Play is pleasure entailing exploration and adventure, and requiring a variety of settings, spontaneously chosen places like the stairway at home, or the river, far from the adult gaze.
Places with public value are those which allow people to represent themselves and, at the same time, recognise others.
The misleading sensation, held out by the new technologies, that we know a lot and know a lot of people, can be remedied by leaving one’s comfort zone and opening up to others in public space.
Adam Zagajewski speaks about the importance he believes old city centres have as magnets attracting life, thus giving him a feeling of permanency and calm.
Urban spaces, besides being public, are also political. They start out from the idea that all members of the public have access to it, but who has access to certain “public” spaces and who does not?
When the lonely task of the writer comes to an end, when the book is published and is being distributed, this is, for Georges Didi-Huberman, a moment when public space comes into being.
The architect Marina Tabassum, winner of the Aga Khan Award and recently included in the list of the "100 most influential people in the world in 2024" by Time magazine, reveals her favorite public space.
Kimmelman draws attention to the symbolic nature of public space and emphasises the importance of ordinary spaces which are often unappreciated even though they are a true magnet attracting community life.
Carolin Emcke reflects on shrinking public spaces for people that are perceived as others and warns of proliferation of radical movements that are taking public space.