AERA has organised a panel discussion titled “To Whom Does Public Space Belong?” which will take place on 5 February on the occasion of the 2012 Prize exhibition, presently being shown at the Centre Méridional de l’Architecture et de la Ville de Toulouse.

Architecture and the City on Tuesdays are open, public debates between users and politicians and agents engaged in work involving architecture and the city. All the issues pertaining to architectural, urban and territorial advances in Toulouse and its region will be discussed.

On the occasion of the 2012 Prize exhibition in Toulouse, the next 5 February Stéphane Gruet, architect, philosopher and Director of AERA (Actions, Etudes et Recherches sur l'Architecture, l'habitat et la ville), institution associated with Centre Méridional de l’Architecture et de la Ville de Toulouse, will leadership a debate titled “To Whom Does Public Space Belong?”.

Authorities and experts in different fields including architecture, planning and advocacy will be participating.

Among the issues discussed will be the following:

Is public space still our shared space?
Is it still a space that is appropriate for exchanges and sharing?
Should public space be a place for advertising, consumption and mass spectacles? Or for shows of power?
Has public space become the domain of the world’s big brand names?
When this space is appropriated for the exclusive use of those who wield violence and threats, can it still be called public? If shared space was once a place of civility, of urbanity and of the “polis” in its earliest accepted meaning, what happens when surveillance and legal violence and punishment move in?
Do residents, users and citizens feel responsible for the spaces of their city? Can one say that they are still citizens? Does a group of inhabitants form a community? To whom does public space belong?



Next activity is going to take place on 21 February tittled 'La ville... Un prix, un projet'. Consisting in a debate with the participation of David Bravo, architect and secretary of the Jury of the European Prize for Urban Public Space 2012, and Imma Jansana, author of the winner 2012.