Prishtina_ trees.org

18//May. 2020 | Research, Spatial Planning, Urban Analytics,

PrishtinaTrees.org is an open platform that maps trees, green spaces and public spaces in Prishtina. The aim of this platform is to be informative and educative, and for citizens to have a clearer view of the state of trees and public spaces in their city and for them to learn about the trees and public spaces that make up the city’s urban forest. Additionally, with the knowledge that is extracted from this data, it is easier for city officials to decide in a more transparent and open way about future investments in tree planting and development of new public spaces. This platform is a never-ending work in progress, and will continuously be updated with new data.

The aim of the platform is to map all necessary elements (trees and urban furniture) that are positioned within the borders of what is considered to be the ‘urban zone’.

PrishtinaTrees.org is a project designed and developed by the research-based design studio Architecture for Humans

Social Distancing_ in Public

| Research, Urban Design,

The new normal that has already come as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic will require rethinking and new concepts for public spaces.
It’s now clear that many people will continue to use public spaces regardless of the risk of spreading the infection. At the same time, cafes/restaurants as a very important industry for our cities, will begin to reopen in order to economically survive this period. This can increase the risk of infection manifold.

To better organize life in public space and to minimize staying inside cafes / restaurants, one intervention proposal may be to place seats with a distance of 2 meters from all directions, in which citizens who buy Take-Away coffee/food (contributing to the gastronomy industry), continue to stay and sit in public spaces by still implementing measures for social distancing.

The seat system is designed in such a way that the surface that can be touched, especially with hands, is minimal.

Installing and removing the seats is easy, as they take up the space between the floor tiles: The floor tiles are removed, the seats are placed, in which case the tiles are positioned back to serve as stiffening weight for the seats. This makes this intervention affordable and reversible.