl, Birgitte Svarre, How to study public life, (Washington:

Island Press, 2013), p.2. 5

Anon, Trans(ient) City, (Barcelona: Bom Publishers, 2007), p.7.

Tim Heath, Taner Oc & Steve Tiesdell, Public Places - Urban Spaces,

2nd ed., (Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2010), p.133. 7

Jan Gehl, Birgitte Svarre, How to study public life, (Washington:

Island Press, 2013), p.2. 8

Casanova, H., Hernández, J. & Casanova+Hernandez Architects,

Public space Acupuncture: Strategies and Interventions for Activating City Life, (New York: Actar Publishers, 2014), p.10.

Nishat Awan, Tatjana Schneider & Jeremy Till, Spatial Agency: Other

Ways of Doing Architecture, (Oxon: Routledge, 2011), p.60. 10

Jan Gehl, Birgitte Svarre, How to study public life, (Washington: Island

Press, 2013), p.2. 11

Nishat Awan, Tatjana Schneider & Jeremy Till, Spatial Agency: Other

Ways of Doing Architecture, (Oxon: Routledge, 2011), p.37. 12

Archdaily, Interview with Rem Koolhaas at MUF 2018 “Moscow, Ar-

cheology of the Future” (English), (Youtube, 2018), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsycvWfu4F8> [Accessed 28 Oct 2018] 13

Gediminas Urbonas, et al., Public space?: lost and found, (Cam-

bridge, MA: MIT School of Architecture + Planning SA+P: The MIT Press, 2017), p.19 14

Helen Liggett & David C. Perry, Spatial practices: critical explora-

tions in social/spatial theory, (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1995), p.4 15

Alissa North, Operative Landscapes: Building Communities Through

Public Space, (Basel/Berlin/Boston: Birkhäuser, 2013), p.12-13

2. research methodology

chapter themes case study approach

research methodology

A case study approach as research method will supplement the contemporary topic of ‘social public spaces’ for future cities with the provision of themes that align with its purpose and potential. By that logic, specific projects in London will be case studies as ‘this research method allows exploration and understanding of the complexity of the issue as a holistic and in-depth investigation is required.’17 EXPLORATORY CASE STUDY

To talk about public space is to evoke a kind of utopia nowadays18 and it is with great interest to explore this phenomenon of its time. Thus, an exploratory case study is important in determining the structure of thinking and flow of this study. Applying the exploratory approach allows flexibility in framework without going off topic and kept within the word limit. Regardless of the themes that case studies are bonded with, each case study differs from one another in terms of nature of the projects – urban scapes in chapter 3, temporality in chapter 4 and scalability in chapter 5.

In this way, case studies explain the complexities of real-life situations which may not be captured through experimental or survey research.19 It help facilitate creative patterns in the use of spaces, paying close attention to the physical, cultural and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.20 The explorations from these case studies will progress and develop into a critical reflection on the role of architecture in ‘social public spaces’. THEMED CASE STUDIES

Mode of exploring spaces of everyday life seeks to address the typical disconnection between the public and the process by which places are made. Thus, it is necessary to address site constraints and socio-political agendas of these ‘social public spaces’ that essentially stresses certain theme. The idea that communities should be designed rather than engineered or planned is central to urbanism. 21

These themes are characteristics of social public spaces

conducted within the context of its use22 – as a stage, an event place and an art-scape.

research methodology

With each theme being different from the other, it acts as a foundational understanding of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;social public spaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. These themes are dedicated to a chapter each to form a calculated investigation on projects that are made as case studies. With that, chapters 3 to 5 is themed to discuss the relationship between architecture and the society is a kind of experimental exploration of its process in curating public life: CHAPTER 3: SOCIAL PUBLIC SPACE AS A STAGE

Many forms of urban scapes today are typically a result of repurposing and enriching the public life of the community. Due to its aesthetics style and organised design in large open spaces, these social public spaces are central to its context and thus, frequently used and a place for gathering. By facilitating social possibilities in a common space, it acts as a stage. Case studies such as the Barking Town Square project by muf architecture/art and the recent Camden Highline project proposal manifests this metaphor of social public spaces as a stage.

CHAPTER 4: SOCIAL PUBLIC SPACE AS AN EVENT PLACE

Events in a city like London take flight pretty quickly among communities in boroughs. When it comes to modern-day events, timing is of essence and the venue follows through in enabling for it to happen. With the concept of social public spaces as an event place, temporary projects address the impact on the community. Case studies include The Folly over the Flyover project in 2011 and Narrow Way project in 2013. CHAPTER 5: SOCIAL PUBLIC SPACE AS AN ART-SCAPE

Possibly the most recent addition and provocative in its own right in a public space, public art has become a spatial intervention to reconnect the people and the city. Over the years, we see public art in London exists at various scales. The Smith project by Studioweave, Lullaby Factory and Gillett Square by muf architecture/art. It is even more fascinating to take note of the evolution of these social public spaces over the short course of time for the reason that it reflects the urban context.

endnotes

Helen Liggett & David C. Perry, Spatial practices: critical explora-

tions in social/spatial theory, (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1995), p.6 17

Zaida Zainal, Case study as a research, 2007 <http://psyking.net/

htmlobj-3837/case_study_as_a_research_method.pdf> [Accessed 1 Nov 2019], p.1. 18

Gediminas Urbonas, et al., Public space?: lost and found, (Cam-

bridge, MA: MIT School of Architecture + Planning SA+P: The MIT Press, 2017), p.227

Zaida Zainal, Case study as a research, 2007 <http://psyking.net/

htmlobj-3837/case_study_as_a_research_method.pdf> [Accessed 1 Nov 2018], p.4. 20

Project for Public Places, 2018 <https://www.pps.org/article/

what-is-placemaking> [Accessed 1 Jan 2019] 21

Peter Calthorpe, Urbanism in the Age of Climate, (Washington, DC:

Island Press, 2011), p.50. 22

Zaida Zainal, Case study as a research, 2007 <http://psyking.net/

htmlobj-3837/case_study_as_a_research_method.pdf> [Accessed 1 Nov 2018], p.4.

