NGPS 2025: Public Spaces Through Time

The National Geography and Planning Symposium is a yearly event about the challenges and domains within the discipline of Geography and Planning. The symposium is organized by five study associations (Ibn Battuta, Mundus, Sarphati, V.U.G.S., and Genius Loci) across the Netherlands and aims to offer new perspectives and insights to students. Each year the NGPS is held in a different city. This year, V.U.G.S. will be our host as the symposium will take place in Utrecht. The NGPS was founded in 2009 out of integrating the planning symposium (PRINS) and the geography symposium. The first symposium took place in 2009 in Groningen and after 15 years there have been 16 editions. By inviting various speakers from the private and public sectors the day is filled with different perspectives on a specific theme. By connecting geography & planning students of various associations, we bundle our experience and deepen our knowledge about a specific theme.

Each of the five associations is represented by two board members. The board of NGPS 2025 is constituted of the following members:

Chairman	Jasper Hermsen
Vice Chairman	Marijn van Andel
Secretary	Jens den Boer
Treasurer	Tristan Pel
Commissioner Promotion	Daniek Sanders
Commissioners Speakers	Antoin Hoogendoorn & Lotte Dethmers
Commissioners Acquisition	David Janssen & Ben Wetzels
Commissioner Flex	Jort ten Have

On the following pages, the theoretical framework of the NGPS 2025 is presented including its theme.

What is public space?

Public spaces are places that are open and accessible to all, where citizens can gather, participate in activities and organize their daily lives. Typically, public spaces are free, there are no opening hours and few regulations in the area. Spaces are accessible to all and play an important role in facilitating social interaction, mobility, recreation and political expressions such as protests and demonstrations. People use public spaces in different ways. Jan Gehl has distinguished this into three ways; necessary use to perform everyday tasks, optional use for recreation, for example, and social use when people meet spontaneously (Hospers et al., 2015).

Urban space has always fulfilled three crucial functions: it acts as a meeting place, market place and connecting space. As a meeting place, the city served as a place where social interactions and exchange of information took place. In addition, as a marketplace, the city provided a platform for trading goods and services. Finally, city streets provided access and connection between different functions and areas within the city (Thompson & Travlou, 2007).

Historical views on public space

When taking a trip down history of public spaces in the Netherlands, multiple schools of thought can be found surrounding the subject. Just to pick a starting point, we start just before the industrial revolution, and the run-up up to it. The way people viewed public space is unrecognizable compared to what we think of it today: it was the place people lived. As said before, the streets were the place where people met one another, where commerce was active, and where people moved from A to B, all sharing the same space. This is a school of thought which stuck around for a little while longer, since during the industrial revolution, residential space was in high demand, but very scarce, when looking at cities. So, the home was merely seen as a place to sleep and eat, and the rest of everyday life took place in public. This is the way it has been in cities for centuries, but this is not how we imagine public space in the here and now, for the most part (Van Der Cammen et al., 2012).

But this all has changed drastically, through the years. A great shift in the school of thought about public space took place with the increase of the accessibility of the car. Public space turned into a place in which people don’t have to live, but just have to leave: mobility has taken over as the core function of most public space. And of this space, most has been given to the car: public space has been carved up in great detail, to give a singular function to many spaces, with little room for sharing of spaces between functions (Mayers & Glover, 2019). This can be directly connected to the loss of third places; places where people can exist freely, and meet one another with little restrictions. These places are disappearing in a world where public space needs to have a specific function, and where they do exist, they do in a non-public setting, where someone cannot be for free, which creates a restriction and barrier to enter these spaces (Us, 2024). This shift in thoughts about what public space should be, has resulted in a society where most of ‘life’ takes place in private spheres, and public space is dominated by mobility, and predominantly by the car.

It is exactly this shift that planners nowadays want to counter. Thoughts about public space are now shifting away again from carcentrism, but the thought of public spaces with one singular use still sticks around (Mayers & Glover, 2019). This results in a zero-sum way of thinking, where space has to be taken away from one function, to allocate it to another. This has resulted in the creation of space for mobility options that are not related to cars, but also in the creation of spaces with the specific goal of meeting people.

It has to be acknowledged, that this walkthrough of history of public spaces and thoughts about it is predominantly based on western views, and is naturally a big overgeneralization of real cases (Jensen et al., 2019). Every city and situation is different, but these waves of schools of thought are interesting to analyze, to see where we have come from, and how they still affect our views on public space nowadays, and public spaces themselves.

