• The unveiling of the book “FURNISH: New Methodologies to Intervene in Public Space” took place on 22 May at the headquarters of the Urban Ecology Department of the Barcelona City Council.
• The event brought together a diverse audience, including public administration authorities, industry leaders, and academic stakeholders, to explore fresh perspectives on collaborative public space design and highlight innovative proposals revolutionising urban landscapes.
• The FURNISH project was co-funded by EIT Urban Mobility

Drawing from over three years of immersive work within city communities, the book captures experiences and ideas that have emerged as part of the FURNISH project. This ground-breaking publication aims to redefine how public spaces are conceptualized, encouraging vibrant, sustainable, and inclusive urban environments that are developed with the collaboration of citizens.

This project was born after the lockdown triggered by the COVID-19 crisis, which increased awareness of the value of urban public spaces. The responsibility of avoiding crowded spaces, which represented a serious risk of resurgence of COVID-19 cases, raised the question of how cities can expand their public space and how we can design our cities safely. Consequently, the FURNISH project, co-funded by EIT Urban Mobility, aimed to collaboratively redesign public spaces to answer their current needs.

The FURNISH project aims to design, digitally fabricate, deploy, test and monitor urban elements to adapt temporary public spaces to meet the new challenges and opportunities presented by the COVID-19 crisis. FURNISH aims to merge the challenge of gaining more public space through tactical urbanism, which can reconfigure a street to expand the area for pedestrians and leisure, with local digital manufacturing, to accelerate positive change on mobility to make urban spaces more liveable.

The 2021 edition of the project was inspired by the first edition’s success and hoped to foster strong relationships and emphasize the importance of reconnecting with the streets. Collaborations with schools proved fruitful, revealing communities with a remarkable inclination for co-creation. Working closely with children and teachers, the project not only produced impressive design prototypes but also became a social endeavour, amplifying voices that are often overlooked in the decision-making process and including them in the final 2022 edition of the project.

During the three editions of the programme, one of the notable achievements of the FURNISH project is the development of 12 prototypes of urban elements, each contributing to a unique aspect of public space design. These prototypes, marked by their open-source nature, can be replicated and adapted worldwide, allowing cities and communities around the globe to benefit from the project’s collective knowledge and insights.

Two core principles, co-design and co-manufacturing, have underpinned the project’s methodology. By involving various stakeholders and users in the design process, FURNISH has fostered a sense of ownership and inclusivity, ensuring that public spaces truly meet the needs and aspirations of the communities they serve. The resulting designs reflect a harmonious blend of creativity, functionality, and sustainability, setting new benchmarks for urban landscapes.

Furthermore, the social impact analysis conducted throughout the project has highlighted the transformative potential of inclusive public space design. By prioritizing community engagement and considering the broader social implications, FURNISH has laid the foundation for meaningful change in urban environments. The book presents a comprehensive overview of these analyses, reinforcing the project’s commitment to creating socially responsible urban spaces.

With the book “FURNISH: New Methodologies to Intervene in Public Space,” a new chapter in urban design has begun, embracing co-creation, open-source solutions, and social impact analysis.

More information about the FURNISH programme: https://furnish.tech/

Partners involved in the project: Milan City Council, AMAT – Milan’s Agency for Mobility, Environment and Territory, CARNET, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, IAAC – Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia

(original article published by CARNET) 

With climate change accelerating, climate adaptation is becoming an increasingly important topic for the world’s cities, which continue to grow and contribute immensely to global emissions.

While transport-related public space in cities is too often neither sustainable nor effective, Nordic cities have pioneered world-leading solutions for transforming public space which, apart from helping reduce transport emissions, improve air quality and create more inclusive spaces, have also brought clear benefits in terms of climate adaptation.

The Urban Climate Adaptation in the Nordics (UCAN) project run by EIT Urban Mobility will showcase inspirational examples of public-space and street transformation projects in Nordic cities that have also contributed to climate adaptation.

Get your solutions published!

Would you like your city’s solutions to be featured in an inspirational catalogue published jointly by the Nordic Council of Ministers and EIT Urban Mobility?

Nordic and Baltic cities are now invited to submit examples of public-space and street transformation projects that have also contributed to climate adaptation. The selected submissions will be published for free in an online catalogue that will be disseminated internationally to inspire and support other European cities in their green transition.

How to submit?

Register yourself on the Mobility Innovation Marketplace of EIT Urban Mobility and submit your example of a relevant project concluded in a Nordic or Baltic city in the past five years.​​​​​​​

What do you get out of this?

• Position your city as a mobility front-runner;
• Inspire and support other European cities in their green transition;
• Feature your activities on a European platform;
• Get your successes published in a beautiful catalogue and disseminated on the channels of the Nordic Council of Ministers and EIT Urban Mobility.

Deadline for submissions: 10 March 2023

Terms: The project submitted must have been completed no earlier than 2018.

Please contact Piret Liv Stern Dahl, Project Manager, for any support or clarifications: piret.liv.stern@eiturbanmobility.eu

This project has been funded by the Nordic Working Group for Climate and Air (NKL) under the auspices of the Nordic Council of Ministers. The Nordic Vision is to become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. The co-operation with the Nordic Council of Ministers must support this purpose. This project supports the vision on green transition and Nordic solutions within the areas of climate neutrality and climate adaptation.