Places for sharing: tools for place-making and social research

Abstract

In cities around the world there are lots of deactivated public places where social contacts are reduced to a few formal scenarios. The problem of non-places that lack their identity, history and scenarios for social contacts was formulated by Marc Augé in his study on supermodernity and non-places. Moreover, some cities or districts lack formal public places. Collective periodic actions bring new life to big public places. By making simple things (like soap bubbles) together with strangers and by synchronising with other cities, rare experiences of togetherness are created. Urban ritual as a repetitive collective action breaks routine and brings new stories and new meanings to these public places. Shared emotions, stories, experiences and needs of the actual users of these places must be taken into account while developing new visions for these forgotten places. However, participatory urban planning is not widely used in planning processes in Lithuania. We believe that, by creating conditions for people to share some time making things together in public places, we are building the groundwork for public dialogue on the further development of these locations. Shared and articulated experiences of various groups of users of urban spaces are a basic condition for inclusive urban development.