COVID-19 completely changes our world, our work, our school and our daily life routine. It also changes the public space where we for the first time have to stay away from during lockdown. At the same time, new spaces emerge, bike lanes, pedestrianized zones, pop-up installations, eateries and street stalls have found their ways in many cities. With such context, School of Architecture at CUHK has commenced cross-country and -sector research with the University of Sydney and the University of Auckland with the support from Worldwide Universities Network (WUN). In parallel, Hendrik Tieben (CUHK) and Luisa Bravo (City Space Architecture) jointly developed and curated the initiative “2020: A Year without Public Space under the COVID-19 Pandemic”. The initiative hosted 20 webinars inviting experts and practitioners to share their experiences and insights on extensive topics related to public space.

Coming to the end of 2020, this international symposium is the culmination point of both initiatives, as well as a time to look back, reflect and plan ahead for 2021, particularly in the aspects of Cities & Health, Digital Public Space, Innovative & Creative Approaches, and Campus as Public Space. Learn more and register at https://www.publicspace-covid19.com/.