3. social public spaces

as a stage

social public space as a stage

In Sennett’s book of The Fall of Public Man, he attributed philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s concept of cities as a grand theatre where people are the actors that put up a performance of public life. In this idea of a performance, public spaces are served as a stage, architecture as the backdrop, furniture as props and the script of a city’s public life dictates people’s behaviour to the extent of their dressing, which is defined to a certain degree by their context. A significant part of ‘city as a stage’ is unsurprisingly, the architecture of the city as it sets the atmosphere for the performance of public life. In Fritz Lang’s silent film called the Metropolis (1927), it intentionally or unintentionally suggests that the urban cities are a sort of theatrical and everything is staged. To a degree, it is true that cities are organised in an orderly manner but the leftover spaces between buildings and streets are spaces that can potentially be of good use to the public.

Social public spaces can take on a ‘sense of place’ if the people share a collective feeling associated to a particular area of the city. In that retrospect, only when we create a ‘stage’ through spaces is where people can ‘perform’. This idea evokes engagement and interaction between people from different parts of the cities to come together to piece the script of public life. In London, the concept of social public spaces as a stage is produced by contemporary architects in a way they ‘function as a threshold for dialogue with the city’.23 These projects demonstrated by Muf architecture/art and Studioweave emphasise on the approach architects take for social production on urban landscapes. Between these two projects, Barking Town Square and Camden Highline respectively, they differ in the type of urban landscape ‘as a stage’. This gives an opportunity to make comparison within the underlying theme of social public spaces as a stage.

Ba r k i n g To wn Sq u a re 2006- 20 10

Fig 1. Vignettes of the type of users in Town Hall (townhall, cafe, residents)

CONTEXT

Barking is a town in the outskirts of East London and is part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD). Two out of five of Barking & Dagenham’s Core Strategy within the Local Development Framework touches on the public life of residents by ‘creating a sense of community and creating a sense of place’.24 The Barking Town Square project was part of the initial phase of a larger redevelopment masterplan25 to provide local housing and related necessities. In 2006, Barking Town Square was proposed to be a new public space that ‘sits in front of the town hall, where a carpark once was and inhabit spaces between new buildings of the town centre development.’26

Fig 2. Open outdoor hardscape between buildings at the arboretum for residents to get active

social public space as a stage

OBJ ECTIVES

The Barking Town Square project completed by muf architecture/art in 2010 was a social intervention to the old and unused public space at the heart of Abbey, ward of Barking & Dagenham. It was built in four stages from 2006 to 2010, and only completed in 2013. A social context was needed to inform the design and planning of the proposed public space so ‘an action-research dialogue with young local was initiated by muf to understand how they perceived and used public space.’27 The design dialogue was also extended to older generations and concluded that they wanted a mise-en-scenes narrative in the space. DESIGN PROCESS

Muf took that into close consideration and designed the 6000m² space into a T-shape comprising of four overlapping elements – the civic square, the arboretum, the folly wall and the arcade are outcomes of a progressive design process between users, architect and the client. The elements were essential to ‘scriptwriting’ public life of Barking as they each represent its identity and how the community wants Barking to be perceived as.

40 Fig 3. Pedestrianised Town Square

Fig 4. Locals gathering at the Town Square

Fig 5. Arcade design (in collaboration with Tom Dixon and Philips)

Fig 6. Permeability between Arcade and the arboretum

social public space as a stage

Fig 7. Benches as a form of meeting point

Fig 8. Bespoke benches at the arboretum

OUTCOME

In this case, public goods like ‘bespoke benches’ were ‘part of the Barking code’28 as they are adapted and placed specific to the user’s demographic in relation to each site. The idea of ‘spatial flexibility’ in an open space with loose furniture at the square was also important in accommodating social activities within the community. Other features such as the folly wall play a historical significance in shaping the identity of Barking. With the square being at the heart of the project, it becomes a centre point for people to congregate on occasions as well as ‘a stage’ used on a daily basis. To this day, Barking Town Square continues to allow residents and visitors to ‘script write’ their public life in this aspect, where ‘performance’ is heavily relied on its immediate context and use by the community.

C a m d e n H i g h Li n e 2017- on g oing

Fig 9. Camden Railway in 20th century

CONTEXT

Originally built in 1852 as part of the North London Railway, the 1.2km railway line was an unused public space and has been abandoned for more than three decades. The Camden community group proposed to use the space as an elevated park and garden walk between ‘Camden Town and King’s Cross into a new green artery in London’.29 The project was envisioned by a geographer, Oliver O’Brien, as his blog post was noticed by local newspaper, the Kentishtowner, who ran a cover story on the project.30 A crowdfunding campaign was run in the summer of 2017 to helped raise money to pay for feasibility work. The project is currently a work in progress to achieve the permissions and fundraising for the construction cost.

