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City Space Architecture is extremely proud to participate in the 13th session of the World Urban Forum, convened by UN-Habitat, taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 17-22 May 2026, under the theme “Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities”.

Adequate housing is a human right; yet around the world almost three billion people live in inadequate housing. More than 1.1 billion people live in informal settlements, and 300 million are homeless. The housing crisis goes far beyond the need for more buildings and shelter, as housing affects health, safety, equality economic productivity, political stability, and many other aspects of human wellbeing. 

Our networking event on "Housing-Public Space Nexus Fostering Inclusive Urban Communities", included in the official programme of the Forum, explores the critical intersection between housing policies and public space design in creating sustainable and equitable urban environments. It will bring together urban planners, housing developers, public space designers, and community advocates to examine how residential developments can better connect with and enhance the quality of the public realm for spatial justice and community integration. The key aim is two-fold: first, to foster and champion cross-sector partnerships to demonstrate how quality public space can be fully integrated to enable inclusive communities; and second, to articulate tangible, transferable policy recommendations that treat housing and public space as interconnected systems, essential to achieving urban liveability and enhancing social cohesion.

In addition, we are partnering with GPN (Global Planners Network), an alliance of global planning institutions that promotes sustainable development. City Space Architecture joined GPN two years ago to advocate for public space in strategic planning. Together, we will be presenting an exhibition on “Planning-led solutions for adequate housing and resilient, safe and inclusive cities and communities”.

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City Space Architecture is pleased to continue its partnership with the Ove Arup Foundation, an independent charity based in London, established in 1989 to honour the memory of engineer, designer and philosopher Sir Ove Arup.  This partnership has grown steadily over the past years and reflects a shared commitment to advancing knowledge, education, and international exchange on public space. It began in 2022 with the establishment of our Public Space Academy, the first free education programme dedicated entirely to public space, from an interdisciplinary perspective, conceived as a platform for learning, dialogue, and capacity building. From the outset, the Academy was envisioned as a space where research, teaching, and practice could come together to support new generations of professionals, researchers, practitioners and urban innovators working in the design, implementation, governance and long-term monitoring of public space.
This ongoing partnership now enters a new phase through the production of two books (with ISBN) by City Space Architecture Press, developed respectively for the Chinese edition and the Arabic edition of our The Journal of Public Space. These publications mark an important step in expanding the reach of our editorial and educational work across different regions and cultural contexts.
The Chinese edition is being developed in collaboration with Chang’an University in Xi’an and supported by the IFoU International Forum on Urbanism. The Arabic edition is being developed in partnership with the Arab Center for Architecture and Baladiya Catalist. We are currently discussing a possible engagement of the AUDI - Arab Urban Development Institute.

On the occasion of Art City Bologna 2026, City Space Architecture presented Urban Visions. Places, Identities and Narratives, curated by Luisa Bravo and Marco Bucchieri and hosted at our headquarters Museo Spazio Pubblico. 

The event took place from 5 to 8 February 2026 and offered the opportunity to present to the local audience our international Film Festival Urban Visions. Beyond the Ideal City, through its editions in Bologna in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and later in Dubai and Ajman in 2022.

The opening on 5 February featured the curators’ presentation of the cinematic project and its educational dimension, including the experience of the Visual Architecture workshop held at Ajman University in 2023, following up on the successful UAE edition of the Film Festival on Architecture and the Future of Cities. Promoted by City Space Architecture in collaboration with Ajman Municipality and Planning Department, the Italian Cultural Institute in Abu Dhabi, and the Consulate General of Italy in Dubai, the workshop brought together students, young filmmakers and creatives to explore urban narration through visual storytelling, architecture, social practices, heritage and future urban developments.

