Why Public Open Space Is a Design Problem, Not Leftover Land

Public open space is any outdoor area a city keeps for everyone to use without paying or asking permission: a square, a shoreline path, a school gate, a sports court, a corner with a bench. Designing it means deciding who can reach it, what people can do there, and how it feels at different hours of the day. It is a design problem in the same way a building is.

I’m Hiba Zeineddine, a designer and researcher, and public space is the thread that runs through my work. This article explains the argument I keep coming back to: open space is not what remains after the buildings are done, it is something you design on purpose.

Updated for 2026.

What “public open space” actually covers

The phrase is broader than “park”. Three ideas sit inside it, and separating them helps.

Public means anyone can enter and stay. A courtyard behind a locked gate is open air, but it is not public. Access is the first thing to check, before any design decision.

Open means not enclosed by a roof or a building. A covered market can be very public and still not be open space.

Space means it has been shaped enough to be used. A vacant plot with no path, no shade and no edge is land, not yet space. The difference between the two is design.

Seen this way, the list of public open spaces is long. It includes streets, pavements, squares, waterfronts, playgrounds, sports courts, plazas outside schools and steps where people sit. Many of these already exist. Few were designed with much care.

Why “leftover” is a design failure

Much of what we call open space is really the gap between two buildings. Someone drew the buildings carefully and left the rest blank. Nobody decided what the blank should do.

A leftover space usually shows the same symptoms:

It has no clear entrance, so people are unsure whether they may enter.
It has no edge that offers something to lean on or sit against.
It has no reason to stop, such as shade, seating or a view.
Nobody feels responsible for it, so it collects litter and neglect.

None of these is a mystery of behaviour. They are results of a plan that stopped at the walls. That is why I find the usual framing backwards. When a public space is unused, the instinct is to blame the people. I would first look at the drawing.

This is also why I keep returning to the unbuilt. The most valuable decision on a site is sometimes the one to leave part of it open, and then to draw that openness with as much attention as a facade.

Five questions that make an open space work

I don’t work from a fixed template, because every site is different. These five questions are the ones I ask on every one, and they apply to a small pocket as much as a large square.

Who can reach it?

Look at the routes to the space, not only the space. A well-designed square that requires crossing a barrier is a square for a few. Check gradients, crossings, and whether someone with a pram, a walking frame or a wheelchair can arrive without a detour.

Where do people stop?

People rarely stand in the middle of an open area. They gather at edges, near steps, under trees, beside walls. If a space has no edges that invite staying, it becomes a place to cross rather than a place to be.

What makes staying comfortable?

Shade, seating, water and a sense of safety decide how long someone lingers. These are not luxuries added at the end. In a warm climate, shade can be the difference between a space that is used and one that is only photographed.

What can happen here across a day and a season?

A good space supports more than one use. A court can be a game in the evening and a place to sit in the morning. A square can hold a market on one day and stand quiet on another. Flexible ground and movable furniture help, while over-specified layouts lock a space into one activity.

Who looks after it?

A design that assumes permanent maintenance from someone else is fragile. Ask early who will care for the space, and shape it so that care is realistic. Spaces that neighbours feel they own tend to be kept better than spaces that belong to nobody.

See how this looks in practice. Browse the projects on this site that deal with public space, from youth mapping to heritage.

How I think a site visit should go

Arrive without a plan. Before drawing anything, spend time watching the place at different hours: who passes through, who stops, where people choose to sit and where they avoid.

Then talk to the people who use it, or who could. A person who crosses a space every day knows things no drawing shows: which corner floods, which bench catches the afternoon light, which route feels unsafe after dark.

Only after that does the drawing start. It then answers a question people have already described, instead of an assumption the designer brought along.

This is why participation matters so much to me. The youth mapping project on this site asks young people to show how they perceive public spaces, which is exactly the kind of knowledge a plan alone cannot hold. I describe the method in a separate step-by-step article on participatory mapping.

Design the open space, not just the buildings

Buildings get budgets, names and drawings. Open space often gets whatever is left at the end. Reversing that order is a small change with large effects.

In practice it means three habits. Draw the open space first and let buildings frame it. Test the space at different times of day before finalising it. And treat the edge between the space and the street as part of the design, since that edge decides whether people feel invited.

It also means accepting that open space is never finished. Use changes the space, and a good design leaves room for that change.

I hold a simple belief that shapes all of this: design, public spaces and art can change how a place feels to live in. That is a position, not a promise, and I try to keep the work honest about the difference.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between public space and open space?

Public space is defined by access: anyone may enter and stay. Open space is defined by form: it has no roof or building enclosing it. A space can be one without the other. A park behind a locked gate is open but not public. A covered arcade can be public but not open. Public open space is both.

Why does open space need to be designed?

Land left blank rarely becomes a place by itself. Without an entrance, edges, shade or a reason to stop, people cross it and keep going. Design supplies those things. It decides how a space is reached, where people can sit, and how it changes across a day, which is what turns empty ground into somewhere used.

Can a small space count as public open space?

Yes. Size matters less than access and comfort. A pocket with shade, a place to sit and a clear entrance can serve a neighbourhood better than a large, poorly connected square. Small spaces also suit local care, because a handful of neighbours can realistically keep them in good condition.

How do you involve residents in designing a public space?

Start by observing how the space is used, then ask people who use it. Mapping exercises, walks on site and simple drawings let residents show what they know without technical language. Their answers feed the brief before the design begins, so the result answers real use rather than assumptions.

Where can I see this approach applied?

The projects on this site show it in different forms, including youth mapping of public spaces, a campaign about access to the coast, and a study of reusing an existing silk mill. Each treats the space around or inside a structure as something to design, not something left over.