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In 2022 City Space Architecture signed a cooperation agreement with BIDs Belgium and Global Utmaning to partner with the BIDs Belgium initiative of "Empowering Women, Public Space and Climate Change", in collaboration with UN-Habitat's Her City initiative and supported by the New European Bauhaus, with a series of sessions curated by our Founder and President Luisa Bravo and BIDs Belgium's Founder and Director Rozina Spinnoy.

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"In order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, the participation and leadership of women in public life is essential. We know also that women are underrepresented in decision making at all levels in both public entities and the private sphere, via evidence of the data and statistics. There is much work to do in terms of Gender parity. There is much data to show that approximately worldwide there are less than 10% of female Mayors and 10% worldwide that are city councilors. There are further breakdowns showing the statistics of Women in executive government positions via UN Women.

Over recent times, projects and initiatives are underway at a local to global level to tackle the gender inequities in the urban environment, from UN Women and linking to Climate Change ‘Her City Tools’ to the initiatives of UN Habitat. Creating further awareness, research and projects on female led initiatives and gathering experts from a variety of sectors with a focus on empowering diverse women around the world. Engaging in inspiring debates and discussions, taking an inclusive approach to highlight women working in the field. Leveraging the importance of gender equality for more sustainable cities as an efficient tool for the fight against climate change."

In addition, we have over recent years, across the world, become aware of the increasing urbanization and the link to climate change. Although it has received more awareness than before, the link between women and climate change requires more dialogue and attention. Good governance and well-designed urban policies can help tackling the gender (social and racial inequalities) and climate change issues that are prevalent across urban (and rural) areas."
- Empowering, Women, Public Space & Climate Change

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"Empowering Women, Public Space and Climate Change" includes a series of talks and participation at major global events such as the Innovate4Cities Conference co-organized by the Global Covenant for Mayors for Climate Change and UN Habitat with sponsors of the IPCC - The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2021).

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We stand in solidarity with Ukrainian people, that are suffering and dying after the unexpected escalation of violence since 24 February 2022 in the Ukrainian territory.
We support Ukrainian communities, as well as other people impacted, with a donation to Ukrainian Humanitarian Fund (on GoFundMe.org), with the aim to give immediate access to shelter, food, medical services, education, and psychosocial support. We are witnessing what could become the largest humanitarian crisis on our European continent.
Our thoughts go also to the thousands of Russian people and institutions who are bravely protesting against military occupation of the Ukrainian territory.
We hope and pray for a quick restoration of peace.

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In 2021 City Space Architecture signed a cooperation agreement with the Eastern Mediterranean University, Urban Research and Development Center (EMU-URDC) based in Cyprus. This cooperation aimed at establishing joint academic initiatives on architecture and urbanism, with a specific focus on public space, engaging students, young and established researchers, and literary scholars, at the global level, with a cross-disciplinary perspective.

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As part of the cooperation, the two institutions are starting a series of webinars in 2022 to celebrate public spaces under the scope of significant international occasions:

- International Women’s Day on 8 March 2022
- Earth Day on 22 April 2022
- International Museums Day on 18 May 2022
- World Habitat Day on 3 October 2022
- World Cities Day on 31 October 2022
- World Children’s Day on 30 November 2022

These events are intended to raise awareness on the value and importance of public space and to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda 2030. The initiative is curated by our Founder and President Dr Luisa Bravo and by EMU-URDC Director Prof Sebnem Hoskara.
Read about the full initiative on the Facebook event.

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The two institutions will also organize other activities in 2023, including the launch of a Public Space Award for Master and PhD thesis, discussing public space both at the theoretical and at the implementation leve, with regard of research, design, policies and processes.

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Watch the 2022 webinar series "Celebrating Public Space"
on our Youtube playlist.

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Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash

In 2020 City Space Architecture entered in a partnership with the Robert Bosch Foundation based in Stuttgart (Germany) aimed at supporting the development of our The Journal of Public Space. The Robert Bosch Stiftung is one of the major foundations in Europe that is associated with a private company: following the legacy of Robert Bosch, one of the greatest German entrepreneurs of the 20th century, for almost 60 years the Foundation has continued his commitment to social and societal causes in a contemporary form.
This partnership lies on a common interest on public space: in May 2020 the Robert Bosch Foundation published the results of the project Participatory design of people-centered cities, developed in collaboration with Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT), aimed at defining how to transform our habitats in a just, sustainable and livable way. Read more here.

The support of the Robert Bosch Foundation is an outstanding recognition of the mission City Space Architecture is pursuing through The Journal of Public Space, namely producing public knowledge on public space. This is particularly important while we live the unprecedented and difficult times of the Covid-19 pandemic: public space has been deeply challenged and the majority of the world has lived in isolation, experiencing feelings of distress and loneliness.

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We are glad to announce that our IV conference from the successful series 'Past Present and Future of Public Space' will take place at the Italian pavilion, 17th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice Biennale, on September 17, in a blended format.
The conference is on the theme ’Shaping Resilient Communities. Global perspectives towards implementation of the New Urban Agenda' and is part of the project ‘Mapping Resilient Communities’ that City Space Architcture is developing for the Italian pavilion at the 17. International Architecture Exhibition, Venice Biennale (news in English here), curated by our President Luisa Bravo.
The conference will engage eminent scholars in lectures and round table discussions on the research an practice of resilience, in its environmental, urban, social and economic meanings, and will include the participation of UN-Habitat, in order to frame the concept of resilience in the ongoing efforts regarding the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, adopted at the Habitat III conference in Quito (2016). The conference is also the opportunity to continue the discussion on the importance of public space culture in cities as a key asset for sustainable, inclusive and resilient development, in order to leave no one behind.

Download the full programme of the conference here.

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The conference will engage speakers online on Zoom, attendees can follow the live event on the Facebook page of the Italian pavilion: https://www.facebook.com/ItalianPavilion2021.

Updates on the event will be available on the Facebook event of the conference.

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We would like to thank all the speakers who accepted our invitation:

- Martin Brennan, University of Melbourne, Australia

- Manfredo Manfredini, University of Auckland

- Husam AlWaer, Dundee University, United Kingdom

- Maggie McCormick & Fiona Hillary, RMIT University, Australia

- Davisi Boontharm (Meiji University) & Darko Radovic (Keio University) , co+re. platform, Japan

- Hendrik Tieben, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

- Setha Low, CUNY The Graduate Center, Public Space Research Group, USA

- Massimo Santanicchia, Iceland University of the Arts, Iceland

- Martjin de Wall & Boudewijn Boon, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands

- Simone d’Antonio, National URBACT Point for Italy - ANCI (Italian Association of Cities and Municipalities)

- Jose Chong, UN-Habitat, Kenya