Redesign of public spaces, Edition 1
Overview
In 2018 SmartUp, through SkopjeLab, asked Skopje residents which neglected green spaces needed attention, then studied each site through interviews, observation and an online questionnaire. The research led to concept designs, and seven of them went to a City tender for execution designs in October 2019. Five green squares were built in 2020-2021.
Skopje has about 12 square metres of green area per resident, against a European recommendation of 25. The idea for the challenge came from a resident who had listed neglected sites and brought it to the mayor's office, and in July 2018 SmartUp, through SkopjeLab, opened a design challenge on rethinking green public spaces. Of the sites proposed, 12 were taken into the process after checks that they would stay green for the next 10 to 15 years. We studied how people use each site and what they want from it, and turned the findings into concept designs. SmartUp designed the concepts through SkopjeLab; the City built the squares.
The challenge
Shrinking green space
Skopje has 12.07 square metres of green area per resident, half the European recommendation. Studies cited in the project say construction took as much as 50% of the greenery in the central area between 2002 and 2017.
Starting from residents' needs
The project set out to learn what residents of each micro-location need for rest, meeting and play, and to design the spaces with that knowledge.
From concept to construction
A concept needs a public body to fund and build it. Sites had to stay green for 10 to 15 years, and the City had to be ready to tender the designs and carry out the works with the municipalities.
Activities and methods
A research-led design process with residents, from site selection to concepts that the City could tender and build.
- Co-creation & innovation processes. A public design challenge, "Rethink and Redesign green public areas in the city of Skopje", opened in July 2018 for residents' ideas and stories about 12 locations, using an online map and questionnaire.
- Research, insight & strategy. Field research at each site in August-September 2018: observation, interviews, an online questionnaire and photo documentation, mapping daily and evening activity, behaviour of people, animals and nature, and the physical setting. High school volunteers helped with interviews and City staff helped design the questionnaires.
- Research, insight & strategy. Candidate sites screened from about 24 to 12, and local stories and history of the sites collected for the city's local identity.
- Co-creation & innovation processes. Findings became concept designs for each site: who uses the place, what it should offer, and basic and optional elements. Six concepts went out for public comment in May 2019; the tender later covered seven sites when more funding was secured.
- Pilots, implementation & scaling. The City opened the tender for design documentation for seven squares on 10 October 2019, which closed the SkopjeLab phase. Works began in September 2020. SkopjeLab identified private-sector partners willing to support implementation.
Impact and learning
Seven concepts to tender, five squares built. The City reported four squares under way from September 2020: Ilindenska square at the corner of Ilindenska boulevard and Nikola Tesla street in Karposh, the Idadija polyclinic park at Mlin Balkan in Centar, the Jane Sandanski / Ramstor square in Aerodrom, and Palma square in Aerodrom. The Jane Sandanski square opened on 5 March 2021. SkopjeLab's article of 30 July 2021 counts five new squares, adding the park by the fire brigade on Metropolit Teodosij Gologanov boulevard, with Palma as the last to be completed.
The squares in numbers. The City announced areas of 1,470, 585, 2,000 and 1,068 square metres for the first four sites (June 2020). The Aerodrom / Ramstor square received 350 new plants (90 tall), 14 chess tables and LED lighting.
More than 70 further locations. Residents' ideas identified more than 70 additional sites that need redesign (project blog, February 2019).
Research depth. More than 100 people interviewed and more than 150 online ideas collected for 12 sites.
Timeline. From the public challenge in July 2018, the City opened the tender for execution designs 15 months later and began works in September 2020.
Gallery
Outputs
#RedizajnSkopje initiative site
View linkRedizajn 1.0 (seven sites, method, results)
View linkDesign pages per site, e.g. Palma Aerodrom
View linkSkopje's urban green transformation: 5 brand new public squares (Medium, 30 Jul 2021)
View linkRedesign of Green Public Spaces in Skopje (blog)
View linkCall for design documentation for seven squares (Macedonian)
View linkNew green square in Aerodrom opened (Macedonian, March 2021)
View linkRelated Projects
City of Skopje Innovation Center – SkopjeLab (North Macedonia)
SkopjeLab, the City of Skopje Innovation Center, was the first public sector innovation centre founded within a public institution in the Balkans. Managed by SmartUp from July 2017 to February 2022, it brought city staff, citizens and partners together to redesign city services, open city data, co-design public spaces and build innovation skills in the administration.
Learn more
Redesign of public spaces, Edition 2
From December 2019 to February 2020, SmartUp designed and facilitated, through SkopjeLab, a two-round co-creation process in which 35 participants, guided by eight mentors, co-designed small public spaces in Skopje. Mentors and participants were recruited by public call, every team began with fieldwork, and the process produced nine detailed concept designs.
Learn more
Rock Hackathon
In November 2018 the City of Skopje, the Faculty of Architecture and SkopjeLab, with Ecopreneurs for the Climate, held a hackathon in Skopje that invited students, young professionals and entrepreneurs to develop eco-business ideas that reuse cultural heritage to create green public spaces in the Old Bazaar. SmartUp's role was facilitation.
Learn more
Velo Parking: co-designing bicycle infrastructure in Skopje
SmartUp ran an open design competition with GIZ and the City of Skopje: 22 applications, 11 multidisciplinary teams, and three awarded designs for a bicycle-parking area at Skopje's Transport Centre, followed by construction.
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Planning similar work?
SmartUp can support research, co-creation, facilitation, digital tools, implementation, or learning documentation for related programmes.