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…
Real vs. Symbolic Accountability: The Excesses of G20 Policing and the Long Quest for Accountability
Christine Brubaker and Alok Mukherjee discuss the realities of accountability and the role of policing through the lens of the G20 summit and the upcoming Shakespeare adaptation, Henry G20.
Video: Black and Safe in Outdoor Spaces
Carnival, Blackness and the Precarity of Public Safety
Sharine Taylor on the role of Carnivals in nourishing public health, cultural vitality and Black liberation.
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.
A Settler’s Land Acknowledgement - Public Space is Colonized Space
A Settler's Land Acknowledgement is an exercise in destabilizing the colonial notion of the “public" by exploring the extent to which words and claims matter.
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.
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.
Recap: Hypervisibility in Public Space
On Monday, November 2, 2020, Immony Mèn, Syrus Marcus Ware, Justine Abigail Yu, Ravyn Wngz and Kenya-Jade Pinto gathered virtually to discuss hypervisibility and the contributions of the Safe in Public Space creative project partners. The panelists shared personal stories, reflected on their work, and conversed about the importance of documenting and displaying the lived experiences of BIPOC individuals and the notion of ‘proof’.
Radical Love - A digital exhibition
An audio soundscape about the future of our city and public safety by Ravyn Wngz, Monica Forrester and Chrys.
Snapshot: Organizing and Protest in Public Space
In this week’s Snapshot, we highlight the different ways movements can engage in protest and why public space acts as the ideal platform.
Virtual Talk: Hypervisibility in Public Space
Join us for a discussion highlighting the work and contributions of community leaders and creative project partners featured in the Safe in Public Space initiative. Contributors will reflect on their works’ exploration of the concept of visibility and hypervisibility in public space, the importance of documenting and displaying the lived experiences of BIPOC individuals, and how the notion of ‘proof’ is relevant to validating and legitimizing experiences in public spaces.
Stewards: Expressions of Place-keeping with Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook
In our inaugural Stewards piece, we take a deep dive into unpacking and unlearning colonial relationships to the land, as well as their implications for public safety, with Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook (Senior Lead of Indigenous Engagement at Evergreen and Future Cities Canada).