Fig 10. Disused Camden Railway in 2018

social public space as a stage

Fig 11. Spaces along Camden Highline (Image 5 in fig 13)

OBJ ECTIVES

Designed by local architecture practice, Studioweave, the Camden Highline project is proposed as a green infrastructure in the heart of Camden ‘for walking and cycling, and link Camden Town to King’s Cross by a 10-minute walk.’31 The idea of improving the disused railway instead of replacing it with green urban landscape with and for the community at large drives the concept of ‘making space to make meaning’. Proposing a green space among the hustle and bustle of a city like London, not only create opportunities for social activities to occur but also promotes sustainable healthier lifestyle. DESIGN PROCESS

What adds value to this community-led project is the active role of government officials and institutions play for it to be realised. Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan gave full support as ‘this innovative project has the potential to become a real asset for Camden and is a great example of a local community taking an idea and garnering support in order to make it a reality.’32

Fig 12. Park at the Camden Highline (Image 4 in fig 13)

Fig 13. Proposed Camden Highline in relation to landmarks

Fig 14. Existing train station along camden (Image 2 in fig 13)

Fig 15. Pedestrianised Extension in residential areas (Image 1 in fig 13)

social public space as a stage

Initiatives of the council such as Camden Can project and St Pancres and Somers Town Partnership ‘takes a ward-specific approach to supporting residents to eat well and be active.’33 Though to this day it is still in the works of planning permission, the potential of Camden Highline to be a social public space is highly likely. (POTENTIAL) OUTCOME

Considering the site to be central in the area of Camden Town, with the exception linking to King’s Cross, a major rail hub, the Camden Highline project would flourish with people from all parts of the city to be able to gain access in all directions. The social outcome of this project can be assumed by studying a similar social public space. One of which is the High Line in New York (NY) that completed in 2012 and quickly gained international recognition for their unique approach to urban landscape. Despite the difference in area size and site constraints, the social functions of a park are identical.

Fig 16. Proposed Camden Highline (Image 3 in fig 13)

‘In 2012, the High Line had more than 4.4 million visitors, becoming the city’s most-visited park per acre’34 where the public can ‘view art, walk through gardens, experience a performance, savour delicious food, or just connect with friends and neighbour.’35 However, the success of High Line in NY is not measured by the number of people that use the park or the list of amenities available but the role of the Friends of the Highline emphasising the ‘key role of non-profits can play in urban planning’.36 It is only in this way that highline framework provide a resilient urban network among the residents and the public. The Camden Highline project thus, simulates Highline New York in ‘scripting’ the performance of everyday public life. It gives the opportunity for residents and visitors to interact and build relationship in a space. In the spirit of ‘social public space as a stage’, a proposed green urban landscape in London propel the concept even further by integrating ‘nature’ into the city.

social public space as a stage

Fig 17. High Line New York on site

Fig 18. Social activities at High Line New York

Fig 19. Bird’s eye view of users walking on Highline NY

CONCLUSION

These two projects fundamentally paved the way for social unity in all forms throughout the whole design process. With Barking Town Square, the theme of placemaking interweaves through the spaces physically and socially from a very early stage of the project and has been well reflected by the end of its completion. Camden Highline on the other hand has yet to be realised but the potential of community-led project emits optimism in improving the social urban fabric among residents and the larger part of the city and beyond. Transforming public space into a ‘stage’ intended for performance of the public life is a strategy that activates the role of the people in achieving a vibrant social public space.

endnotes

Anon, Trans(ient) City, (Barcelona: Bom Publishers, 2007), p.15.

Amy M. Hochadel & SpringerLink, Local Leadership in a Global Era

Policy and Behaviour Change in Cities, (Cham: Springer International Publishing: Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), p.137 25

More than one fragile thing at a time, Barking Town, 2018, <http://

morethanonefragile.co.uk/barking-town-square/> [Accessed 1 Dec 2018] 26

More than one fragile thing at a time, Barking Town, 2018, <http://

morethanonefragile.co.uk/barking-town-square/> [Accessed 1 Dec 2018] 27

More than one fragile thing at a time, Barking Town, 2018, <http://

morethanonefragile.co.uk/barking-town-square/> [Accessed 1 Dec 2018] 28

More than one fragile thing at a time, Barking Town, 2018, <http://

morethanonefragile.co.uk/barking-town-square/> [Accessed 1 Dec 2018] 29

Camden Highline, Camden Highline, 2018, <https://www.camden-

highline.com/#news> [Accessed 1 Dec 2018]

Open House London, Camden Highline, <https://openhouselon-

don.open-city.org.uk/listings/7228>, [Accessed 11 Dec 2018] 31

Studioweave, Camden Highline, 2018, <http://www.studioweave.

com/projects/camden-highline/> [Accessed 11 Dec 2018] 32

Jon King, ‘Sadiq Khan pledges his support for Camden Highline pro-

posal’, (Hamhigh, 2017), <https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/sadiqkhan-pledges-his-support-for-camden-highline-proposal-1-5124620> [Accessed 11 Dec 2018] 33

Camden, Camden Can, 2018, <https://www.camden.gov.uk/cam-

den-can?inheritRedirect=true#dfmo>, [Accessed 11 Dec 2018] 34

Washburn, A., The nature of urban design: a New York perspective

on resilience, (Washington, DC : Island Press, 2013), p.150. 35

High Line, Overview, 2018), <https://www.thehighline.org/about/>,

[Accessed 13 Dec 2018] 36

David Halle & Elizabeth Tiso, New York’s new edge contemporary

art, the High Line and urban megaprojects on the far West Side, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2014), p.161

4. social public spaces

as an event place

social public space as an event place

Dating back to early human civilisation, ritual and festive events have been a part of societal convention in creating communities. Disciplines such as sociology and anthropology have long studied this idea of events within social and cultural settings. People congregate in public spaces to celebrate events as they all contribute to giving a special meaning to the places. These traditions become a fundamental part of public life; they structure community life and help reinforce the collective identity. In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s day and age, we have annual celebrations that commemorate important days at a specific time and place, for instance, New Year Ball Drop at Time Square in New York City.

