Public Domain: collaborative and inclusive public space design

Pedestrians can sometimes feel lost amid the gigantic public spaces of a neighborhood or a city. In order to make public spaces more suitable for human scale, creative, inclusive signage designed for residents and at child height is needed to make cities and neighborhoods more practical (orientation, information, and promotion of local resources)peaceful, lively (reinvesting in public spaces and encouraging new uses), and a more active(promoting pedestrian routes and therefore walking). The signage involves installing informational/directional furniture and creating a visual identity that promotes ownership and a sense of belonging to the neighborhood. Through its urban innovation activities, Rosa Lab is working on new uses for public space and their implications in terms of development, citizen participation, and community engagement in the Rosa Parks/Macdonald neighborhood (particularly through its “Public Domain” program).

This involves leading a working group bringing together stakeholders from the neighborhood. It focuses on the revitalization and development of public spaces, with an initial focus on the Rosa Parks esplanade: a public place to be reinvested through events, the activation of uses, and the testing of furniture. In this context, a manifesto was produced to communicate the ambitions for the plaza. Rosa Lab has also been entrusted (as part of City Policy funding) with leading the neighborhood signage project that has been under consideration in recent years and promoted by the Local Development Team of the 19th arrondissement – North Sector. In coordination with stakeholders and in consultation with neighborhood residents, a participatory design methodology for the signage project has been proposed.

This project is being tested in a specific territory but can also be replicated in neighborhoods, cities and public spaces facing the same kind of urban and social challenges as Rosa Parks.