The Public Life Reader

To better understand the critical interactions between public space and civic life, the Next City team spent six months in dialogue with the pioneering public space designers at Gehl Studio in San Francisco. The end product was “In Public,” a series of articles and essays published on NextCity.org with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

We didn’t find a single silver bullet that will guarantee thriving, inclusive civic spaces. No such thing exists. What we found were inspiring people and places that collectively suggest a changing understanding of how important these spaces are to our shared urban future.