Reinhabiting the Void: Designing Public Spaces
for Everyday Life
May 9-10, 1996, Chicago, Illinois
Vital urban public space has long been necessary if not central to the
everyday life of a great city. Declining support for publicly owned and
managed everyday public space has led to lack of maintenance, poor security,
and deterioration of some of these places. At the same time, many of the
most heavily used public spaces today are owned and managed privately.
The City Design Center conference, “Reinhabiting the Void: Designing
Public Spaces for Everyday Life,” brought together designers, scholars,
and the concerned public to reconsider the design of urban public space.
Featured speakers included architect, author, and former architecture
critic for the Village Voice, Michael Sorkin, and Professor Robert Bruegmann
of the UIC Art History Department. In addition, three panels composed
of Chicago area designers, community group leaders, and public officials
involved in the creation of innovative public spaces offered participants
the opportunity to discuss issues of public space and public life in more
detail. The first panel, Reinventing the Center, looked at communities
which have consciously sought to create new, core public spaces. The second
panel, Claiming Common Spaces, examined projects such as the Illinois
Prairie Path and the City of Chicago’s CitySpace program which seek
to create public spaces from unused or lost places such as abandoned rail
lines and vacant lots. The third panel, Invigorating the Ordinary, discussed
ways design could be used to add vitality to otherwise mundane environments.
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City Design Center Affiliated Faculty Organizers
Roberta Feldman, Professor, School of Architecture, and Director, City
Design Center
Robert Bruegmann, Professor, Art History Department
George Hemmens, Professor, Urban Planning Program, and Co-Director,
City Design Center
Funding and Co-Sponsorship
Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
UIC Great Cities Initiative
UIC School of Architecture
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