Public Space: Always under construction

Is the public character of urban space under severe pressure, as much scientific literature suggests? By a meticulous study of three squares in the Dutch cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht, Linda Zuijderwijk shows that the demise of the public nature of urban space lacks empirical underpinning. Based on an analysis of everyday practices of producing, regulating and using public space, Zuijderwijk argues that the changing composition of the urban population, public authorities largely subcontracting the management and production of urban space to external parties and the development of urban citizenship, are main factors shaping the ‘publicness’ of urban space. The book closes with some final reflections and questions for urban policy makers about how to deal with urban space and the preservation of its public character

The Critical Turning Points Database : Concept, Methodology and Dataset of an International Transformative Social Innovation Comparison (TRANSIT Working Paper # 10, July 12th 2017)

[Abstract] This working paper presents the TRANSIT open-access online database on Critical Turning Points (CTP) in Transformative Social Innovation. It specifies the contents of the database, comprising qualitative accounts of more than 450 ‘critical’ episodes in the evolution of social innovation initiatives in 27 different countries. Providing the theoretical-methodological context to these data, the paper also describes the theoretical background of the CTP concept and the methodology though which the CTP accounts have been reconstructed through interviews with members of SI initiatives. The paper concludes with reflections on the open access CTP database as a knowledge infrastructure, discussing its significance in terms of mapping, dissemination and framing of social innovation.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 61316