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We are very proud to announce that City Space Architecture has been awarded with a grant from the Creative Europe program of the European Commission for the project A-PLACE. Linking places through networked artistic practices.

The purpose of A-Place is to design and implement art-centred place making activities that cut across disciplinary, cultural and geographic boundaries. Over the next four years (2019-2023), a series of actions (i.e. performances, installations, debates, and video and photography productions) will be carried out in six European cities: Barcelona, Bologna, Brussels, Lisbon, Ljubljana, and Nicosia. This site-specific research will examine the role of artistic practices as a catalyst for connecting and strengthening communities.

A-Place partnership includes nine organisations from six European countries, three schools of architecture – School of Architecture La Salle, Barcelona (Spain); Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia); KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture (Belgium); one Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal), three multidisciplinary groups focusing on arts and community engaged urban interventions – Alive Architecture (Belgium), prostoRož (Slovenia), and Urban Gorillas (Cyprus); and two cultural agencies specialised in film and video art – Screen Projects (Spain), and City Space Architecture (Italy).

A-PLACE is dedicated to strengthening the bonds between people and places. 

The website of A-PLACE is: http://www.a-place.eu/

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As we previosuly announced, City Space Architecture was selected to be as an exhibitor in the 10th World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi, on 8-13 February 2020. The World Urban Forum (WUF) was established in 2001 by the United Nations to address one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanization and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies. The Forum is a high level, open and inclusive platform. This was the first time that an Arab country hosted the world’s most important conference on cities and human settlements. The theme of WUF10 in Abu Dhabi was 'Cities of Opportunities: Connecting Culture and Innovation'. 
City Space Architecture partnered with 16 global institutions to promote the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, with a specific interest on target 11.7 - By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities. 
The title of the exhibition was: PUBLIC SPACE IS VITAL FOR AN EQUITABLE URBAN FUTURE, and highlighted the following keywords: care, belonging, inclusion, diversity, innovation, culture, safety, prosperity, health, well-being, universal accessibility, entrepreneurship. 
City Space Architecture partnered with The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Healthbridge Foundation of Canada, Block by Block, Project for Public Spaces, University of Auckland, Columbia University, Federal University Rio de Janeiro, Auckland City Council, KTH Centre for the the Future of Places, IHC Global, Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization, Sustasis Foundation, Global Utmaning, Public Space Research Group (PSRG), Ukrainian City and Regional Planning Research Center, General Assembly of Partners (GAP) Older Persons. For more pictures and information check the event on our Facebook page.

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City Space Architecture has been selected to be an exhibitor at the 10th World Urban Forum that will take place on 8-13 February 2020 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, convened by UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. The World Urban Forum (WUF) was established in 2001 by the United Nations to address one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanization and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies. The Forum is a high level, open and inclusive platform. This is the first time that an Arab country hosts the world’s most important conference on cities and human settlements. The theme of WUF10 in Abu Dhabi is 'Cities of Opportunities: Connecting Culture and Innovation'.

City Space Architecture is partnering with 16 global institutions to promote the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, with a specific interest on target 11.7 - By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities. 

Our participation at the 10th World Urban Forum is the result of the global campaign we started in August 2019 to support public space, inviting global stakeholders to join forces and work together.

Our partner organizations at WUF10 are: The Chinese University of Hong Kong  /  Healthbridge Foundation of Canada  /  Block by Block  /  Project for Public Spaces  /  University of Auckland  /  Columbia University  /  Federal University of Rio de Janeiro  /  Auckland City Council  /  KTH Centre for the the Future of Places  /  IHC Global  /   Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization  /  Sustasis Foundation  /  Global Utmaning  /  Public Space Research Group (PSRG)  /  Ukrainian City and Regional Planning Research Center  /  General Assembly of Partners (GAP) Older Persons.

The title of our exhibition is: PUBLIC SPACE IS VITAL FOR AN EQUITABLE FUTURE.  We are highlighting the following keywords, in regard to public space: care, belonging, inclusion, diversity, innovation, culture, safety, prosperity, health, well-being, universal accessibility, entrepreneurship. 

With our exhibition we want to have an impact on local governments and policy makers, we want to push them to include public space as a priority in their urban agenda.

The official opening of our exhibition space is on Saturday February 8 at 12pm.

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Follow daily updates of activities at our exhibition space on our Facebook event.

