Occupation within Urban Conditions

Public space is defined by being accessible to anyone at anytime, it is the space of community and social interaction, the space in which public life unfolds. Public space does not pre-exist, it only emerges once it becomes activated through inhabitation and occupation. It is within this context that I investigate the potential design can have for opening up new sites for the social and political formation of public space. The question arises as to what role design can play in the creation of public life? What are the strategies that the designer can develop to contribute to the spatial conditions that would allow people to experience, use, activate and occupy public space? The role of the designer might be described as a facilitator or catalyst, while the role of the public that forms in relation to a site can be to perceive, react, occupy, activate, extend and adapt the design intervention. Through the engagement of individuals and collectives with the design interventions in public space, a process will evolve that allows for new relationships to occur, between people and people, between people and places, and people and things