Public Space Observatory Research Centre
We bring together local, national, and international researchers, practitioners and policymakers engaged with the provision, design, use and management of public space.
Aims
Our primary aims are to build new partnerships and collaborations, share resources, promote knowledge exchange, empower local communities, advance cutting-edge knowledge regarding the provision, design, use and management of public space, and inform related theories, practices and policies.
Public space plays a key role in the New Urban Agenda. There is a growing global recognition that public space is a significant aspect of the quality of urban life and is a key component of sustainable urban development.
However, with globalisation, new technological advances, and increasing social diversity, public space is taking new forms, meanings and roles, which are creating new needs and demands, and changing the ways public life is experienced and negotiated.
This changing and complex context brings new challenges for public space researchers, designers, and policymakers, calling for more research and practice to explore the new potentials of public space and to develop more socio-cultural sensitive and research-based practices and policies in relation to the provision, design, use and management of public space.
Selected publications
- Kamalipour, H. , Aelbrecht, P. and Peimani, N. eds. 2023. The Routledge handbook of urban design research methods. New York: Routledge. (10.4324/9781003168621)
- Kamalipour, H. 2023. Shaping public space in informal settlements: a case study.. Sustainability 15 (4) 3781. (10.3390/su15043781)
- Peimani, N. and Kamalipour, H. 2022. Mapping the spatiality of informal street vending. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability (10.1080/17549175.2022.2150267)
- Peimani, N. and Kamalipour, H. 2022. Informal street vending: a systematic review. Land 11 (6) 829. (10.3390/land11060829)
- Peimani, N. and Kamalipour, H. 2022. Assembling transit urban design in the global South: urban morphology in relation to forms of urbanity and informality in the public space surrounding transit stations. Urban Science 6 (1) 18. (10.3390/urbansci6010018)
- Kamalipour, H. and Peimani, N. 2021. Informal urbanism in the state of uncertainty: forms of informality and urban health emergencies. Urban Design International 26 (2), pp.122-134. (10.1057/s41289-020-00145-3)
- Sartorio, F. S. et al. 2021. Towards an antifragile urban form: a research agenda for advancing resilience in the built environment. URBAN DESIGN International 26 , pp.135-158. (10.1057/s41289-021-00157-7)
- Peimani, N. and Kamalipour, H. 2020. Access and forms of urbanity in public space: Transit urban design beyond the global north. Sustainability 12 (8) 3495. (10.3390/su12083495)
- Kamalipour, H. and Peimani, N. 2019. Negotiating space and visibility: Forms of informality in public space. Sustainability 11 (17) 4807. (10.3390/su11174807)
- Simoes Aelbrecht, P. 2019. Introducing body-language methods into urban design to research the social and interactional potential of public space.. Journal of Urban Design 24 (3), pp.443-468. (10.1080/13574809.2018.1537712)
- Kamalipour, H. and Peimani, N. 2019. Towards an informal turn in the built environment education: Informality and urban design pedagogy. Sustainability 11 (15) 4163. (10.3390/su11154163)
- Lopes Simoes Aelbrecht, P. and Stevens, Q. eds. 2018. Public space design and social cohesion: an international comparison. Routledge Series on Planning and Urban design Routledge.
- Kamalipour, H. 2017. Mapping urban interfaces: a typology of public/private interfaces in informal settlements. Spaces and Flows: An International Journal of Urban and ExtraUrban Studies 8 (2), pp.1-12. (10.18848/2154-8676/CGP/v08i02/1-12)
- Peimani, N. and Kamalipour, H. 2016. Where gender comes to the fore: Mapping gender mix in urban public spaces. Spaces and Flows: An International Journal of Urban and ExtraUrban Studies 8 (1), pp.19-30. (10.18848/2154-8676/CGP/v08i01/19-30)
- Lopes Simoes Aelbrecht, P. and Stevens, Q. 2015. The art of knowledge exchange in urban design. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Urban Design and Planning 168 (6), pp.304-317. (10.1680/udap.13.00036)
- Lopes Simoes Aelbrecht, P. 2010. Rethinking urban design for a changing public life. Journal of Place Management and Development 3 (2), pp.113-129. (10.1108/17538331011062667)
- Lopes Simoes Aelbrecht, P. 2009. How can urban design bring strangers together?. Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal 3 , pp.191-206.