As opposed to cultural and traditional festivities, an event is an organised occurrence that does not necessarily have to follow any particular tradition, but which does have the capacity to bring people together. Whether they are homegrown or internationally known, an event of a quantifiable scale requires two things â&#x20AC;&#x201C; people and space. The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images. Social public space is, as described by Debord, an occurrence among people. Projects such as Folly for a Flyover and Narrow Way captures the essence of social public spaces as an event place. They are both short-termed strategy in the effort to emphasise the theme effectively.

F o l l y f o r a Fl yover

2010

Fig 20. Folly in context of A12 expressway

CONTEXT & OBJECTIVE

Situated at Hackney Wick, a locality of Hackney in East London, Folly for a Flyover is a temporary community-led project that transform a disused and unwelcoming motorway under croft, also known as the A12, into a public space for residents and visitors alike. The project was part of the wider Marshes future development plan in increasing residential use of the area and the 2012 Olympic Park. The location was strategic to address local issues as constraints of its use were legislative prohibitions and its long-troubled social history.

DESIGN PROCESS

In 2011, Folly for a Flyover project started with the idea of how spaces are as important as their physical features in defining their use. The arts-cum-public space reclaimed the future of the site by re-imagining its past by getting inspiration from the architecture of the local area with the use of recycled and donated materials. It was a built over four weeks with 200 volunteers engaging in the making of the programme, from designing and construction. Upon its completion, over 40,000 visited the public space from across London to get involved. By day, they hosted a cafĂŠ, events and boat trips exploring the waterways of the canal on site; at night, audiences congregated on the steps to watch screenings of all sorts and ending with a live score. These events allowed people from all walks of life to socialise and interact with one another through the act of participation. The project was so successful as a social public space that led to long-term investment in the site by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), ensuring positive and sustained community use of a site.

social public space as an event place

Fig 21. An artist impression of the Folly of what it used to be

Fig 22. Folly set up in the day

Fig 23. Axometric of the Folly for a flyover

OUTCOME

Design practice, Assemble, in-charge of the project, collaborated with muf architecture/art to turn current issues of the site into opportunities on a larger scale. The event space developed a tangible sense of local ownership and involvement among people as they work with 68 local groups and businesses, ranging from food suppliers and construction specialists to musicians and art festivals. Given the temporary nature of the project and use of participatory approach, Folly over the Flyover was quick to shift the public perception of the site of being a collaborative event place for all.

social public space as an event place

Fig 24. Participatory construction with volunteers

Fig 25. Laying Brickwork with steel scaffolding

Fig 26. Night time activity - screening

Fig 27. Folly set up by night

Fig 28. Day time activity - workshops

N a r r o w W a y 2013

Fig 29. Benches on Narrow Way

CONTEXT & OBJECTIVE

Also, in Hackney, East London â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Narrow Way is a one-stop shopping street that has rich cultural and architectural identity. As the site is broadly used by the community, the Hackney council has made future developments to sustain its public use by improving public goods. Tapping on the strength of being one of the most diverse boroughs in London, a community strategy 2018-2028 was recently introduced to by the Cabinet and the Council in response to Hackney a Place for Everyone (HAPFE).

DESIGN PROCESS

In the summer of 2013, Narrow Way was transformed into a temporary pedestrianisation public space. It was provisional social scheme organised by design practice, Studioweave, in collaboration with East London Furniture, Loving Your Garden and EcoACTIVE, with initial test period of six months. The project includes painting the ground surface with patterns inspired by the festivities and hot air balloon rides that used to take place behind the Mermaid Tavern (now Mermaid Fabrics) and adorning the street with new benches and planters. During this period, Narrow Way became a shared space for the Hackney residents as well as the public in hosting events such as community planting workshops, street festivals and building workshops.

social public space as an event place

Fig 30. Temporary pedestranised Narrow Way

Fig 31. Events on Narrow Way

Fig 32. Narrow Way walkways painted

OUTCOME

Going beyond the concept of it being â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;as an event placeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, the event-based initiative is successful in building a sense of belonging in the community through a common public space within the area. Domestic workshops like seasonal planting in their local environment emphasises the civic duty of residents and identity in being a part of a larger network system. The street of Narrow Way in itself becomes a memorable event place that only the locals share. With the social public space being pedestrianised for the 6-month event, it fosters harmony and unity through the space that amplifies public life within the community.

social public space as an event place

Fig 33. Get-together games on Narrow Way

CONCLUSION

Such temporal community-based projects mark a critical footing to the societal system that we do not see but can be felt. With an event that celebrates life of the community in these temporary spaces, it serves more than a just a social device. Events involve temporally constraints â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;windows of opportunityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for users to connect there and that at particular place. These social public spaces projects became by-products in collectively responding to social and political issues within their community and as an effective design strategy in order to sustain against the urban.

endnotes

Casanova, H., Hernández, J. & Casanova+Hernandez Architects,

Public space Acupuncture: Strategies and Interventions for Activating City Life, (New York: Actar Publishers, 2014), p.214. 38

Casanova, H., Hernández, J. & Casanova+Hernandez Architects,

Public space Acupuncture: Strategies and Interventions for Activating City Life, (New York: Actar Publishers, 2014), p.214. 39

Debord, G., Society of the spectacle, (Detroit: Black & Red, 1983),

p.4. 40

London’s Artist Quarter, Folly for the Flyover, 2013, <https://london-

sartistquarter.org/content/franedgerley/folly-flyover> [Accessed 15 Dec 2018] 41

London’s Artist Quarter, Folly for the Flyover, 2013, <https://london-

sartistquarter.org/content/franedgerley/folly-flyover> [Accessed 15 Dec 2018]

Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Artist Quarter, Folly for the Flyover, 2013, <https://london-

sartistquarter.org/content/franedgerley/folly-flyover> [Accessed 15 Dec 2018] 43

Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Artist Quarter, Folly for the Flyover, 2013, <https://london-

sartistquarter.org/content/franedgerley/folly-flyover> [Accessed 15 Dec 2018] 44

Hackney, The Narrow Way (Mare Street), 2018, <https://consulta-

tion.hackney.gov.uk/streetscene/the-narrow-way/> [Accessed 15 Dec 2018] 45

Studioweave, Narrow Way, 2018, http://www.studioweave.com/

projects/narrow-way-festival/ [Accessed 15 Dec 2018] 46

Nishat Awan, Tatjana Schneider & Jeremy Till, Spatial Agency: Other

Ways of Doing Architecture, (Oxon: Routledge, 2011), p.217.

