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A core USER idea is that the design of urban public spaces and the main goals of urban planning are challenged by rapid changes in how cities are used. New trends in how public spaces are used, what the new users’ needs are, increasing malfunctions and conflicts among uses, etc., are challenging the way the city is usually “produced”, designed and managed.

Changes and conflicts in using public spaces

A core USER idea is that the design of urban public spaces and the main goals of urban planning are challenged by rapid changes in how cities are used. New trends in how public spaces are used, what the new users’ needs are, increasing malfunctions and conflicts among uses, etc., are challenging the way the city is usually “produced”, designed and managed. This approach entails a process of users involvement as a crucial dimension of public spaces planning and management. Indeed “users experience” is one of the main inputs to understand how the spaces are used and what kind of conflicts are taking place. The USER project will work on the three main aspects that, according to us, constitute a "good public space":

a) Friendlier and more interactive social-public spaces by solving malfunctions and conflicting uses,

b) Safer public spaces in a friendlier city

c) Cleaner, better-maintained and upgraded public spaces for a more efficient city.

See complete overview

Timeline

2013
Project launch
2015
Project completed

Integrated Action Plans

Within an Action Planning Network, the Integrated Action Plan is a local output, specific to each city. Thus, the local circumstances, as the concrete actions to be carried out in response to the network's sustainable development challenges, are defined by the URBACT Local Group. This core group is composed by a wide range of relevant stakeholders, who have a stake in the addressed challenge and who play an active role in co-designing the plan alongside the project partner. This document is the result of the interplay between the theme, each city's starting point and its individual URBACT journey. It highlights the positive learning experience cities have undertaken, both from a local and a transnational perspective.
  • Grenoble
  • Lisbon
  • Málaga
  • Pescara
  • Krakow
  • Lublin
  • Riga
  • Copenhagen
  • Dresden