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Streets as platforms of public life

Cauvain, Jenni ; Bruzzese, Antonella and Karvonen, Andrew LU (2026) In Urban Planning 11.
Abstract
Streets are emerging as vibrant platforms of public life. While mobility continues to be the dominant function of these spaces, streets are being reconfigured by various stakeholders to promote multifunctional benefits, including socialisation and inclusion, play and rest, political action, economic opportunities, biodiversity, and cultural expression. This thematic issue includes a wide range of contributions to address how streets are being (re)configured as public spaces. The contributions build upon existing scholarship that addresses the role and governance of public space in cities, including notions of the “right to the city” and everyday life. These perspectives inform the rising concerns about privatisation and securitization of... (More)
Streets are emerging as vibrant platforms of public life. While mobility continues to be the dominant function of these spaces, streets are being reconfigured by various stakeholders to promote multifunctional benefits, including socialisation and inclusion, play and rest, political action, economic opportunities, biodiversity, and cultural expression. This thematic issue includes a wide range of contributions to address how streets are being (re)configured as public spaces. The contributions build upon existing scholarship that addresses the role and governance of public space in cities, including notions of the “right to the city” and everyday life. These perspectives inform the rising concerns about privatisation and securitization of public space in cities globally, and about the diminishing emancipatory potential of streets for urban residents. At the same time, there are increasing calls to design more people‐centred cities and enhance the safety and wellbeing of urban residents by transforming vehicle‐centric streets into multifunctional spaces—actions often driven by local governments. The contributions to this thematic issue demonstrate how these strategies are playing out in a wide range of contexts, highlighting the emancipatory potential of street transformations for residents, practitioners, and scholars. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Public space, Sociocultural change, Streets, Urban transformation
in
Urban Planning
volume
11
article number
12105
pages
7 pages
publisher
Cogitatio
external identifiers
  • scopus:105033051526
ISSN
2183-7635
DOI
10.17645/up.12105
project
Urban Arena
Streetlab 2045: Future Streets for Active Mobility
Streets as catalysts of urban transformation
Better Embedded Labs for More Synergistic Sustainable Urban Transformation Project no. 101003758 Planning
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
66dc25f4-04e5-42f6-a6ee-49d14cd6df09
date added to LUP
2026-03-11 13:25:53
date last changed
2026-04-09 09:59:13
@misc{66dc25f4-04e5-42f6-a6ee-49d14cd6df09,
  abstract     = {{Streets are emerging as vibrant platforms of public life. While mobility continues to be the dominant function of these spaces, streets are being reconfigured by various stakeholders to promote multifunctional benefits, including socialisation and inclusion, play and rest, political action, economic opportunities, biodiversity, and cultural expression. This thematic issue includes a wide range of contributions to address how streets are being (re)configured as public spaces. The contributions build upon existing scholarship that addresses the role and governance of public space in cities, including notions of the “right to the city” and everyday life. These perspectives inform the rising concerns about privatisation and securitization of public space in cities globally, and about the diminishing emancipatory potential of streets for urban residents. At the same time, there are increasing calls to design more people‐centred cities and enhance the safety and wellbeing of urban residents by transforming vehicle‐centric streets into multifunctional spaces—actions often driven by local governments. The contributions to this thematic issue demonstrate how these strategies are playing out in a wide range of contexts, highlighting the emancipatory potential of street transformations for residents, practitioners, and scholars.}},
  author       = {{Cauvain, Jenni and Bruzzese, Antonella and Karvonen, Andrew}},
  issn         = {{2183-7635}},
  keywords     = {{Public space; Sociocultural change; Streets; Urban transformation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Cogitatio}},
  series       = {{Urban Planning}},
  title        = {{Streets as platforms of public life}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/up.12105}},
  doi          = {{10.17645/up.12105}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}