1. Nicola Knop, Chris Rovers
Publicness -
the power of control?
Presentation 3
17-04-09 14:00-18:00
FAU-USP Lecture Hall
IN.SP PROJECT PRESENTATIONS 2009

2. publicness, the power of control?
reflection of the diversity of Sao Paulo in its cities publicness
public space
…is a place where strangers meet.
Accordingly the street is the most public place.
criteria that create degrees of publicness
▪ given infrastructure and the resulting public flow
▪ intentionality and functions
▪ a matter of scale
▪ power and control
▪ physical requirements like spaces of retreat, spaces of gathering or transitions and borders

3. publicness, the power of control?
different qualities of publicness
metropolitan public neighbourhood public
city public community public
district public private

4. publicness, the power of control?
public web scheme
▪ the public web as a tree struc-
ture
▪ the public web as a tree struc-
ture plus additional sub-connec-
tions
▪ the connections representing
the intensity of the public flow
International Airport
Alphaville
SESC Pompeia
Condominio Edrificio IAB
Parque do Libirapura
Parque Cidade Jardim
Cidade Tiradentes
Morumbi
Favela Edith
Paraisopolis
community space
neighbourhood space
district space
▪ classification map of the quality city space
of visited places
metropolitan space

5. publicness, the power of control?
Sao Paulo
The ideal of publicness is the ‘unconditional welcome’ of everyone.
▪ a sum of fragments as a result of borders and clusters
▪ controlled space contra claiming space
- > control of public space by privatisation using the power of control
private domain -> creats public sphere -> privatised public space
- > privatisation of the public, the creation of public sphere in the private domain
also based on scale - private moves more into the public in areas with high density
privatisation of public space -> semi public - > community space

6. publicness, the power of control?
...
▪ one example of public knot
comment
In a metropolitan city will always be in exclusion of some people even in metropolitan public space,
the domain with usually the highest quality of publicness.
to continue
▪ look in to detail of three different neighbourhoods (different in scale, income and location) and vi-
sualise the quality of publicness
▪ to study and visualise the role of public buildings in the public web
▪ define a site for the design object regarding the graduation project
‘From Safety To Where...?’

7. MOTIVATION Exploring the Public City The Public web Conclusions & Strategies
Motivation. My interest for this workshop is based
on the experience of a different public culture in
Sao Paulo compared to other cities, whether Brazil-
ian or European. Most other Brazilian cities have an
unrivalled outdoor culture, where people are us-
ing public spaces like the streets, parks and beaches
as the extension of their home. In Sao Paulo on the
contrary, this public culture is less visible. This per-
ception has been the starting point for my project.
During my last visit and the first week of the work-
shop I elaborated a theory to try to understand which
conditions, tools and approaches have led to this par-
ticular public culture. In this first elaboration I split
the formalized city artifact into so called free zones
and controlled zones. In between space has been
created for informality, in other words formalizing the
informal, thereby neglecting that informality is al-
ways a response to formality.
Formalizing through Control the Informal
Publicness, the Power of Control? Workshop CSI Sao Paulo, April 17th 2009 CRovers

8. Motivation EXPLORING THE CITY The Public web Conclusions & Strategies
Infrastructural
Pedestrian unfriendly
Bad maintenance
Free public space claimed by homeless
Interiorized public space
Left-over space
Informal use
Temporal flexibility
Pleasant remainance
Inside-outside commercial space
Good maintenance
Security
Dynamical use
Control
Architectural public space
Publicness, the Power of Control? Workshop CSI Sao Paulo, April 17th 2009 CRovers

9. Motivation EXPLORING THE CITY The Public web Conclusions & Strategies
Inventive way of creating square
Stop on the way
Flexible space
Soft boundaries
Singular use
A paradise within the metropole
Security
Freedom of action
Publicness
Privatized public space
Secured living environment
Communal space
Soft boundaries
A good start
Publicness, the Power of Control? Workshop CSI Sao Paulo, April 17th 2009 CRovers

10. Motivation Exploring the Public City THE PUBLIC WEB Conclusions & Strategies
Location & Connection
Street profile & Accessibility
Programme
City space, bordered
Local space, unbordered
Communal space, unbordered
Maintenance & Security
Publicness, the Power of Control? Workshop CSI Sao Paulo, April 17th 2009 CRovers

11. Motivation Exploring the Public City The Public web CONCLUSIONS & STRATEGIES
Conclusion. Rapid growth of the city as well as the planning device used by Three alternative strategies
municipality to control this publicness have resulted in a very differenti-
ated experience of publicness in varying districts. Both this inexhaustible
desire of municipality to control the informal and the fear of not being well-
protected against the lurking danger have made the publicness rather for-
malized. Many of the well-used public spaces are drawn into the interior
or restricted to certain areas, both being tools to make it easier to protect
and control the public.
Creating pedestrian boulevards
Spatial planning is an important tool to create an environment for public cul-
ture. Some variables are: profile of the streets, programme, maintenance, se-
curity, location, connections and accessibility. By manipulating these variables
a more flexible and dynamical public space can be created to replace the
sometimes singular, highly infrastructural and often excluding pub-
lic spaces of now in between the concentrations of a more interesting public
culture. Of course there are plenty of places with potential. The challenge is
to develop here an interesting programme, a supporting infrastructure
and connect them properly into the public sphere to create an environment
Mixing up the programme, creating flexible spaces
where publicness is stimulated.
Connecting public spaces
Publicness, the Power of Control? Workshop CSI Sao Paulo, April 17th 2009 CRovers