Convivio Workshop
On

Understanding public spaces: exploring methods

Limerick, Ireland

1 & 2 December 2005

Call for Participation

The Interaction Design Centre, University of Limerick is organizing a two 
days workshop to discuss methods of studying and understanding public 
places with focus on outdoor public places such as urban squares, parks, 
markets, central business districts, libraries, airports, railway/bus 
stations etc. The Workshop is being sponsored by CONVIVIO, The Network for 
People Centered Interactive Design.

The Workshop

Public spaces are complex entities and difficult to define.  Carr et al 
(Public Space, 1992) provide a comprehensive definition of public spaces 
as “responsive democratic and meaningful” spaces that – 

- protects the rights of user groups
- are accessible to all groups and provide freedom for action but 
also for temporary claim and ownership
- allows people to learn to live together

Several disciplines are involved in studying and understanding public 
spaces with varied objectives. While ‘design’ disciplines like 
architecture, urban design, urban planning, sculptors and now interactions 
designers are interested in studying and understanding public spaces to 
explore opportunities of ‘design’ interventions, other disciplines like 
urban sociology, anthropology, geography and archaeology conduct such 
studies to understand how such spaces are used by people.

While the objectives of studying public space are different, we wish to 
examine the different approaches being used to study public spaces across 
different disciplines. The workshop aims to bring people from various 
disciplines (e.g. architects, urban planners, sociologists, artists etc) to 
discuss different approaches being employed for studying public spaces. 
 
Workshop structure

Participants will present their work, discussing their approach conducting 
study and analysis of public spaces, the methodologies they used and the 
significant outcomes arising from their work. Presentations will be 
followed by group discussions focusing on methods presented.

This two days workshop will be limited to 15-20 participants to provide 
ample opportunity for formal and informal discussions.
Submissions 

We encourage submission of an abstract, no longer than a page, of 
studies/projects carried out in public places focusing on methods used.

We encourage architects, interaction designers, computer scientists, urban 
designers/urban planners, landscape architects, artists and sculptors, 
urban sociologists, geographers, archaeologists and anthropologists to 
submit an abstract for the workshop.

Please e-mail your abstracts to [log in to unmask] 

Submission Deadline: November 7th 2005.  

Notification of Acceptance: November 14th 2005.

Participation in the workshop is free of charge to those who are accepted 
for the workshop.

Venue : The workshop will take place at the Lakeside Hotel in 
Ballina/Killaloe, 12 miles from Limerick city in Ireland, on 1st and 2nd 
December 2005. The workshop venue is within easy reach from Shannon 
International Airport.

Web Site: http://www.idc.ul.ie/placeworkshop

Organising Committee

Prof. Liam Bannon, 
(Prof. Liam Bannon is the Director of the Interaction Design Centre and has 
a background in Computing and Psychology)

Luigina Ciolfi, 
(Luigina has a background in Communication Sciences, HCI and Interaction 
Design)

Parag Deshpande 
(Parag has a background in Architecture and urban conservation)
Contact Parag Deshpande ([log in to unmask]) for additional information.

About The Interaction Design Centre

The Interaction Design Centre is an interdisciplinary research group in the 
Department of Computer Science and Information Systems focused on the 
design, use and evaluation of information and communications technologies. 
Work in the IDC covers a wide spectrum, from the design and evaluation of 
new media installations and interfaces to field studies of technology in 
use in different settings.

For more information visit http://www.idc.ul.ie