Urban space conference looks for ways towards healthier and more diverse urban life

On 18 October, the urban space conference Where the Sidewalk Ends, organised by the University of Tartu Centre for Sustainable Development, will be held in the university library to discuss creating urban spaces that support a sense of community and people’s mental and physical health. The event can be live-streamed on UTTV.

Rules that once governed urban life no longer work today. There are traffic jams on wide arterial streets, asphalt and concrete make heatwaves even harder to bear, nature recedes as settlements expand, and the city’s anonymity, which once promised an escape from the constrictions of village life, has exhausted itself. In the changed circumstances, new rules are needed to redefine the norms of society and the environment.

The conference brings together researchers and designers of urban space, advocates of biodiversity, cultural researchers and promoters of community initiatives from the University of Tartu, the Estonian Academy of Arts and Tallinn University of Technology. Together, they look for new rules that fit into the modern urban space, focusing on the possibilities of creative play offered by natural and man-made environments.

The keynote speaker is Rusty Keeler, an advocate of playful urban space and risky play from the United States. Keeler underlines that play is one of the fundamental rights of children and is essential to support their development and health. Yet today’s children’s opportunities for creative play are often much more limited than those of previous generations. Keeler urges people to rediscover opportunities for free and creative play in urban environments with both nature and artificial materials.

Everyone who thinks it is a good idea to discuss the city without regard to disciplinary boundaries is welcome to the event. Presentations are in English and Estonian, and simultaneous interpretation into English is provided.

See the conference programme on the University of Tartu Centre for Sustainable Development website.