5. social public spaces

as an art-scape

social public space as an art-scape

Since early ancient history, art is understood as a form of human expression, whether it is a representational, fictional or even spatial. In 21st century, art of all forms today plays a pivotal role in creating a sense of cultural identity in cities. It becomes apparent in shaping spaces between buildings where the ‘need to provide symbolic content for public spaces fostered the birth of public art’.47 Presently, public art can be used as a tool for communicating ideas that individuals can resonate with and in due course bring like-minds together, especially in socially-segregated areas of the city. The process of public art in spaces of the city requires collaboration amongst a number of disciplines, i.e., artists, architects, designers and the list go on.As famous saying by Russian poet, Joseph Brodsky, goes “art is not a better, but an alternative existence; it is not an attempt to escape from reality, but the opposite; an attempt to animate it.”

In that aspect, social public spaces that transform urban landscapes to urban art-scape can produce a different perception of the reality. Not only does it encourage people to experience the city in a different way but infuses a new energy into the urban life. This form of play in art-scapes is determined by the scale of the project. Three drastically different approaches applying the same concept of ‘art-scapce’ in London bring about various types of them which include art installation, pop up exhibitions and creative collaboration with artists and play group. The Lullaby Factory, Smith and Gillett Square project in ‘Making Space in Dalston’ design strategy by muf architecture/art are projects that manifest the variations of social public spaces as an art-scape.

L u l l a b y Fa c t ory 2012

Fig 34. Lullaby Factory elevation drawing

CONTEXT & OBJECTIVE

Lullaby Factory is an art installation located in heart of London, Bloomsbury and within the compounds of Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). It was designed and installed on the Southwood Building’s facade to improve the view for patients in the Morgan Stanley Clinical Building. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, ‘throughout the building, patients can listen to the lullabies softly humming away.’48 This project is part of the GOSH arts programme in playing an important role of ‘enhancing the hospital experience.’50

Fig 36. Ground level interaction

Fig 35. Instruments from above

Fig 37. Worm’s eye view

DESIGN PROCESS

Designed by hackney-based practice, Studioweave, the permanent art installation was realised to engage the imagination of everyone from the patients to staff and visitors. The awkward public space landlocked by buildings was transformed into ‘a secret world that can only be seen from inside the hospital.’50 Described as a ’fantasy landscape’, it is ten storeys high and 32 metres long which includes old taps and gauges collected from a decommissioned hospital boiler house.

social public space as an art-scape

Fig 38. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Fantasy landscapeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Fig 39. Music played by lullaby factory can be heard in buildings by patients

Fig 40. Public interaction when the music is played by lullaby factory

Fig 41. Visual aethestics and connection of lullaby factory

OUTCOME

Despite the Lullaby Factory being on a private compound, the public sphere within the development is highly engaged between people in each building and in between the gaps on the exterior physically and visually. People, particularly patients, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;can listen to a lullaby composed by sound artist Jessica Curry, especially for the project, through listening pipes next to the canteen or from the wards by tuning into a special radio station.â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;51 They are also able to interact with the instruments of the art piece on ground floor. The vertical art-scape is designed uniquely and specifically for its use, serving a profound purpose that aids patients visually and audibly while being in the eyes of the public.

Sm i t h

2015

Fig 42. Conceptual isometric drawing of Smith

CONTEXT

As part of the 2015 Clerkenwell Design Week, a local creative industry festival, the ‘Smith’ project is a pop-up exhibition in St John’s Square of Clerkenwell, an area of central London England. The temporary set up was designed to be very open to allow visitors from the public to engage and encourage craftmanship of all sorts, hence the name ‘Smith’.

Fig 43. Fabricating at the workshop

Fig 45. Cladding

Fig 44. Constructing structure onsite

DESIGN PROCESS

Designed by Studioweave, the stylised factory with a sawtooth roof was strategically located between busy pedestrianised roads and pavement to bring in public traffic. Over the course of the three-day event, Smith ran workshops from contemporary craftsmen and smiths such as letterpress printers, 3D-printing specialist, charity and educational body. These activities showcase the creative use of tools, equipment and material application for product-making to the public to engage with.

soc ial public space as an art-scape

Fig 46. Workshops held at Smith

Fig 47. Promoting craftsmanship to the public

OUTCOME

As ‘communities rely on their surrounding resources for their function’,52 the small art-scape intervention facilitates the ‘art of making’ with ‘act of doing’. Visitors of the event and the public were introduced to the pop-up space with open arms quite literally with no doors on both ends. The design and programme of Smith suggests the need for public life to receive their service in the arts in order to be of good use.

Fig 48. Exhibiting ‘art of making’ at Smith

Fig 49. Smith in relation to St John’s Square

G il l e t t S q ua re 2009

Fig 50. Play area in Gillet Square under ‘Making space in Dalston’ design strategy

CONTEXT

Gillett Square is a cultural centre located in Dalston, a district of London Borough of Hackney in East London. The liberated civic space is well-known for hosting cultural activities and events that engages with the local community for many years. In collaboration with play providers and Gillett squared Hackney Co-operative Developments (HCD), the Gillett square project by muf architecture/art was realised in 2009. This playful project was part of a wider strategy of ‘Making Space in Dalston’ by the architect.