During the opening, artist Michele Liparesi presented Modular Urban Agglomeration, an imaginary city called Anaktisi - a term meaning "recovery" in Greek - built from modular structures composed of recovered technological objects stripped of their original function. His research, rooted in an emotional investigation of space, explored the relationship between environment and time, as well as the fragility of human perception. Liparesi’s work was in dialogue with The Empty Spaces Glide, a video installation by artist Swapnil Patil, which reflected on absence and architecture through a new temporal register. Together, the two works created a contemplative space in which memory, perception and stillness became central to the artistic experience.

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The Empty Spaces Glide by Swapnil Patil on the screen (left) and the Modular Urban Agglomeration by Michele Liparesi (right).

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City Space Architecture is pleased to announce that our Founder and President, Dr Luisa Bravo, was invited as a keynote speaker at the 2025 Yanta International Forum on Urban and Rural Planning, held in Xi'an, China, and organised by Chang'an University. Dr Bravo spoke in the special session on "Urban Civilisation and Sustainable Development", bringing perspectives from Italy and the city of Bologna, with a specific focus on historic and modern heritage and public space innovation.
During the session, Dr Bravo shared the floor with distinguished colleagues Prof. Wu Tinghai, Director of the Department of Urban Planning at Tsinghua University, and Prof. Ho Puay Peng, Programme Director of the Master of Arts in Architectural Conservation at the National University of Singapore. Her presentation was very well received and generated an engaging discussion on contemporary Chinese urban planning strategies, which continued in a roundtable with leading Chinese experts.

City Space Architecture wishes to express its gratitude to Prof. Jingbin Tan, Director of the Department of Urban and Rural Planning, School of Architecture, Chang'an University, for the kind invitation, and to Prof. Hendrik Tieben from the Chinese University of Hong Kong for facilitating Dr Bravo’s engagement with Chang’an University.

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Towards a Chinese edition of The Journal of Public Space

This important participation in Xi'an marks the beginning of a new collaboration between City Space Architecture and Chang'an University for the creation of a Chinese edition of The Journal of Public Space. The first issue of this new edition is expected to be launched in Beijing in October 2026, on the occasion of the IFoU - International Forum on Urbanism conference, further strengthening cross-cultural dialogue on public space and urban futures between China and the international community.

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We are excited to announce our participation in the Biennial of Public Space taking place in Rome on 18-20 September 2025 at the University of Roma Tre. Address: Largo Giovanni Battista Marzi 10, Rome - https://maps.app.goo.gl/ihWybBeh1KSJUkMN9
The Biennial of Public Space is a biennial event for the discussion and dissemination of research and initiatives on urban public spaces, giving voice to local administrations and city makers, universities, associations, committees, professionals, experts from various disciplines and in general to all those who work concretely to improve the quality, renew and explore issues related to public spaces understood as common goods. Consistent with its nature as a public space, the Biennial has always guaranteed free access to its activities.

During the 2013 edition, the Charter of Public Space was developed and approved, which "aims to be a document for all those who believe in the city and its extraordinary capacity for hospitality, solidarity, conviviality, and sharing; in its inimitable virtue in fostering sociability, encounter, coexistence, freedom, and democracy; and in its vocation to express and realize these values ​​through public space."

For this 8th edition of the Biennale, developed around the main title "Together", we have organised a special international session titled "Reclaiming Tomorrow. Community-Led Innovation for Public Space Futures" scheduled on Friday, 19 September from 9 am to 1 pm in Room Montuori. This session will be an opportunity to share knowledge with scholars and practitioners from Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Belgium, the United Kingdom, France, Greece, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, India, Japan, Palestine, South Africa, Australia, and to engage participants in a foresight visioning workshop.

Our President Dr Luisa Bravo will also participate as moderator in the opening plenary session on "Together in Public Space with UN-Habitat: Global Perspectives", she will co-moderate the session "Together to protect public spaces and common goods", and she will join as a speaker the session on "Temporary use as a tool for transforming socially complex areas: strategies, methods and lessons learned".

The full programme of the VIII Biennial of Public Space is available here.