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People not planners make public space

Car boot sales, supermarket cafes and municipal allotments are among Britain’s most-loved public spaces according to a report published today by Demos, the leading democratic think tank. People Make Places: Growing the public life of cities finds that across Britain’s cities, a wealth of characters – from ‘Mall Walkers’ and ‘Home Birds’ to ‘Displayers’ and ‘Public Spirits’  – are helping to shape public spaces in the most unlikely places.

The research was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and is the first of a series of projects from its major new research programme on the use of public space. The work feeds into the Government’s ‘cleaner, safer, greener’ agenda and debates about social cohesion and will inform policy makers, urban renewal practitioners and developers about ways in which public space can play a bigger part in the public life of towns and cities.

“Public space is what you make it”, say the report’s authors Melissa Mean and Charlie Tims of Demos. “People create shared spaces and experiences in some of the most unexpected places. Car boot sales, allotments, arts centres and supermarket cafes are some of the places where people feel most at home. They are also the kinds of places in which people from different walks of life are most likely to meet one another.”

The report argues that urban designers and city planners should start from the perspective of the people who actual use public space.

“The current focus of both urban designers and city planners on creating grand plazas and iconic architecture ignores the role of the people who are meant to use them,” say the report’s authors. “A new town square can be carefully, expensively designed, but there’s no guarantee that people will come and use it. Architects and planners need to start with people; they must understand public space from the perspective of those who live and work in towns and cities.”

The research highlights a number of typical places found in British cities regarded by people as most welcoming. These included:

• The car boot sale – Where people feel comfortable passing the time of day with strangers, but are also likely to bump into people they know. There is also a sense of novelty and surprise in the possibility of ‘discovering’ a bargain.
• Supermarket cafes – People are drawn by the welcoming atmosphere, and find escape from boredom and are able to relax and linger as they take a break from the hubbub of shopping.
• Allotments – Bringing together people of different generations and ethnic backgrounds, allotment regulars report a strong sense of companionship, coupled with the pleasure of learning, often done through trading gardening tips and produce.
• The arts centre – Users appreciate the high degree of diversity, and the tolerance of people who are often not tolerated elsewhere. At the same time, cutting edge film and art helps confer a sense of status and esteem.

The report argues that the best public spaces are vibrant and welcoming because they are well used, and that this vibrancy is created by people and communities themselves. It is the use of public space, rather than its ownership, physical design or aesthetic appearance that makes a place public, and any space has the potential to play this role.

The report identifies a wealth of characters shaping British public spaces and creating new shared places. These include:

• Home Birds – Living cocooned lives, they hardly ever come into contact with public venues, preferring the comfort of their living room. Home Birds on our TV screens include Jim from The Royle Family and Sushila from The Kumars at Number 42.
• Mall Walkers – Older women, young mums and unemployed people who frequent shopping centres, department stores and bus stops to fight boredom. Think Dot Cotton from East Enders.
• Displayers – From night-time revellers to street entertainers, everything about them is designed to be expressive –  their dress, their body language and even their ring tones. Stuart and Vince from Queer As Folk and the kids from Shameless are TV Displayers.
• Hobbyhorses – From young executives doing a bit of acting on the side to committed skateboarders or gardeners, they live for their hobby. Hobbyhorses can be found from community and arts centres to parks and youth clubs. Fictional Hobbyhorses include Tom and Barbara in The Good Life and Seth Cohen from The O.C.
• Public Spirits – Often found reading books on benches and collecting conkers in the park. Always ready to strike up conversation with a stranger, Public Spirits range from students and homeless people to the more affluent with time on their hands. Examples include Harold Bishop from Neighbours and Lou from Little Britain.

Demos propose a number of measures to help reinvigorate the public life of towns and cities. These include:

• Street swaps – Exchanges between different neighbourhoods within a city would introduce people to previously unknown public spaces and build a greater sense of civic pride.
• City carnivals – Local agencies such as the police and park authorities should work more closely to make street festivals easier to run.
• Urban safaris – Cities should promote safaris within their borders to help build people’s confidence, knowledge and mobility. These could be targeted at groups with lower confidence and mobility, such as Mall Walkers and Home Birds.

The report is based on field research in Cardiff, Preston and Swindon, including interviews with nearly 700 members of the public, in depth studies of over 30 public spaces, and nine focus groups, three in each city.

People Make Places will be launched on 12th September, at an event featuring a photo display by Paul Box, a series of public art installations by Greyworld, and a panel discussion chaired by Zina Saro-Wiwa which will include the book’s authors, the architect Elsie Owusu, regeneration expert and developer Chris Brown (Igloo) and public artist Andrew Shoben.

The People Make Places project is accompanied by a specially-commissioned series of photographs of people and public space in the three case study cities of Cardiff, Preston and Swindon which are available for use. Please contact Demos for more details.

Notes to editors

1. People Make Places will be launched on 12 September 2005 September, 6:30pm. The launch event will take place at Demos, Third Floor, Magdalen House, 136 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2TU. Please register for the event by contacting Demos on 020 7367 6340 or cities@demos.co.uk
2. People Make Places: Growing the public life of cities is published by Demos on 12 September 2005. Copies can be downloaded from www.demos.co.uk/publications/peoplemakeplacesbook or ordered from Central Books on 020 8986 5488.
3. Melissa Mean is a Senior Researcher at Demos and head of its research programme on the future of cities, Self Build Cities: Putting people first in urban renewal. Charlie Tims is a Researcher at Demos. Their previous collaborations include After The Goldrush: A Sustainable Olympics for London and In Concert: Growing NewcastleGateshead As A Music City.
4. Demos is an independent think tank with a major programme of research on the future of cities.
5. The research was supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.   The JRF is an independent charity spending £9 million a year on research and policy development work that seeks to understand the underlying causes of social problems and explore ways of overcoming these problems. People Make Places from Demos is the first report of a series of projects in the Foundation's Public Spaces Programme. The Programme ties in with the Government’s 'liveability' agenda and aims to improve knowledge about the public spaces that people value most and the ways in which they use them. It examines how public spaces are used and shared in different geographic and social contexts and what the implications may be for neighbourhoods and for those involved in their planning, design and management. For more information about the JRF Programme contact Katharine Knox, Research Manager, on 01904 615912 or David Utting, Associate Director (Public Affairs) on 020-7278 9665.
6. The People Make Places project is accompanied by a specially-commissioned series of photographs of people and public space in the three case study cities of Cardiff, Preston and Swindon which are available for use. Please contact Demos at the number below for more information.