84 Fig 51. Aerial view of play area in Gillet Square

social public space as an art-scape

Fig 52. ‘Making space in Dalston’ principle of study

OBJ ECTIVE & DESIGN PROCESS

The Gillett square project is a supportive programme and infrastructure hosted by the existing public square. Children’s play designers, Snug and Play, and local play providers, Albion Kids Show, have work together to transform the Square using a combination of equipment, objects and loose materials that children can adapt and experiment with.53 This aspect of the placemaking strategy by Muf was specifically targeted at children in the area to introduce the ‘future of play’54 into public life.

Fig 53. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Making space in Dalstonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; examples of project

OUTCOME

With Gillett square being a dedicated public space for the art-scape of such scale, locals, particularly families with children, are able to mingle and interact with one another. This art-scape installation promotes and enriches the public life of children, parents and families with the provision of play.

social public space as an art-scape

Fig 54. Children playing

Fig 55. Snug play equipments

Fig 56. Parents of children talking

Fig 57. Children engaging with play scape on Gillett Square

CONCLUSION

The integration of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;artâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in all forms and scales (as seen in these projects) acts as an agency for social public spaces in London to flourish. The effect of these projects is based on the impact and influence on public life of dwellers. With these projects finding success in their own unique approach, it suggests multiple ways of how social public spaces as an art-scape can transform public life of the people better.

endnotes

Casanova, H., Hernรกndez, J. & Casanova+Hernandez Architects,

Public space Acupuncture: Strategies and Interventions for Activating City Life, (New York: Actar Publishers, 2014), p.214. 48

GOSH, Lullaby Factory - Studio Weave, 2013, <https://audioboom.

com/posts/1181684-lullaby-factory-studio-weave> [Accessed 19 Dec 2018] 49

GOSH NHS, GOSH Arts, 2018, <https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/

wards-and-departments/departments/gosh-arts> [Accessed 19 Dec 2018] 50

GOSH NHS, GOSH Arts, 2018, <https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/

wards-and-departments/departments/gosh-arts> [Accessed 19 Dec 2018]

Ravenscroft, T., Studioweave Lullaby Art Factory Strikes Right Note,

(London: Architects Journal, 2013) <https://www.architectsjournal. co.uk/news/first-look/studio-weaves-lullaby-factory-strikes-rightnote/8643509.article?search=https%3a%2f%2fwww.architectsjournal. co.uk%2fsearcharticles%3fkeywords%3dlullaby+FACTORY> [Accessed 19 Dec 2018] 52

Alissa North, Operative landscape: building communities through

public space, (Basel: Birkhauser, 2013), p.12 53

Hackney, Come and play in Gillett Square!, 2009, <http://news.

hackney.gov.uk/come-and-play-in-gillett-square/> [Accessed 20 Dec 2019] 54

Hackney, Come and play in Gillett Square!, 2009, <http://news.

hackney.gov.uk/come-and-play-in-gillett-square/> [Accessed 20 Dec 2019]

6. cri tical reflection

Lessons from case studies

criti cal reflection

In the last few chapters, case studies of social public spaces in different parts of London were discussed through their context, objectives, process and outcome in line with each theme. In a way, this suggests progress towards placemaking and a new network of global cities with regards to the characterisation of social public spaces to drive those ambitions further. These characteristics or themes (chapter 3 to 5) that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;focuses on representation, then, makes us question the way in which urban realities are being represented, as well as the way in which interested individuals, groups, institutions and constituencies are being represented in the planning process.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;55 SOCIETAL INVESTMENT FOR CONNECTIVENESS

In relation to the principles identified in chapter 1 of the quality and characteristics of the collective public realm, these social public spaces can also be seen as a societal

investment for the community and city at large. As these projects are mostly funded by the local authority, one can assume the presence of these spaces can only exist if there is a budget for social agenda to co-exist with the community. It is not to say that the community do not have the power to produce these spaces within the area but it requires a collective effort amongst themselves for it to happen. Take Camden Highline from chapter 2 as an example, it was a shared initiative from the Camden community group to realise the project up until the proposal stage. The potential of the project had to garner support from the public to influence and convince that a green urban landscape in replacement of the existing disused railway is vital for everyone to use.

criti cal reflection

In fact, it is a ‘brand’ on its own with High Line New York and other cities buying into this idea of a green infrastructure to be hyper local and hyper global all at once. With the case of London, ‘a city as a mechanical entity was to be shaped by the needs of roving capital suitor.’56 Hence from sheer speculation, the only reason why social public space of a large scale can happen in London entails economic and political agendas. With the Mayor of London applauding Camden High Line to be a successful collaborative community project, the probability of its outcome, as understood with High Line New York, is less on fostering social development and more on adopting the culture of connectiveness within the city. PLAYFULNESS IN EXPERIENCES

Over the past few decades, ‘the UK government’s current policy is to integrate land-use planning into a wider spatial system of spatial planning, involving greater collaboration

and coordination between public and private stakeholders in order to achieve more sustainable development.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;57 In a sense, local public space projects can be perceived as part of this sustainable development model and of a smaller scale as seen with case studies such as Barking Town Square and Gillett Square. They were part of a larger local development plan in enhancing the existing town centres with the approach from a critical yet creative perception of the public realm. Proposed activities in these social public spaces â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;help facilitate collaborative environmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;58 among architects, artists and service providers for the community. The result of these spaces activate a sense of playfulness in contrast to the other parts of it surroundings, initiating vibrant public life within the neighbourhood.

