Our cities are undergoing a rapid transformation of public spaces due to different factors, such as economic and cultural globalization, demographic transformations, marketing strategies, urban planning and design approaches, medialization reinterpretations, social networks, and others. The urban realm itself is the collection of public spaces and places—buildings, squares, streets, landscapes, and ecosystems, as well as processes, mindscapes, and people that make up and shape any environment. In that respect, urban planning and design is really characterized by two distinct processes that transubstantiate space and place: static and dynamic. This qualitative, reflective article discusses these issues, taking a standpoint from the notion of public space as a common good. This notion is discussed in relation to the factors that transform our cities and is analyzed in relation to the concept of public good. We reflect this discussion vis-à-vis the views of the leading paradigms in urban planning and design, and their intake on and outlook on these complex issues.

The historical association between the planning of Kampala city and colonialism is unquestioned. The empirical observation indicates that the spatial structure of Kampala is partly a unique product of European colonial planning—their inherent ideas and principles. Scholars and analysts have largely ignored this important aspect in the assessment of planning of Kampala. This article attempts to fill the knowledge gap on the historical planning ideas and how the ideas were implemented in Kampala’s urban space. Through a descriptive and exploratory approach, and by review and deduction of archival and documentary resources, this article suggests two major factors including inter alia, the discovery of malaria and the germ theory, the need to reproduce ‘‘European type space’’ in Kampala affected planning and consequently, the urban structure of Kampala city in the first half of the twentieth century.

The popularity and impact of the High Line in New York mirrors the complex reality of contemporary provision of public space. The development of the project, its relationship to its surroundings and the evolving trend of elevated parks are analyzed in relation to the role of urban green space and impacts of Landscape Urbanism. The High Line shows the way to a new role for urban green space by utilizing abandoned infrastructure. In analysing the narrative of the High Line, this article stresses the importance of understanding localities and connectivity. Based on observations as well as a review of the literature and media, the article concludes that great landscaping does not create great places without careful consideration of the surrounding community and residents.

The aim of this research is to study the emergence and evolution of the multi-storey extension (MSE) of socialist blocks of flats in the form of additional storeys or lofts on top of host buildings, which is seen as a dominant model of post-socialist spatial change in inherited multi-storey housing areas in Serbia. Relying on an analysis of empirical data sources, interviews, observation and a comparative analysis, the paper investigates the MSE as a predominantly self-organising process. It also considers its manifestations at different operational and spatial levels in the study area of the city of Nis. It is argued that the MSE, under conditions of low economic capacity, an indifferent attitude of local authorities, an inconsistent legislative environment, and the market as an essential driving force of the process, results in uneven urban transformations, both in physical and social terms.

At this historical moment, the urban planning and design professions are confronted with the twin challenges of unprecedented rapid urbanization on the one hand, and declining post-industrial regions on the other. In this environment, there are many different and often conflicting ideas about urban heritage and its relevance for contemporary urban planning and design. In this paper, we look for commonalities and a way forward from among a range of competing urban design models. We examine the illustrative case study of the geography and landscape of Detroit, USA. We consider seven contemporary urban planning and design ideals that dominate the contemporary planning and design discourse and their different views of the past and urban heritage in relation to the approaches in Detroit. From these, we draw a synthesis approach, making several recommendations and observations with a focus on the capacities of so-called “placemaking” approaches. In this paper, urban heritage is understood and examined as contributing a pattern of infrastructure that provides a helpful supportive framework, and (importantly) a set of structural limitations (e.g., historic plot boundaries), that can serve as a generative resource for new urban planning and design. We conclude that the necessary framework for democratic participation and opportunity within urban space can be provided most directly by leveraging the assets of urban heritage.