Staff, PPS

Urb-i was founded initially by four urban designers. Dealing with urban projects, creating new quality public space was imperative to our projects, however we felt that we could not influence or change existing public spaces, which were relatively easy to transform into better spaces for people and not only car oriented. That is when we decided to create Urb-i.

The promise of our public spaces is the assurance that we can live well together, creating places that we can all enjoy and call our own.

For sociologist Ray Oldenburg, each of us needs three places: the home, the workplace or school, and beyond that, a third place – a public space on neutral ground where people can gather and interact while experiencing a sense of ease and belonging.

Is today’s public market a place to buy food, to sit and eat a meal, or to have a unique educational or culinary experience? Can it be all of these things?

Streets are our most fundamental shared public spaces, but they are also one of the most contested and overlooked.

What’s the difference between "public space" and "place"?