criti cal reflection

TEMPORARY INTERVENTION AS A TOOL

Chapter themes not only gave insight to the perception of social public spaces as a physical entity with objective of enriching public life in a community, but also bring about notions of urban neoliberal concepts that are essentially designed to foster social relationships within a structured framework of a city. Case studies such as Folly for a Flyover, Narrow Way, Smith and Lullaby factory are projects that showcase how â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;lived experience and the built fabric can work togetherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.59

This allows interventions from the public realm as shorttermed strategies in maintaining socio-economic fabric within the community in their own unique way. With most of them being timebound and requires a joint effort from various stakeholders, these interventions allow space for uncertainty, enquiring the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;importance of temporal considerations.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;60 In this way, not only among architects, and artists but with community.

criti cal reflection

In all, these subtopics open up possibilities of identifying other areas of study despite uncovering three themes from learning about social public spaces through case studies. However, in a time of ambiguity and constant change for ‘utopian possibilities of civic life’61 in a city like London today – ‘what is private and what is public, what is workspace and what is domestic space, what is social life and what is business networking, have become completely blurred.‘62 Where then, does social public space sit? How does a social public space define itself? As a stage? As an event place? As an art-scape? Do they interweave with one another now? A hybrid of some sort? ‘Assuming a hybrid stance that might keep those characteristics of the centre that are still worthwhile or appropriate, but doing so in a manner that reframes them in new guises or with revised motivations.’63

100

On that note, these social public space projects are all working with the public realm in a ‘respectful’ manner, altering or adding design elements onsite to enhance civic life in many different ways and them being a stage, an event place or an art-scape are just a few methods in doing so. Ultimately, ‘the idea is to make all of a place usable for everyone’64 despite how playful, small or temporary these projects may be. It allows us to make a mark and address a certain issue within the community and to even cushion the impact of urban austerity and hostility in this concrete jungle we call our own. The existence of social public space is a combined effort of many to ‘support wayfinding and highlight major events‘65 but the ‘present-day city calls for a profound reorientation in the manner in which we study it.’66

endnotes

Eamonn Caniffee, Urban Ethic: Design in the Contemporary City,

(London: Routledge, 2006), p.24. 56

Helen Liggett & David C. Perry, Spatial practices: critical explora-

tions in social/spatial theory, (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1995), p.86 57

Tony Manzi, Karen Lucas, Tony-Lloyd-Jones and Judith Allen, Social

Sustainability in Urban Areas: Communities, Connectivity and the Urban Fabric, (London; Washington, DC: Earthscan, 2010), p.110 58

Northern Architecture, LIZA FIOR & KATHERINE CLARKE MUF ARCHI-

TECTURE AND ART | URBANISTAS EXHIBITION, (Youtube, 2015) <https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqg2R11lp8A> 59

Design Indaba, Katherine Clarke at What Design Can Do, (Youtube,

2012), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FWoC1V8jDE> [Accessed 2 Jan 2019] 60

Nishat Awan, Tatjana Schneider & Jeremy Till, Spatial Agency: Other

Ways of Doing Architecture, (Oxon: Routledge, 2011), p.216.

102

Gediminas Urbonas, Ann Lui and Lucas Freeman, 2017, Public

space?: lost and found, Cambridge, MA: MIT School of Architecture + Planning SA+P: The MIT Press, p.10. 62

Gediminas Urbonas, Ann Lui and Lucas Freeman, 2017, Public

space?: lost and found, Cambridge, MA: MIT School of Architecture + Planning SA+P: The MIT Press, p.253. 63

Nishat Awan, Tatjana Schneider & Jeremy Till, Spatial Agency: Other

Ways of Doing Architecture, (Oxon: Routledge, 2011), p.26. 64

William H. Whyte and Project for Public Spaces Inc, 2001, The Social

Life of Small Urban Spaces, New York: Project for Public Spaces, p.33. 65

Gediminas Urbonas, Ann Lui and Lucas Freeman, 2017, Public

space?: lost and found, Cambridge, MA: MIT School of Architecture + Planning SA+P: The MIT Press, p.253. 66

Gediminas Urbonas, Ann Lui and Lucas Freeman, 2017, Public

space?: lost and found, Cambridge, MA: MIT School of Architecture + Planning SA+P: The MIT Press, p.57.

103

7. conclusion

future outlook and approach

conclusion

The study of social public spaces, particularly in London, suggests further understanding of the paradox between the social realm and contemporary publicness in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s context. Though case studies in chapter 3 to 5 provide a viable strategy in the collective approach of seeking quality for the public realm, it is also a persistent reminder to develop this methodology to keep up with its time. Would the concept of placemaking settle in upcoming generic cities, and of future cities? Some consider this kind of design as a political dimension of user empowerment and democratization, others see it as an abrogation of design responsibility.66 Coming from an architectural perspective, accountability of the production of spaces is shared among those who use them.

106

Fig 58. Design project in Canal Street, Manchester: existing site wide functions (top left) and potential of social public spaces (top right)

Issues of public realms in a city like London are clearly reflected in the case studies and learning from their design response is key. It helps to eradicate our misconception of these spaces and improve on what has been done. In a sense, ‘the role of architects and academics cannot be neutral: if played out uncritically it reverts to the interests of those in power.’67 Public realm in cities are often seen as dull and incapable of maximising and unlocking its potential of purpose. Thus, we have to acknowledge that from which this present situation has developed, contains possibilities of a new agenda. Social public spaces therefore, have to be thought of as a feasible method of dealing with the production of space instead of a representational entity in regards to civic life as the ‘process can have its own spatial

conclusion

Fig 59. Design project in Canal Street, Manchester: proposed social public space (top left) and schedule of accommodation (top right)

attribtues.’68 For a long time, ‘renderings are simultaneously describing existing realities and ‘fixing’ them, but they are also speculating, instigating, premeditating and pre-empting those realities.’69 This goes back to the questions of social public spaces for future cities. In order to propose future approach for social public spaces to thrive in cities in the coming years, we have to provide more opportunities and open possibilities to intertwine with public life seamlessly. Afterall, architecture produce versions of existing realities and in that way, alter projections of the social. If we do not prioritise the production of these spaces, public realm of future cities would remain contested and ambiguous.

