Theme

STREETS AS SOFT SPA+CES

We often view the street as a functional thoroughfare: a hard infrastructure focused on speed, traffic flow and efficiency, as a ‘movement machine’. But what if we approach the street as a fully-fledged architectural space, as a public room between buildings, in close dialogue with the façades that border it? In various essays, we explore the issue of the redistribution of public space, examining what constitutes the right to the street, what gender-sensitive planning would mean, and what the relationship is between street design and immediate living. We look at international examples from Paris, Barcelona and New York, and showcase Belgian pilot projects that test a different typology of the street; from hard streets and unyielding pavements to green, softened meeting spaces with soft mobility.

Co-editor: Gideon Boie

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