Policy Lab Belgium
Solidarity and Diversity: New recipes for Urban Social Policy
Workshop 3: Public spaces as meeting point for encounters and
participation
Introduction
The lifes of citizens take place in the two types of locations that cities are made of:
buildings and open spaces. Both buildings and open spaces can be private, semi-private or
public. The most obvious example of a private location beeing the houses people live in
and their gardens. Semi-private spaces are places where people come together and meet
eachother for different kinds of reasons, for instance office-buildings, restaurants or
amusement parks. On the other end of the spectrum you have public buildings like the
townhall and, the actual subject of this paper, public spaces. These public spaces have
many forms and functions:

streets, sidewalks and bicyclepaths to get from one location to the other,

green spaces as place to excercise, relax and enjoy nature

squares to enjoy a drink with friends or visit a concert and so on.
And, all of the above can function as a place to meet (new) people and as a place
participate in society. Whether this interaction is between next-door neighbours or the chat
at the busstation, contributing to the neighborhood by co-designing or just being the ‘eyes
on the streets’ and thereby contributing to neighborhood safety. Many scholars have
recognized the possibilities and importance of this social function public spaces can have.
One of the first scholars to recognize this was the American sociologist Jane Jacobs in her
famous book ‘the Death and life of Great American Cities’ (1961), in which she recognizes
the importance of for instance side-walks. Her research on how people behave in public
spaces was followed by other sociologist like William H. White and Talja Blokland.
Later on the recognition of public space as a meeting place by sociologists made urban
planners and architects like Jan Gehl study the way the design of places can stimulate
interaction, safety and in general well-beiing of citizens. His latest book, Cities for People
(2010), gives a great overview from the designing point of view.
In Europe most of the common public spaces are owned by the local government. This
means that municipallities own a powerfull instrument to contribute to various policies,
including enhancing solidarity and diversity. Within this paper examples are given on how
local governments in various European countries make use of public spaces for this
purpose. It focuses on:
1) ways to stimulate encounters between people and
2) ways to enhance and stimulate social participation.
The intention of giving these examples is mainly to provide inspiration and give a different
perspective on public space as a social meeting place. As with all kinds of policy
instruments, that is all we can intent for. For the simple reason that there is not one
perfect recipe for public spaces that will magically enhance solidarity and acceptance of
diversity. A well-designed childrens playground will not enhance solidarity in a industrial
area. Whether the outcome of a project will enhance solidarity, depends on the context,
like time, place and most important the willingness of people acting in it.
Please visit www.eukn.eu for more background information
Policy Lab Belgium
Solidarity and Diversity: New recipes for Urban Social Policy
Examples
Faelledparken Copenhagen
Fælledparken is the largest park in Copenhagen and very popular. There are play grounds
for the children, outdoor chess tables for chess players, sportsgrounds, a dance pavillon,
green lawns for all other kinds of activities and Fælleparken is where the 1 of May workers'
demonstrations take place.
Hamburg Hafen-city
HafenCity is already on the map for many recurring events as a venue or performance
location. These include Summer in HafenCity, with open-air tango, evening readings in a
maritime atmosphere, a children’s building site in the open air and lots more. Various
squares and promenades now function as open-air stages or dance floors. Also
attracting many visitors to HafenCity are Hamburg Architecture Summer and the Long
Night of the Museums and the Harbour Front literary festival.
The social value of public spaces (comparative analysis)
Public spaces play a vital role in the social and economic life of communities. New kinds of
public spaces and meeting places are now being created in towns and cities, which can be
an important social resource. A summary of the Jospeph Rowntree foundation, based on
research projects undertaken in England and Wales, explores how people use both
traditional and new public spaces, and how these places function. Some of them are
successful others are not. The summary “The social value of public spaces” provides clear
evidence of the importance of public space in successful regeneration policies, and for
creating sustainable communities.
Conclusion
As we have seen in the overall paper solidarity starts by creating a base for greater
understanding and acceptance of diverse groups within societies. Governments can
contribute to this, amongst others, by increasing communication and interaction between
diverse urban groups. This starts with citizens meeting each other. The examples show
that well designed public spaces can stimulate encounters, (re)development of public space
is an excellent reason to enhance and organize citizen participation.
Public space also gives lots of space, both literally as figuratively, for bottom-up initiatives.
By paying attention to these kind of initiatives, solidarity amongst different groups can be
enhanced. But, as already mentioned in the overall-paper and in the introduction of this
paper, policy advisors, project managers and other public servants working in public space
should be careful copying policies from each other.
Please note that all reports and background documents, mentioned in this paper can be
found on www.eukn.eu/Policy_Labs/Solidarity and Diversity. Also the other thematic
papers addressing the context and practical examples in relation to the topics of the
workshops and initiatives at EU level can be found here.
Please visit www.eukn.eu for more background information