What makes a strong, sustainable community? A sustainable community must take into account all three pillars of sustainability including social sustainability. One key aspect of strong communities is effective and accessible public spaces. Whether parks, plazas, markets, coffee shops, or festivals, these are places where social sustainability thrives.
The great public spaces that I am referring to are places where celebrations are held, where people conduct social and economic exchanges, where friends bump into one another, and where different cultures mix. These places serve as opportunities for communication, engagement, and dialogue among neighbours and strangers alike. The famous urbanist Jane Jacobs coined the phrase “eyes on the street,” which referred to these spaces as the “front porches” of our community. These are where we interact with each other and our government. SFU Change Lab students have even hinted at having these forms of “front porches” on the SFU campus in their SFUture campaign, a vision for SFU in 2065!
These spaces are most effective when they are accessible to all, comfortable and inviting, conducive to a variety of activities, and encouraging of social interaction. Many cities, including Vancouver, are historically designed around a network of common gathering places. Think of central plazas in European cities or cathedral squares with plazas and small parks in Latin American districts. Informal bartering happens in these squares. Business people take their lunch breaks there. Children splash in fountains while their grandparents enjoy a game of chess. And, as we see abundantly in Egypt and Turkey these days, free speech is exercised there through protests or marches.
These forms of interaction establish cohesion among the community. Cohesion creates an increased sense of place, safety, and security, which in turn cultivates social capital. The social networks binding community members are strengthened in these vital public spaces and trust between neighbours is elevated. Vitality, trust and a sense of shared space, culture, and activities strengthen the health and social lives of community members, which are equally influential to maintaining the economic and environmental sustainability of the community.
Fellow bloggers, Candace Le Roy and Erica Lay have both written about accessibility to green space and the importance of nature to mental and physical health and wellbeing, showing the connection to the ecological side of sustainability. The same applies for the economic sustainability of a community. Public spaces provide space for communities to gather. Where people gather, local cafes, street performers, or odds-and-ends stores become expected, providing important services and furthering the economic sustainability of the local community.
Social spaces are important for healthy, thriving, sustainable communities and are all-inclusive, providing simple opportunities for human interaction across all ages. Organizations like the Project for Public Spaces work worldwide to build community through “placemaking,” and the Vancouver Public Space Network takes a similar approach on a local scale. I encourage you to check out their initiatives and explore the benefits to encouraging these public spaces in our cities.
I have only introduced the necessity of public space here and the opportunities it provides for communities to strengthen their social sustainability. Next week, we’ll hear from Jackie Pichette of SFU Public Square, who writes on the benefits public places bring to our society’s engagement and working democracy.
