Announcing the 2018 Advocacy Theme

Public Spaces - Inside and Out

 

Public spaces are an important part of our collective experience and memory and have been pivotal points of design in our  environment. These are common spaces in cities, towns, communities, structures, and places that are set aside for public use and for everyone to experience and enjoy.  They have taken on a variety of forms and uses: parks, civic structures, roads and sidewalks, and can even include  a lobby or indoor atrium. Many of these amenities and enclosed spaces were created in return for development bonuses. In their design Modernism pushed the boundaries of  use and experience, creating public space using new design methodologies and materials, sometimes in the process – intentionally an unintentionally – blurring the line where public space ends and private space begins. As these public spaces are increasingly threatened,  compromised, neglected or taken over for private use, Docomomo US and its Chapters will explore this as our advocacy theme for 2018, seeking to understand and appreciate the intricacies of their design, their relationship to the projects, which created them and their context within the overall urban setting, site and building design. Many of these amenities have been neglected and have been appropriated  as development has created demand for spaces and sites putting increased and often undue pressure on significant public spaces.