Co-designing publics: [re]producing the public realm via informal urbanisms in cities of the global south

ABSTRACT

The viewpoint introduces the concept of “co-designing publics” by examining what lies at the potent intersection of the public realm and informal urbanisms, within the specific contexts of the cities of the global south. I define the public realm as interconnected spatial networks of public spaces intertwined with political structures that weave a city together, while informal urbanisms are the transactional conditions of ambiguity that exist between what is acceptable and what is unacceptable in cities. At their intersection are publics, who never simply exist because they are always created on an ongoing basis. In fact, publics are co-designed [i.e. co-created in inventive and multifarious ways] around common concerns or desire through volitional inquiry and action. I contextualise these discussions by paying particular attention to the cities of the global south, because place matters in shaping urban thinking and practice. There is an increasing interest in thinking and practicing from cities of the global south rather than just about them. The viewpoint then describes how these ideas were further investigated through grounded examples in different cities and articulated through interactive and collaborative events in the Co-Designing Publics international research network, funded through a grant awarded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. I then conclude with some thoughts on the implications of this work for urban theory and practice, which are applicable to cities in the global south as well as in the global north.

KEYWORDS:

• co-designing publics
• public realm
• informal urbanisms
• global south
• urban practice
• urban transformation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For example, see:

• United Nations: https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html.

• European Commission: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-cities/everything-weve-heard-about-global-urbanization-turns-out-to-be-wrong-researchers-idUSKBN1K21UU.

• NYU Marron Institute: https://marroninstitute.nyu.edu/working-papers/our-not-so-urban-world.

• Urban Theory Lab: http://www.urbantheorylab.net/site/assets/files/1016/2011_brenner_schmid.pdf.

2 As I explain in Aseem Inam (2014), the hyphens suggests that conventional design practices [i.e. intentions that are embodied in drawings and models] and conventional building practices [i.e. implementations that are embodied in construction and modification] are in fact continuous processes, and that conventional spatial products [e.g. buildings, open spaces, infrastructures] are outcomes of such processes.

3 For more information about the research network and its activities, please visit our website: https://co-designingpublics.org/ and follow us on Twitter for recent updates: https://twitter.com/CoDesignPublics.

4 Thanks to Charlotte Lemanksi for summarising our discussions at the Co-Designing Publics International Symposium on 16–17 September 2021 so succinctly and provocatively.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.