| Project name | Funder | Investigator(s) |
|---|---|---|
Public Life in Changing Urban Spaces | On-campus Internships Scheme (2023) | |
Invisible/Visible Urbanities: Framing Public Space in a Global Context | GEOPL Community Fund (2022-23) | |
Urban Life and Public Space Design | On-campus Internships Scheme (2022) | |
European Public Space Design Programs with Social Cohesion and Intercultural Dialogue in Mind | CUROP 2017 and 2018 | |
ESRC Impact Acceleration Account 2021 | ||
Academic staff
Dr Patricia Lopes Simoes Aelbrecht
Senior Lecturer in Urban Design, Planning and Intercultural Studies
- aelbrechtp@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 5735
Dr Nastaran Peimani
Senior Lecturer in Urban Design
Co-Director of MA Urban Design
- peimanin@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 5980
Invisible/Visible Urbanities (An urban photography exhibition)
Location: The foyer and central corridor of the Glamorgan Building, Cardiff University
Date: March 2023 – April 2023
The exhibition presents a visual exploration of how places and public spaces are being made, unmade, and remade in a global context. It includes a curated collection of black and white photographs taken by Dr Hesam Kamalipour as part of his storytelling urban photography project, exploring forms of urbanity across cities in the global North and South.
The exhibition is supported by the GEOPL Community Fund 2022-23.
Framing Public Space in a Global Context (A discussion and engagement event)
Location: Committee Rooms 1 and 2 of the Glamorgan Building, Cardiff University
Date: 25 April 2023
The Invisible/Visible Urbanities exhibition will conclude with a panel discussion and engagement event scheduled to take place 4pm-5:30pm on Tuesday 25 April 2023 in Committee Rooms 1 and 2 of the Glamorgan Building.
Tickets for this event are free but must be booked in advance. The event is supported by the GEOPL Community Fund 2022-23.
Past events
My/your Cardiff Public Space Campaign (Public Uni Event organised by Cardiff University and Swansea University)
Location: Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
Date: 28 February 2020
Patricia Aelbrecht, Hesam Kamalipour and Nastaran Peimani gave a talk about My/Your Cardiff Public Space Campaign. My/Your Cardiff Public Space Campaign aims to raise public awareness about the value of well-designed, managed and used public spaces.
It promises to have long-lasting impact in Cardiff's public space design, development and management practices and policies. It is also set to change the physical landscape and culture of Cardiff’s public space and many other British cities in the coming years.
International guest lecture by Dr Debdulal Saha titled ‘Legislating street vending: challenges and alternative development’
Location: School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University
Date: 20 February 2020
Street vendors are considered as one of the most marginalised, poor and vulnerable groups of workers in the urban informal economy. Their activity is broadly characterised by easy entry, strong social network, the dominance of informal credit market and extensive rent-seeking.
With the passing of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, the activity would be regulated, protected and brought under the folds of legality. With the legality, the puzzle is whether the activity will become a part of the formal economy or will vendors continue sustaining in the extra-legal frame?
Drawing from a longitudinal study in Mumbai, the talk examined the structural changes that the street market has undergone, mainly from demand-driven to supply-led.
International guest lecture by Dr Debdulal Saha titled ‘Public space, politics and survival strategies: Street vendors in urban India’.
Location: Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University
Date: 20 February 2020
The central problem and struggle of vendor’s precarious livelihood are around utilisation of public space. Drawing from primary data collected in Mumbai, it discusses how despite the absence of proper legal and institutional frameworks, vendors subsist by arranging adhoc alternatives, creating informal institutions and negotiating with formal and informal actors in the urban economy.
A vendor exercises two kinds of bargaining with the space – economic and social. Individualism with rationality is practiced while economic bargaining to negotiate over rates of interest on credit and the rates of bribery. Social bargaining is exercised through collectivism to build social relations with actors such as customers, fellow vendors, and moneylenders.
You can get in touch with us via email at pso@cardiff.ac.uk.