Shared Space Institue

Research

In the past few years the Shared Space – concept turned out to deliver valuable insights in how to improve the quality of public space. Shared Space views public space as representing the heart of society. The way in which public space is designed reflects our view of humanity: what does our society look like, who belongs to it, how do we interact, and what is important to us?

However, the quality of public space is not a goal in itself. We think it’s important to create ‘people spaces’, places where people can meet, engage and communicate. Space only has quality if it contributes to the quality of life. So, public space is about people and their living environment. And it is also about the quality and justice of society.

Cross fertilisation
Research and knowledge creation on these aspects are at the heart of our activities. Our approach is integral and cross-sector. This means that:
  • research should always be carried out in partnerships with stakeholders in society, to make sure that it is based on the demands of society
  • various disciplines should participate and that research should always be related to every day practice in the working fields
  • our aim is not to gather theoretical information. Research never should be an aim on itself. If we say ‘research’, we always start from concrete projects
  • these projects deliver research questions to be answered. The answers on their turn deliver knowledge to be applied in the projects.

knowledge circulation

The context of our research
The Shared Space Institute research is directed towards a paradigm change. As Albert Einstein already said: “You cannot solve the problems by the same kind of thinking that caused the problems”.

At the moment, our societies are experiencing a transition process: towards new co-operation alliances, towards new governance, towards new citizenship. the Shared Space – concept delivers knowledge to manage and to guide this transition. The way we design and use public space, provides insights into our view on society. can we move freely? Do we interact? Are we responsible members of society? Do we care for each other? Are we able to take own initiative? Or are we just directed by signs and regulations?

This goes for practical situations in public space, but also for problem solving in general. Can we empower ourselves, whether as citizens or as professionals, to find new co-operative approaches of planning, realising and maintaining? In this sense, Shared Space is not only a concept for working in public space, but also for many other policy fields.

Research process
Thus the Shared Space approach has the potential to extend from traffic and spatial quality towards a completely new knowledge domain, How this works in practice, will be one of the questions to be answered in the near future.

In order to analyse and further develop this crucial innovation, important changes are required in our understanding of policy, spatial quality, self-regulation, risk, safety and responsibility. And we must start up a dynamic process from interactions between people – professionals as well as laymen – to exchange existing perspectives as a basis of knowledge creation.

Our research process will concentrate two angles:

  • the public realm in the physical sense, that enables the development of communities of free and
    responsible citizens who interact with each other and with their physical environment,
  • the public realm in the mental sense, to develop new strategies for the ongoing interaction between professionals of all sector domains, politicians and citizens.

Research subjects

Our focus will be to work out an approach to sustainable economic innovation of regions, in policy, business and decision making. On the basis of a shared perspective on the value of spatial and democratic quality we will deliver insights in the domains of
  • Space – on housing, infrastructure and leisure: how to develop spatial and architecture planning and design procedures which enrich and strengthen the quality of the surroundings, make attractive cities, villages, landscape and surroundings for inhabitants as well as visitors
  • Economy – on new services and entrepreneurship: how to develop opportunities for new local / regional economic activities to achieve sustainable economic growth that brings benefits and quality of life for all in the community; encourage new enterprise by supporting sustainable clusters of businesses
  • Society – on responsible citizenship and new civility: how to enable ourselves to join forces in an ongoing process of mutual learning, to take responsibility for one's personal and professional conduct and to initiate joint activities
  • Politics and policy – on regional and local administration and management: how to establish management structures which allow delegation of responsibilities (contents and finance) to where they belong: participation management and forming of new alliances between organisations, agencies, networks and individuals