The Bentway’s growing Safe in Public Space initiative broadens the definition of public safety, addressing new public health challenges and deep systemic inequities to build a new shared social contract for public space.
Ebti Nabag
Ebti Nabag examines how ideas of safety manifest and are communicated in public space through borders and boundaries, signs and symbols, public space architectures, and delineations.
Explore curated Safe in Public Space content by topic…
Universal Design: Transforming How We Think About Accessibility
Talli Osborne argues for a holistic understanding of accessibility, rooted in the lived experiences of people with varied levels of ability.
Stewards: Taking the Classroom Outdoors with Christina Bagatavicius
In this week’s Stewards piece, we followed up with Christina Bagatavicius to learn more about how parents and teachers are collaborating through the #SaferOutsideTO campaign to pursue opportunities for outdoor education in public schools.
Stewards: Community Gardens as Safe Havens with Traci Nottingham, Sheryll Durrant and Katie German
In this week’s Stewards piece, we speak with Traci Nottingham, Gardener at Prospect Heights Community Farm in Brooklyn, New York; Sheryll Durrant, Garden Manager at Kelly Street Garden in the Bronx, New York; and Katie German, Director of Programs at FoodShare Toronto, who highlighted the ability of community gardens to serve as “safe havens” in cities.
Double Duty: Re-Imagining the Public Value of Infrastructure
Agency—Agency's Tei Carpenter unearths the latent placemaking potential of urban infrastructure, from fire hydrants to safety bollards.
Stewards: Design as a Tool for Safer Public Spaces with Cara Chellew and Rayna Sydney Syed
In this Stewards piece we connected with Cara Chellew and Rayna Syed to investigate how design can shape experiences in public space, and why practitioners must challenge planning and design norms.
Snapshot: Strengthening Climate Resiliency in Public Spaces
In this week’s Snapshot, we focus on the unequal effects the climate crisis has on certain communities, and explore new movements to centre public space as a key tool for building climate resiliency.
Looking Back, Moving Forward: How Public Health Shaped Toronto
In order to understand how COVID-19 will influence Toronto’s future, we first must examine how public health policy established the city as we know it – along unequal lines – argues Bentway Fellow Nahomi Amberber.
Health, Housing, and the Supporting Role of Public Space
In this week’s Snapshot, we dive deeper into the interplay between housing and health as it relates to the complex issue of homelessness, while assessing the role that public spaces are playing (or can play in the future) in supporting the health, safety, and well-being of the people who are affected.
Stewards: Facilitating Healing in Public Space with Taboo Health
In this week’s Steward’s piece, we connect with Taboo Health founder, Maria Cheung, and collaborators, Chieng Luphuyong and Fran Quintero Rawlings, to understand the roles of art, co-creation, and continued learning in creating physically, mentally, and culturally safe spaces.
The Unequal Urban: Exploring Health Equity & Public Space Across Two Toronto Neighbourhoods
Join Nadha Hassen (via audio tour) as she explores public space in the city through a public health lens.
Stewards: Symbols & Systems of Representation with Monument Lab’s Paul Farber and Ken Lum
This week we reconnect with Monument Lab co-founders Paul Farber and Ken Lum to explore the need to engage Othered voices in reimagining symbols and systems of representation in public space.
Photo of the Week
Ebti Nabag travels beyond The Bentway to examine how ideas of safety manifest and are communicated in public space through borders and boundaries, signs and symbols, public space architectures, and delineations.
New Monuments for New Cities
New Monuments for New Cities was a 2019 collaboration between five members of the High Line Network, who each invited five local artists to create proposals for new monuments for a 21st century city. A year later, New Monuments for New Cities still reflects the ongoing social and political circumstances of this moment by confronting controversial public monuments and the safety risks they pose.
Snapshot: Reflected in Public Space - Reimagining Monuments & Place Names
As monuments and place names are confronted, there is an opportunity to reflect shifting values by reimagining the symbols we use to signal whose legacies and presence we choose to protect in the public realm. In this week’s Snapshot, we highlight some recent efforts to take stock of and reimagine existing monuments, alongside approaches to introduce completely new forms of symbols in public spaces.
Audio Tour: The Bentway
The Bentway’s Manager of Facilities & Visitor Experience, Lara Samuel, takes you on a virtual walking tour of our space, sharing site-specific insights, safety considerations and personal stories.
Stewards: Honouring Community Partnership Through Design with Krista Nightengale & Matthew Clarke
In this Stewards piece we discuss the value of community partnerships as a driving force behind reimagining safety in public space, with Krista Nightengale (Managing Director of the Better Block Foundation), and Matthew Clarke (Executive Director of Design Trust for Public Space).
Radical Love - A digital exhibition
An audio soundscape about the future of our city and public safety by Ravyn Wngz, Monica Forrester and Chrys.
Decolonizing Design: The Case for Universal Inclusivity
Mohawk architect Matthew Hickey argues that designing safer public spaces starts with broadening our definition of inclusivity.
Snapshot: Centering Indigenous Perspectives in Public Space
In the first Snapshot, we discuss what it means to center Indigenous peoples, knowledge and history in public space - and why Indigenous worldviews, place-keeping, and decolonization are important to creating safer public spaces.