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In addition, our President Luisa Bravo will coordinate a side event at the Urban Library, promoted in collaboration with UN-Habitat, RMIT University and KTH Center for the Future of Places, to present our successful The Journal of Public Space. In less than five years, and with more than ten already published issues, The Journal of Public Space has attracted global interest, engaging more than 200 authors from more than 30 countries, selected after a highly qualified double blind peer review process. The side event is intended to discuss the complexity of public space by presenting several published special issues and to give an overview on future directions, in terms of planned strategies to improve quality, inclusivity and impact, together with partnerships with Universities and Institutions for special issues. Follow the side event on Facebook.

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On 8-13 February 2020 the 10th World Urban Forum (WUF10) will take place in Abu Dhabi. WUF10 will be convened by UN-Habitat and jointly organized with the Abu Dhabi Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities.

Abu Dhabi will be the first Arab city to host the WUF, and the forum's theme will be "Cities of Opportunities: Connecting Culture and Innovation".

Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, said the WUF10 will take the sustainable urbanization debate to a new level in what promises to be an event that will have an impact for years to come.
Mohamed Al Khadar, Executive Director of strategic affairs at Abu Dhabi Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities, said the UAE is aligning the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the development strategy to support WUF10. 
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UN-Habitat is currently revising the Concept Note of WUF10, a draft is available here.

Since City Space Architecture is a partner of UN-Habitat, we received a request for a feedback. While reviewing the Concept Note and other documents, we realized that public space is poorly mentioned, and not clearly addressed, as it was in WUF9 in Kuala Lumpur.

We think that the Concept Note should clearly include public space as one of the topics of WUF10.

Our President Luisa Bravo submitted a feedback to UN-Habitat last week, explaining the reasons why public space should be included in the Forum.

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Join our global campaign, send us your statement on why public space matters.

Read more here.

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Public space in Nairobi.

We are very proud to be part of the first UN-Habitat Assembly, to be held on 27-31 May 2019, at the headquarters of UN-Habitat in Nairobi. Our President Luisa Bravo has been accredited to attend through an invitation letter signed by Ms Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat. The invitation included also the participation to the first Global Stakeholders Forum and the Business Leaders Dialogue on May 25-26.

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The General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution A/RES/73/239, on 20 December 2018, decided to dissolve the Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme and to replace it with a United Nations Habitat Assembly of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat Assembly). UN-Habitat Assembly is a universal body composed of the 193 member states of the United Nations and convenes every four years (A/RES/73/239).

The responsibilities of the UN-Habitat Assembly are:

i) Identify key issues and areas of focus for the normative and policy work of UN-Habitat;

ii) Review major trends related to human settlements and urbanisation;

iii) Examine global norms and standards in human settlements and sustainable urbanisation;

iv) Adopt resolutions, declarations, recommendations, formal decisions, reports and other documents pertaining to strategic vision and political guidance in accordance with its mandate;

v) Recommend strategies for coherent implementation of urban and human settlements dimensions of the 2030 Agenda, the New Urban Agenda and other global agendas, including of the work of the United Nations System;

vi) Examine and approve UN-Habitat’s strategic plan, to be prepared by the Executive Board;

vii) Review the Secretary-General’s quadrennial report on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

In addition, the Assembly should also ensure the active engagement of local authorities and other stakeholders in the Assembly, in its subsidiary bodies and in intersessional meetings.

The special theme for the Assembly is “Innovation for Better Quality of Life in Cities and Communities”, with sub theme “Accelerated implementation of the New Urban Agenda towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals”. During the first session, the Assembly is expected to establish the Executive Board of UN-Habitat and to elect its members, to review and approve the UN-Habitat Strategic Plan 2020-2025, aimed at repositioning UN-Habitat as a major global entity, a centre of excellence and innovation, and also review the progress in implementation of the New Urban Agenda adopted at the Habitat III conference in Quito (2016).
Member States of the United Nations are expected to participate in the deliberations, the Assembly will also be attended by United Nations Agencies, Local authorities and non-state actors including civil society, youth and women group representatives, the private sector and the Academia.
The Assembly will be the opportunity to officially announce that City Space Architecture has signed the Letter of Agreement with UN-Habitat for the cooperation in developing The Journal of Public Space, during a side event that will take place on Wednesday May 29 at the City Stage, 1.15-2.00pm, which is included in the official program of the Assembly.

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