Feature Story
Glenbrook Lagoon:
storymap of an (extra) ordinary public space
by Dr Miriam Williams
What sustains the life of public spaces now and into the future?
The Power of Public Spaces project is about the interconnections and values of public spaces for people, and other beings such as plants, animals and rivers. It is framed around the question: what sustains the life of public spaces now and into the future?
The life of public spaces includes the ideas, feelings, meanings and practices that shape social and place-based connections. It also concerns how public spaces are cared for and how they care for us.
In Australia, all public spaces are situated on unceded First Nations lands and waters. Interconnections between people, place and 'more-than-human' worlds are central to caring for and with Country. Sustaining public spaces now, and into the future, needs to support and centre First Nations truth-telling, design and values.
Our project explores how public spaces are planned, created, cared for and shared in an Australian context. Over the next three years this website will be regularly updated as we document how communities, professionals, scholars and governments can come together to better design, manage, activate and collaborate in public spaces to nurture more sustainable and resilient futures.
Explore our research themes and resources
Connections
By helping us connect to each other and to the natural world, public spaces play a vital role in the health of individuals, communities and the environment.
Care and Repair
What does caring for/with and repairing public spaces look like in our post-pandemic, climate-challenged world?
Governance
We consider the practices and principles that shape the creation, management and use of our shared spaces.
Resources
A selection of the latest toolkits, guides and research on public space matters.
Public Space matters
Stories, interviews, ideas and initiatives about the power of public space and why it matters.
About the initiative
The Power of Public Spaces project is an Australian Research Council-funded collaboration between researchers at Macquarie University’s School of Social Sciences and industry experts in the Cities Revitalisation and Place team at Transport for NSW.
Drawing on the latest research and the core principles of the NSW Public Spaces Charter and the Great Places Toolkit, this project will bridge theory and practice to engage communities, academics and big thinkers on the changing role of public space in an Australian context.
This website is designed as a resource for anyone thinking about, planning, creating, studying or using public spaces.
