Public-Civil-Partnerships for a Better City

Imagine: an urban politician wants to impose that some streets become car-free during summer. Even if reasons are good – better air quality, kids get room to play – the result is quite predictable. The residents of the streets would revolt, for different reasons. Some would feel ignored as citizen, others would stand on their right to drive their car to their door, etc. The result: the politician has to withdraw the proposal, disappointed by these negative reactions. So, the gap widens between politics and people. But what happens if an independent network of collaborating citizens, business and organisations, supported by the city government, develops the positive narrative of a Living Street as the sustainable place where inhabitants always have dreamed of?

After the international congress ‘Alltagsökonomie about systemic innovation for new urban public design spaces’ issued the institute for Multi-Level Governance and Development of the university of Vienna a repport. One chapter deals about public-civil-paternerships and can be downloaded for free below.

Public-Civil-Partnerships for a Better City

Public-Civil-Partnership_for_a_better_city_Dirk_Holemans.pdf