Co-creation of Public Open Places. Practice-Reflection-Learning

Edited by: Carlos Smaniotto Costa, Monica Maciuliené, Marluci Menezes and Barbara GoliniK Marusic

Edições Universitárias Lusófonas

2020

Public open space is a subject that belongs to us all. Every time we leave our homes, our private territory, we enter a space we have to share with others. Public space is the place for social interactions, strengthening sociability and ultimately exercising

democracy. As a subject of study, public space has also long been analysed, explored and researched in various ways and under different guises, by planners, landscape architects and designers, anthropologists, social and cultural geographers, and urban

historians. They all bring evidence on the role of public space in urban life, in the quality of urban environment and in the construction of cultural identity. Consequently, public space should deserve serious consideration by all - starting with those

in charge and who hold regulatory responsibilities for those who use the places and ultimately give them life.As the UN-Habitat (2015) rightly recognises, a public space represents a key resource for social cohesion, economic development, and in particular liveability in urban settings. Public space is a resource that critically affects community values and

positively impacts the quality of urban life. Backed by these premises, this book is about the co-creation of public open spaces, an issue at the core of the C3Places Project.