What is Terra Publica?

Terra Publica is an inter disciplinary project collecting research on public space published since the 1960s. Our belief is that Public Spaces are vital for the well-being for urban communities, and that research from different disciplines can help us understand how to create and manage public spaces better.

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Design matters

Narrow or wide, empty or designed with plants and objects - articulation of public spaces can have a profound impact on cultural, social, and economic outcomes. For example, one study found that plazas that offer a combination of places to sit and relax, food, and public art, are more likely to be visited than plazas without these elements. Read more about that specific study here, and learn more about shape and how it affects us in the Organizing Category ‘Design’

Streets are public spaces too

Streets are of course central for our mobility in a city, but they are also public spaces with opportunities for interaction, serendipitous encounters, commerce, and recreation. When designed and managed well, streets can serve the social, creative, commercial and leisure needs of people from the neighborhood as well as the wider city.

Public spaces can increase our sense of safety

Studies illustrate how certain physical characteristics can influence perceptions of fear and higher risk of crime, vice-versa. The research therefore suggests that appropriate upkeep and design of public space (e.g. pedestrian-oriented pathways, reduced vehicle traffic, orderliness) can contribute to the creation of safer-feeling streets and neighborhoods perceived as more inviting to walk through and spend time in.

You can find more information about this in articles linked to the key concepts ‘Perceptions of safety’ and ‘Disorder’.

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Changing the Residential Street Scene: Adapting the shared street (Woonerf) Concept to the Suburban Environment

Eran Ben-Joseph

Perceiving urban liveability in an emerging migrant city

Salama, A.M. & Wiedmann, F.

Mapping feeling: An approach to the study of emotional response to the built environment and landscape

Weinreb, A. R., & Rofè, Y.

The imagination paradox: Participation or performance of visioning the city

Balug, K.

Beyond Curitiba: The rise of a participatory model for urban intervention in Brazil

Lara, F.

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“Without public space, you don't have a city at all.”

“Good public space is essential to public life, and the health of human society.”

“Public space is central – it creates networks of interaction, jobs, and institutions.”