108

To conclude, social public space is ‘empowerment, in a perspective in which self-determination places the accent on recovery of the autonomous or collective capacity to express desires, in opposition to a system that imposes and proliferates control and sanctioning.’70 It is in this study that understanding the very basic of a ‘matrix of reading‘71 within its context and everything in between reposition my critical thinking and approach in the production of these types of spaces. It is with hope that this conclusion and the wider discussion presented in this study highlights the value of the term, social public space and understanding it not merely as one dimension of cities but as lenses through which the contemporary city can be understood.

endnotes

Kossak, F., Petrescu, D., Schneider, T., Tyszczuk, R. and Walker, S.,

Agency: Working with Uncertain Architectures, (London: Routledge, 2009), p.3. 68

Katherine Shonfield, Ashley Dannatt & Rosa Ainley, This is what we

do: a muf manual (London: Ellipsis, 2001), p.101. 69

Gediminas Urbonas, Ann Lui and Lucas Freeman, 2017, Public

space?: lost and found, Cambridge, MA: MIT School of Architecture + Planning SA+P: The MIT Press, p.57. 70

Anon, Trans(ient) City, (Barcelona: Bom Publishers, 2007), p.15.

Design Indaba, Katherine Clarke at What Design Can Do, (You-

tube, 2012), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FWoC1V8jDE> [Accessed 2 Jan 2019]

110

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David Halle & Elizabeth Tiso, New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new edge contemporary art, the High Line and urban megaprojects on the far West Side, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2014), p.161 Debord, G., Society of the spectacle, (Detroit: Black & Red, 1983), p.4. Eamonn Caniffee, Urban Ethic: Design in the Contemporary City, (London: Routledge, 2006), p.24. Gediminas Urbonas, et al., Public space?: lost and found, (Cambridge, MA: MIT School of Architecture + Planning SA+P: The MIT Press, 2017), p.10, 19, 57, 227, 253. GOSH, Lullaby Factory - Studio Weave, 2013, <https://audioboom.com/ posts/1181684-lullaby-factory-studio-weave> [Accessed 19 Dec 2018] GOSH NHS, GOSH Arts, 2018, <https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/wards-and-departments/ departments/gosh-arts> [Accessed 19 Dec 2018] GOSH NHS, GOSH Arts, 2018, <https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/wards-and-departments/ departments/gosh-arts> [Accessed 19 Dec 2018] Hackney, Come and play in Gillett Square!, 2009, <http://news.hackney.gov.uk/ come-and-play-in-gillett-square/> [Accessed 20 Dec 2019] Hackney, The Narrow Way (Mare Street), 2018, <https://consultation.hackney.gov. uk/streetscene/the-narrow-way/> [Accessed 15 Dec 2018]

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L is t o f Il l u s t ra t ion s Fig 1, 6 <http://morethanonefragile.co.uk/barking-town-square/> Fig 2, 7, 8 <http://muf.co.uk> Fig 3 <http://el-en.com/upload/LaboXX/REFERENTIES_Nieuw/6.%20Centrum%20 (public)/C_Wolk/2008,%20Barking%20town%20square,%20London,%20Liza%20Fior/> Fig 4, 5 <https://www.publicspace.org/works/-/project/e061-barking-town-square> Fig 9, 10 <https://openhouselondon.open-city.org.uk/listings/7228> Fig 11-16 <http://www.studioweave.com/projects/camden-highline/> Fig 17 <https://www.glitterandmud.com/eat-drink/high-line-nyc/> Fig 18 <https://www.cntraveler.com/activities/new-york/the-high-line> Fig 19 < https://www.thehighline.org/faq/> Fig 20, 22, 24 <https://www.archisearch.gr/architecture/folly-flyover-assemble/> Fig 21, 23 <https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/folly-for-a-flyover> Fig 25 <http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Entertainment/Folly-for-a-Flyover/fa04e/> Fig 26-28 <https://www.dezeen.com/2011/07/05/folly-for-a-flyover-by-assemble/> Fig 29-33 < http://studioweave.polimekanos.com/projects/detail/narrow-way/>

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Fig 34 < https://www.architectural-review.com/today/lullaby-factory-by-studio-weave-london/8655610.article> Fig 35-41 < http://www.studioweave.com/projects/lullaby-factory/> Fig 42 < https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/studio-weave-reveals-pavilionplans-for-clerkenwell-design-week/8660674.article> Fig 43-45, 48, 49 <http://www.studioweave.com/projects/smith/> Fig 46, 47 <https://www.dezeen.com/2014/05/20/studio-weave-smith-old-londontrades-clerkenwell-design-week-pavilion/> Fig 50, 51, 57 <http://muf.co.uk/portfolio/gillette-square-2009/> Fig 52-53 < https://issuu.com/mufarchitectureartllp/docs/making_space_big https:// issuu.com/mufarchitectureartllp/docs/making_space_big> Fig 54 <https://twitter.com/MUFarchitecture/media> Fig 55 <http://www.gillettsquare.org.uk/event/pop-up-playgro nd-4-2017-1216/2018-02-10/> Fig 56 <http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/2013/10/30/gillett-square/> Fig 58, 59 haziqah howe, design portfolio, 2019

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