Homo Urbanus

A vibrant ode to the public space that was denied to us by the pandemic: this is the effect of the exhibition “Homo Urbanus” with which Arc en rêve d’Architecture in Bordeaux, France has decided to reopen its installations after the confinement. The exhibition presents audiovisual material from ten cities around the world, and as widely differing as Rabat, Tokyo, Bogotá, St Petersburg, and Venice. Capturing moments, gathering impressions, listening to noises, the exhibition is an invitation to observe individual and collective behaviour, relational dynamics and social tensions, and the complex relationship between humans and the built-up environment, all of which are played out on the vast stage that we call public space.

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?

"Domi manere convenit felicibus": Notes on the Health Crisis and Public Space

• Xavier Monteys

Public space tends to be valued as a democratic place par excellence. Now, confinement has made us idealise it as a space of freedom as well, in contrast with the home to which we have been restricted for so long. Xavier Monteys suggests that we need to rethink this overvaluation and speaks out in favour of stigmatised domestic space. Our home, inviolable and guardian of our privacy, he affirms, is our true space of freedom. Those who are happy at home should stay there , as the old saying advised.

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

El confinamiento nos ha hecho redescubrir el hogar como un lugar central en nuestras vidas. El ensayo de la Architectural Review analiza la transformación histórica de la casa, en sí misma y en relación con su papel en la ciudad, a partir de la revolución de género, la irrupción de la esfera digital y las condiciones de vida que nos ha impuesto la pandemia. Mientras las dualidades tradicionales interior / exterior, doméstico / urbano, trabajo / ocio, han desaparecido, la casa se ha vuelto progresivamente pública y la ciudad cada vez más domesticada.

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.