Universal Singular

Critical introduction to the planning and design of public space. The design of public spaces is a reflection of their time. In our globalised world of images and experiences, however, the striving for uniqueness tends towards the opposite: square designs are becoming more and more similar in their choice of means and are thus becoming independent of their urban surroundings. The author analyses ten outstanding contemporary square designs in Europe with regard to their urban functionality and materialisation. In interviews with the planners, she traces the changes that the projects underwent during the planning phase and documents them with numerous sketches. She also examines the reception of these projects in the community. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version

The impact of immediate breast reconstruction on the time to delivery of adjuvant therapy: the iBRA-2 study

Background: Immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) is routinely offered to improve quality-of-life for women requiring mastectomy, but there are concerns that more complex surgery may delay adjuvant oncological treatments and compromise long-term outcomes. High-quality evidence is lacking. The iBRA-2 study aimed to investigate the impact of IBR on time to adjuvant therapy. Methods: Consecutive women undergoing mastectomy ± IBR for breast cancer July–December, 2016 were included. Patient demographics, operative, oncological and complication data were collected. Time from last definitive cancer surgery to first adjuvant treatment for patients undergoing mastectomy ± IBR were compared and risk factors associated with delays explored. Results: A total of 2540 patients were recruited from 76 centres; 1008 (39.7%) underwent IBR (implant-only [n = 675, 26.6%]; pedicled flaps [n = 105,4.1%] and free-flaps [n = 228, 8.9%]). Complications requiring re-admission or re-operation were significantly more common in patients undergoing IBR than those receiving mastectomy. Adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy was required by 1235 (48.6%) patients. No clinically significant differences were seen in time to adjuvant therapy between patient groups but major complications irrespective of surgery received were significantly associated with treatment delays. Conclusions: IBR does not result in clinically significant delays to adjuvant therapy, but post-operative complications are associated with treatment delays. Strategies to minimise complications, including careful patient selection, are required to improve outcomes for patients

Proscrire ou prescrire? Implication de choix de conception sur les appropriations des espaces publics

Depuis une vingtaine d’années, l’attention portée aux usagers et à leurs pratiques par les concepteurs d’espaces publics s’est amplifiée et se traduit dans les nouveaux aménagements que l’on voit proliférer dans les villes occidentales. Chez certains professionnels, cet intérêt se porte particulièrement sur la mise en place de conditions spatiales capables d’accueillir des pratiques oisives et ludiques. L’essai tente d’examiner de quelle manière les choix de conception en termes de formes, de matérialité et de définition spatiale qui accompagnent un projet d’aménagement ont un effet – intentionnel ou non – sur la diversité d’appropriations récréatives de l’espace public laissée aux futurs usagers

Requalification d'un secteur des rives de la Sava, à Belgrade (Serbie). Un port - Un musée

Dans le contexte actuel de concurrence globale, les villes doivent reconnaître leurs potentiels et améliorer leur attractivité. Cette question se pose pour la ville de Belgrade, dans l'optique de se créer une place en Europe. L'un des atouts de la ville réside en ses fleuves, le Danube et la Sava, éléments identitaires encore peu exploités. L'intervention est l'élément déclencheur de l'inscription d'une promenade le long de la Sava, reliant deux espaces verts majeurs. Elle propose un équipement public, comme pôle d'attraction capable d'intensifier le paysage infrastructurel de la ville, sur un site stratégique. Le choix du programme découle de la réalité politico-économique du lieu. Il propose de tirer parti de capitaux privés pour construire un équipement que les autorités ne peuvent offrir aux citoyens. Cette logique mène à une mixité unique proposant la construction d'un port pour les bateaux effectuant des croisières sur le Danube, qui permet de financer la construction du Musée de la Ville, institution existante mais privée de locaux d'exposition. L'implantation du bâtiment se fait telle une dernière strate étirant la ville jusqu'à l'eau. Cette interface entre ville et eau intègre la contrainte des crues de la Sava en en faisant un thème. L'autre enjeu se trouve dans la rencontre entre l'élément portuaire à proximité de l'eau et du musée qui s'en tient à distance. La déformation verticale des deux programmes permet leur interaction en rappelant l'image d'une pierre érodée

Programmer le jeu dans l’espace public ?

Alors que la « ville ludique » monte en puissance, les travaux de Roger Caillois et de Marc Breviglieri permettent de questionner le caractère paradoxal de la programmation du jeu dans les espaces publics, qui devrait induire une marge de manœuvre et d’improvisation des usagers

Programming play into public space?

With the rise of the “ludic city”, the work of Roger Caillois and Marc Breviglieri allows us to question the paradoxical character of planning and “programming” playfulness into public spaces, which should allow room for manoeuvre and encourage improvisation on the part of users

Universal Singular

Critical introduction to the planning and design of public space. The design of public spaces is a reflection of their time. In our globalised world of images and experiences, however, the striving for uniqueness tends towards the opposite: square designs are becoming more and more similar in their choice of means and are thus becoming independent of their urban surroundings. The author analyses ten outstanding contemporary square designs in Europe with regard to their urban functionality and materialisation. In interviews with the planners, she traces the changes that the projects underwent during the planning phase and documents them with numerous sketches. She also examines the reception of these projects in the community. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version

Espace public comme objet per se? Une analyse critique de la conception contemporaine

The recognition during the second half of the 20th century of the essential role played by public spaces in the definition of qualitative urban life has led to a reconsideration of their design. This has occurred in many different forms, such as the emergence of new profiles of designers, the valorisation of new types of places or the awareness of new uses. But more surprising is the remarkable diversification of formal and material specificities that have emerged since the turn of the 21st century, as well as the manifestation of new design references. These evolutions seem to lead to a singularisation of public spaces in the urban fabric. Within only a few decades, the field of public space design has gone through a profound transformation. However, the impact of these evolutions on cityscapes has not been substantially questioned so far. The lack of critical studies dealing specifically with design processes is particularly striking. The aim of this research is to fill this gap by taking a critical look at contemporary public space design. To engage in the practice of a critique requires going through four essential steps that will structure this work: First, a general portrait of the contemporary production of public spaces needs to be established in order to extract main design trends. Genesis, the first part of this thesis, presents the development since the 1980s of evolving thoughts on public space design. The aim of a critique is to verify a predefined theory. Therefore, in the second part, we hypothesize the idea of a formal, material and semantic singularisation of recent public spaces, according to the theory of a public space designed as an object per se. The development of this research is dedicated to verifying this change of position. The third step consists in conducting a series of critical analyses of a corpus of fourteen study cases, in order to verify our theory. The question of design intentions is looked into by a novel method of critical analysis, comprising a genetic study of projects. Finally, the fourth step entitled comparative reading consists in identifying recurring and representative design positions. This comparative reading confirms the idea of a detachment from the urban material context in recent designs. It also reveals three factors explaining such a singularisation: (I) the consideration of public space designs as salutary projects capable of revitalizing depreciated urban contexts; (II) an extended interpretation of the notion of context; (III) the perception of contemporary public spaces as potential vectors of urban experiences. These three evolutions of thinking have direct consequences on the design of public spaces. They produce a climate of experimental freedom that designers harness with interest, leading to a strong singularisation of public spaces. These evolutions also explain the outbreak of new design idioms with a strong narrative dimension, which no longer refer to tangible and adjacent contextual elements. Finally, they lead to a decrease of site-specificity in the designs that respond to universal principles of perception and frames of reference. A tendency to singularise current public space designs and, in an almost contradictory manner, to universalise them simultaneously, seems to appear. These trends contribute, in our view, to creating public spaces as objects per se, by designing them as autonomous and transposable at once