Reimagining Urban Places - with Vivian Doumpa

A couple of years ago, we were in Umeå in northern Sweden for a conference on creative industries and creativity and sustainable development, if you will.

So now my page flew away because the next season has entered.

It was sunny in between.

Now it's a bit windy.

Okay, back.

But how do you, because public space or outside space is very determined by the climate as well, right? And remember when we were in Umeå, it was February, there was a layer of ice on the street, there was a lot of snow.

Now we are in the south of Europe where, yeah, now late September, it's still quite warm, unless it's raining.

Tell us a little bit about that, about the climate in the use of outdoor space.

I think it's also a very much cultural event.

I mean, one of the most memorable moments of UMA for our experience there is when we lit up that fire in the middle of the freezing cold.

With the reindeers around.

With the reindeers around us, remember? And it was a total community experience within a conference setting.

But the fact that we were outside having a warm drink, We had also this beautiful performance by local and indigenous people.

So I don't think the climate is determining exactly the rituals in public space.

I think they are the rituals that take place anyhow in public space, regardless of the weather.

Of course, now with the climate change, and I also experience it now a lot in Greece, when you have extreme heat waves

in

Athens, it has started to shift the way we relate to public space.

And an unfortunate example I have, which I understand the reason, is that during heat waves and when we have the danger of wildfires, even in the center of Athens, we're closing down the parks and the forests.

And I understand on the side of fire prevention why they have to do this.

But in the end, where do you find comfort or where does the community meet when we're closing down the places that you can find comfort

within extreme conditions? How would you address that or how do you see that in the future with increasing climate change and nature in the city, let's say?

I think I totally respect the approaches that are being more design-led, so what you have to do in terms of blue infrastructure and green infrastructure, but it comes down back to the education.

Because we wouldn't have to close down the parks and the forests if people were informed and educated enough to take care of that forest and park so that it doesn't result into a wildfire.

So