The case of Utrecht

In recent decades, public space in Utrecht, specifically in the train station area, Hoog Catharijne and the ring of canals, has undergone radical changes. This redevelopment reflects the wider trend of urban renewal and the shift towards more sustainable and liveable cities.

Utrecht’s station area, around the Central Station, has been completely transformed in recent years. Previously, the area was seen as functional but unattractive, with lots of concrete, heavy traffic and limited green spaces. However, the ‘CU2030’ plan has transformed this area into a modern, well-connected zone focused on pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. The focus is now on creating an inviting, multifunctional space with green parks, wider pavements and sustainable architecture. One of the most striking modifications is the new station hall, which is not only functional but also serves as a meeting place with shops, restaurants and seating areas (Bouwman & Bekkering, 2007).

Hoog Catharijne, the shopping center directly connected to Central Station, has also undergone a major metamorphosis. Previously, it was often seen as a closed, outdated and unattractive place. Since the renovation, however, the center has become much more open and accessible, with great attention to light, space and connection with the city. The redevelopment of Hoog Catharijne is part of a broader ambition to make the area more attractive for both residents and visitors, while restoring its historical connections, such as the ring of canals (De Utrechtse Internet Courant, 2023).

One of the most striking changes to Utrecht’s public space is the restoration of Catharijnesingel, part of the historic canal belt. This canal had been filled in the 1970s to make room for the construction of Hoog Catharijne and the expansion of roads. In 2020, however, this part of the canal was reopened, returning water to the city center. This restoration is symbolic of the renewed focus on green and water-rich public spaces in cities, which contribute not only to aesthetics but also to sustainability and climate resilience (Bernsteiner & Ninana, 2024).

Conclusion

Concluding; public spaces are a vital part of urban life, in the way humans have designed them throughout history. They are multifunctional, as places to meet, handle commerces and to move from A to B in. Throughout history, thoughts about public space have changed a lot, with waves and counter waves in thinking what public space should be for. This has been influenced by many factors, and has influenced human behavior in itself. Utrecht is an interesting case when thinking about this subject, since it reflects the different schools of thought very well in its urban planning of the last century. The values of society are reflected in interesting ways in public space, which makes it a fascinating topic, about which much more can be discovered.

Sources

Bernsteiner, J., & Ninana, J. (2024). Actor-networks in sustainable transport transformation. The case of the Catharijnesingel restoration. Proceedings Of The Institution Of Civil Engineers – Municipal Engineer, 1–43. https://doi.org/10.1680/jmuen.24.00022

Bouwman, H., & Bekkering, H. (2007). A masterplan for Utrecht railway station area. In NovaTerra Connected Cities (pp. 21–22). http://www.urban-impulse.eu/Urban_imPulse/Publicity_files/TerraNova%20Article%20Utrecht.pdf

De Utrechtse Internet Courant. (2023, 26 juli). Kroniek van een winkelcentrum; 50 jaar Hoog Catharijne in Utrecht. https://www.duic.nl/algemeen/kroniek-van-een-winkelcentrum-50-jaar-hoog-catharijne-in-utrecht/

Hospers, G. J., Van Melik, R., & Ernste, H. (2015). Visies op de stad: van tuindorp tot smart city. Boom Lemma. http://repository.ubn.ru.nl/handle/2066/145173

Jensen, C., Hazelton, J. K., & Wellman, G. (2019). Finding “Improvement” in the language transportation planners use: a critical discourse analysis to illustrate an Automobile-Centric bias in transportation policymaking. Public Works Management & Policy, 25(2), 167–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087724×19885937 

Mayers, R. F., & Glover, T. D. (2019). Whose lane is it anyway? The experience of cycling in a Mid-Sized city. Leisure Sciences, 42(5–6), 515–532. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2018.1518174 

Thompson, C. W., & Travlou, P. (2007). Open space: people space. In Taylor & Francis eBooks. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203961827

Us, D. R. W. (2024, March 26). The unfortunate, ongoing disappearance of “third places.” Theweek. https://theweek.com/culture-life/third-places-disappearing 

Van Der Cammen, H., De Klerk, L. A., Dekker, G., & Witsen, P. P. (2012). The selfmade land: Culture and Evolution of Urban and Regional Planning in the Netherlands.