Safety refers to conditions where harm is minimized and users can act without fear. In public space, it involves physical, social, and psychological dimensions. Safety can be protective, but it can also become over-securitized, turning public space into controlled space of limited options and surveillance. Measures against crime or terrorism, for example, can produce atmospheres of fear even as they claim to prevent it. Safety is never neutral; it always balances freedom and control. Safety is a practical demand—lighting, sightlines, accessibility, protective barriers—but also a question of atmosphere and trust. Designing for safety means more than fortification: it means enabling people to inhabit space openly, without constant surveillance or threat.
Streets are possibly the most complex public spaces to design. By definition, they are non-rivalrous and non-exclusive public good, granting accessibility to all. Pedestrians, cyclists, public transport, cars, fire and emergency trucks, deliveries—all stake competing claims on the same limited surface. Streets are designed under the highest constraints, yet must provide for everyone.
The boulevard of Nice, a Christmas market in Berlin or the headquarters of a Dutch newspaper – the past decade has seen a rising number of attacks with a vehicle as a weapon. Following these attacks, city officials started to look differently at their public space. How do we keep our public spaces safe and […]
Almost every park needs a playground area and children’s playgrounds are one of the toughest typologies to design. The equipment available is either ugly or beyond budget, especially in the public realm. Then the programme is repetitive — poles, slides, swings, climbing walls, sandpits. For the designer to cover the developmental needs of all ages […]
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