Ethel Baraona Pohl | What's going on? The New Dynamics of Public Space

Ethel Baraona Pohl, dpr-barcelona, Barcelona, Spain "It's the economy, stupid!" Money [or the lack of] and public space. We're facing new ways of thinking, trading, and acting. On this new context, the first step when moving forward should be to realize that in the end, the crisis is just a way of governing and it's up to us to legitimate it or not. This metamorphosis of recent years in the architectural practice has resulted in new ways of production, open source platforms, DIY (Do it yourself) and DIWO (Do it with others) and new technologies to implement small-scale designs that can be catalyst for larger-scale impact, accompanied by innovative economic models that has emerged in the past years, such as local production, crowdfunding, micropayments and social money. Possibilities are endless if we realize that there are now more tools than ever before, bringing more people together from all four corners of the world. However, these forms of influence in the public space also open the door to large uncertainties. Interestingly, the question that emerges is about how to transform this dizzying abundance of bottom-up projects to provoke real structural changes in the system we live in. Ethel Baraona Pohl is a critic, blogger and curator [but she prefers Professional Amateur]. She is a co-founder of dpr-barcelona and editor of Quaderns. She was Associate Curator for the "Adhocracy" exhibition, first commissioned for the Istanbul Design Biennial in 2012, also exhibited at The New Museum, NYC, and at Lime Wharf LONDON in 2013. Currently she and César Reyes Nájera are curating the third Think Space programme with the theme 'Money'. www.dpr-barcelona.com ****** Architectural conference : What's going on? The New Dynamics of Public Space, 8. in 9. 5. 2014 Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana, Slovenia www.mao.si What's going on? The New Dynamics of Public Space Public space is freedom. It is a place of differences expressed by everyday life, rhythms, rituals, nature and history. It allows us to meet one another, connect and work together in ways organized or entirely spontaneous. As a space of democratic political participation and one in which new economies emerge, public space enables society to transform itself. In this light, it is an essential component of quality of life that goes beyond measurable indexes evaluating cities or localities in a competitive context. The most interesting happenings in public space occur in the background of the newly designed furniture and smooth pavements, where people interact and find new uses for space in ways previously unimagined. Therefore, beyond its physical appearance, the social situations and goings-on of public space are today highly relevant with regard to its reorganization and transformation. Architects, designers and urban planners increasingly expand their role into strategic fields, dealing simultaneously with the structure of public space and with its dynamics. Their aim is to improve the self-organization of citizens and facilitate social interaction within the communities and their relationship to the environment. Thus, public space is becoming a common platform for thinking and production that overcomes the tensions between policy and planning. The New Dynamics of Public Space conference will discuss the impact of contemporary public space practices on urban economy, politics and quality of life. It is part of the Europe City project. Europe City project's partners: CCCB | The Architecture Foundation | Museum of Finish Architecture | MAO | with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union http://www.mao.si/Event/What-s-going-on.aspx