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<\/p>\nPalmer and Turner | Victor Adegbite | Jo\u017ee Ple\u010dnik | Archigrest | Toposcape | Atelier Wo-Land | Feilden Fowles | J&L Gibbons | Sher Maker | Peris+Toral Arquitectes<\/p>\n
The online world is pressing up against the public realm. The spaces of the city are increasingly sites for either consuming digital content, on mobile phones or LED billboards, or creating it \u2013 taking selfies, TikTok videos or photographs of specially designed \u2018Instagram moments\u2019. \u2018Increasingly, public space is a backdrop for what is happening online,\u2019 Zach Mortice writes in this issue\u2019s keynote. People may be physically present in public space, but they have retreated to the digital.<\/p>\n
This latest threat to the health of public spaces joins a roster of existential issues that have long eroded urban experiences. In Hong Kong, the civic ideals embodied in 20th-century municipal buildings are losing ground against real-estate forces; Kowloon\u2019s beloved social condenser is unlikely to escape the wrecking ball. Ljubljana, which pedestrianised its historic centre 20 years ago and ranks as one of Europe\u2019s most liveable cities, is prone to overtourism \u2013 yet Milo\u0161 Kosec finds that Jo\u017ee Ple\u010dnik\u2019s interventions by the river exhibit \u2018a curious resilience to commodification\u2019. Certain cities have historically suffered from a dearth of public spaces; in Accra, the recent renovation of Black Star Square suggests an alternative way forward.<\/p>\n
As cities mitigate global heating and provide habitats for different species, several landscape projects are recognised in the AR Public awards. The winner, in Warsaw, turns a historical mound into a new type of urban park, showing that frugal interventions are often ecological.<\/p>\n
1532: AR Public
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Read\u00a0online<\/a>\u00a0Digital\u00a0edition<\/a>\u00a0Buy\u00a0now<\/a><\/p>\n cover (above) folio (lead image) keynote revisit revisit revisit AR Public awards 2026<\/p>\n winner highly commended highly commended commended commended
\u2018There are no parks in Accra,\u2019 read Accra: A Plan for the Town in 1958. It is a predicament that has changed little since then. The city\u2019s few public spaces, such as Black Star Square, are precious in the face of commercial development that threatens to deplete public access to the coast. Credit: Edem Tamakloe for The Architectural Review<\/p>\n
Nicolas Damiens\u2019 Tokyo No Ads series from 2015 imagines a city without advertising \u2013 a possibility being explored by cities such as Amsterdam, which has banned ads for high\u2011carbon products, such as cars and flights<\/p>\n
Unsocial network
Zach Mortice<\/p>\n
Kowloon City Municipal Services Building in Hong Kong by Palmer and Turner
Ying Zhou<\/p>\n
Black Star Square in Accra, Ghana by Victor Adegbite
Lloyd G Adu Amoah<\/p>\n
Ljubljanica riverbanks in Ljubljana, Slovenia by Jo\u017ee Ple\u010dnik
Milo\u0161 Kosec<\/p>\n
Warsaw Uprising Mound in Warsaw, Poland by Archigrest and Toposcape
Maja Mozga-G\u00f3recka<\/p>\n
Interventions in Yangshantou in Yangshantou, China by Atelier Wo-Land
Jaime Chu<\/p>\n
Natural History Museum garden in London, UK by Feilden Fowles and J&L Gibbons
Laxmi Andrews<\/p>\n
Pocket music park in Chiang Mai, Thailand by Sher Maker
Pirasri Povatong<\/p>\n
Pla\u00e7a del Can\u00f2drom in Barcelona, Spain by Peris+Toral Arquitectes
Rafael G\u00f3mez-Moriana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Palmer and Turner | Victor Adegbite | Jo\u017ee Ple\u010dnik | Archigrest | Toposcape | Atelier Wo-Land | Feilden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-631152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}