Publica CIC

Designing inclusive cities is an exercise in care: it requires us to care about the experiences of people who feel unsafe in public space, avoid certain places at certain times, face barriers to access or who feel that places are not for someone like them. It requires designers and planners to confront the complexities of our shared urban spaces, and the range of meanings and experiences people attach to places, which can sometimes be in tension with one another.

Policy, guidance and strategies
We have set regional policy and developed public realm design guidance for organisations including the Greater London Authority and the UK’s largest developer to mainstream inclusive design approaches and best practices in the delivery of public spaces.

Community participation, research and design
Our practice is rooted in sharing power with communities. We create and facilitate opportunities for people to shape urban discussions in meaningful, creative, immersive and enriching ways. Across our projects, we actively involve individuals, communities, and organisations from a project’s inception through to long-term stewardship. 

Capacity-building
We deliver creative capacity-building training across the world in both the private and public sectors. We have trained over 600 planning and policy officers and built environment professionals to date.

Advocacy
We regularly present our work to audiences across the world, and we’ve convened a network of built environment professionals to develop a community of practice dedicated to sharing knowledge and advancing gender-inclusive public realm design.

We exist to create joyful streets, spaces and places where women can thrive. We do this in partnership with communities, local authorities, developers, landowners, artists and anyone who shares our vision.

Our mission is to support the delivery of design processes and public spaces that welcome women, girls and non-binary people, give them power in their own neighbourhoods, and develop a sense of belonging and ownership of public spaces. We do this by listening to women’s experiences and raising the ambition and capability of the built environment sector to address gender in their work.

Despite the wide range of design interventions listed above, the vast majority of public investment funds security infrastructure and policing. Although these can play an important role in making people feel safer, investing in these interventions alone does not create the types of public spaces people describe when they think about the places they actually feel safe in.

Designing cities, streets, transport systems, open spaces and urban environments that promote, enable and support children’s independent mobility is fundamental to supporting the rights of children and enhancing their freedom. However, children and young people’s experiences are not currently given proper consideration in the design of the built environment. There is an opportunity to more systematically engage with children and young people across all stages of a public realm project.

Young people want their voices to be heard and to understand how their input will make a difference to projects. Involving children and young people in design projects can support them to feel safer and a stronger sense of belonging in their neighbourhoods, knowing that their experiences matter and are taken seriously. We use participative and creative approaches to engage with children and young people and use engagement opportunities to introduce them to the built environment sector and build the future skills that the sector will need.