Tearing Down Statues Doesn’t Erase History, It Makes Us See It More Clearly

Anti-racist movements, arisen worldwide after the killing of George Floyd, have put the past into question by targeting monuments, situated in symbolic place of public space, that represent the legacy of slavery and colonialism. Italian historian Enzo Traverso contextualizes the phenomenon and says that the protestors’ targets are both the symbols of the shameful past and current neoliberal policies. Iconoclasm, like all collective action, deserves attention and constructive criticism.

What Is a Park Worth?

The concept of the environmental services that nature brings us has been evolving throughout history. Evaluating this is increasingly necessary so we can understand the worth of its conservation, maintenance, and adaptation, says an article in The Conversation . But can what has hitherto been considered to be an intangible good, be quantified and standardised in terms of market prices? How much is it worth to contemplate scenery, or the sea?

Public house: the city folds into the space of the home

Confinement has made us rediscover home as the central place in our lives. The essay in Architectural Review analyses—on the basis of the gender revolution, the irruption of the digital sphere into everyday life and, at present, the living conditions imposed on us by the pandemic—the historical transformation of the house in itself, and in relation with its role in the city. While the traditional dualities of inside/outside, domestic/urban, and work/leisure have disappeared, the house has become progressively public, and the city increasingly domesticated.

Public Spaces: Places of Protest, Expression and Social Engagement

L’espai públic és un indret de reunió i intercanvi des de l’època de l’àgora grega. També és un espai de llibertat de moviment i expressió. Sovint acull protestes i es transforma en lloc de resistència, on sorgeixen revolucions i aixecaments socials. Aquest article d’ArchDaily revisa espais públics de protestes, eines polítiques per provocar un canvi, des de la marxa a Washington el 1963, la Primavera Àrab a principis de la dècada dels 2000 fins a la recent Black Lives Matter, tots ells moviments que han alterat el món.

“We need to revive the possibility of infiltrating greenness into our cities”

• Carme Ribas

Interview with Carme Ribas

The dense cities are in the spotlight due to the impact of the pandemics COVID-19. In this interview, Carme Ribas, a Barcelona architect and president of the 2014 award of the European Prize for Urban Public Space discusses the future prospects of cities. A great defender of public space, Ribas analyses, in the conversation with Manuel Lillo, director of the weekly newspaper El Temps , key issues like urban density, mobility, the renaturalisation of cities, and the relationship between public space and private space. Will the coronavirus reinforce the value of public space? Will our neighbourhoods change?

How protest art has conquered the heart of America

Durant les manifestacions, els carrers de Washington es van convertir en un projecte d'art a l'aire lliure que va transformar els taulers de fusta contraxapada en els aparadors, un símbol de por i protecció, en un mitjà d'expressió poderosa. La revista Domus ha parlat amb els artistes Decoy, Tarek Kouddous de Radical Empathy, Richshaad Ryan i Chris Lynch.