This publication explores the co-creation of public space in the populated remote places of Europe. The variety of initiatives, actors, and their activities are presented from various parts of the continent – from Austria, Estonia, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom. All of them have some distinctive characteristics in common – they address the participatory improvements of public spaces in which the residents and the local communities play an important role, while at the same time the actors from the creative sector are fully involved too. Special attention is given to the innovative approaches that manage to put the variety of actors into a greater cooperation to jointly reach the final goal through the improvements of the public spaces – i.e. the stronger communities, the better local life, environments, and ideally improved economic prospects of the remote places.

 

It seems that the times for such exploration could not be more fortuitous. After two years of challenges raised by the global pandemics, the ways we live our lives have been challenged and have changed.  Not only have the remote places been rediscovered as the places of one’s living, working, and leisure time activities, but their assets have also been re-evaluated through the new lenses. Despite the not foreseen challenges that the distant working and learning techniques brought to our social and working practices, the physical allocation from the urban nodes to the more remote places started to be a more often considered option by many. This opens many new questions about living in remote places, and their communities as well as their public realm.

 

The publication has two main parts. Its core is the condensed description of the 50 selected case studies that were recognized as examples of good practices in the participatory and creative provision of public space in remote places. Five selected practices per each of the ten contributing countries were analyzed based on the common analytical template (see the Appendix for the whole data set). Each case is described in the format of an A3 one-pager where the basic information is given in a written and graphical form. Each description starts with the overview information about the case, presents the characteristics of the geographical space where the activities took place and illustrates how and by whom the activities started and how they evolved. Special attention is paid to the ways the local community and creative sector were involved, as well as to the various kinds of improvements that were achieved in either social, physical, economic, or any other aspects relevant for the prosperity of the remote place. The presentation of each case study is strongly supported by the graphical materials that were carefully chosen in order to deliberately capture the setting and nature of the activities going on.

 

Based on the experiences, insights, and lessons learnt from the review of the best practices each partnering country contributed an article to summarise the main messages from its own cases. They are presented in the first part of this publication. The focal themes of these reflective articles were left open to the authors in order to provide the most relevant insights into the creation of public spaces in remote places in their countries. They address diverse themes, from the levers to establish the social networks overseeing the possible futures, the importance of time given to the projects to develop and mature, to the new forms of democratic decision making at a local level and the issues of “measuring” the impact of creative approaches in the co-creation of the remote public spaces.

 

There are some general observations that can be made based on the overview of the contents provided from across Europe. Firstly, the remote places most often lack the institutionally provided capacities for the improvements of public spaces that are normally at the disposal to any bigger urban settlement. At the same time it is clear that the communities of remote places are no less enthusiastic about improving their public spaces when the opportunities appear. In this sense, and as many presented practices show, the importance of the creative sector is considerable as it offers the support and often compensates for the capacity shortcomings and other local deficiencies.

 

Secondly, the presented cases once more reflect the great diversity and richness of the European socio-cultural and material contexts. One of them that needs to be mentioned is the notion of remoteness which largely differs in the selected case studies and may be attributed to the (low) population density, geographical barriers or allocation, the lack of good transportation links, difficulties in accessing facilities, social specifics or divisions, economic inferiority, as well as different subjective criteria.

 

And third general observation we would like to stress in this editorial introduction is the innovativeness that shines from the presented case studies. The actors have wisely identified and used the inner (local) and outer (from elsewhere) potentials and capacities to develop the activities and achieve the changes for better material or immaterial improvements of public spaces. It was the understanding of the local context and the ability to embed the available resources from elsewhere that make each practice unique and innovative at the same time.

 

In order to fully understand the phenomena of the participatory and creative provision of public spaces in remote places, future knowledge must derive from the theoretical explorations, empirical evidence, and reflective practice. This publication is, we believe, good inspiration for any like-minded readers that see the potential and opportunities in the co-creation of local public spaces in creative ways. As good practices show none of the presented cases can be directly and fully replicated in other and always different contexts – but they can always be a good source of encouragement for one’s own endeavors in their specific conditions! We wish you an inspiring reading and hope it will initiate many new innovative and creative initiatives in the future!