Public Space

Students and residents in Copenhagen, Denmark, will soon have an intriguing new waterside environment for education and recreation. The Nordhavn Islands are three circular manmade islands on the coast that will cater for learning, watersports and events, as well as host a new vegetation environment.

Vancouver is following the lead of other world cities by repurposing a disused rail line to create a new walking and cycling route. The Arbutus Greenway project will provide a continuous route for pedestrians and cyclists from Milton Street to 1st Avenue.

Following an international architecture competition, Japanese firm Nikken Sekkei has won the opportunity to redevelop a stretch of railway line that spans the breadth of Singapore into a green corridor.

A new park in London may be dwarfed by some of the city's larger and more grandiose green spaces, but it still provides a place for Londoners to take a break. The Tooley Street Fresh Air Square, which takes up just two car parking spaces​, has been installed in the London Bridge area of the city.

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has unveiled a masterplan to reshape Pittsburgh's Lower Hill district. The project is set to create over a thousand new homes, increase available public space, and improve connectivity for cyclists and pedestrians.

Recently, we've seen public parks created – or planned for creation – on old railways, in old trolley terminals, on streets, bridges and piers. A new park in London, however, is more unusual than all of these. It's built inside the structure of an old gasholder.

Plans have been unveiled to reclaim a road in Mexico City from cars. Avenida Chapultepec is one of the city's busy main arteries, but is clogged with cars and splits the city. The historical road will feature an elevated park with green spaces and a layout tailored for those on foot or bike.

The city of St. Petersburg in Florida, US, is to gain an exciting and multi-purpose public space. The St. Petersburg Pier will be redesigned and rebuilt as a hybrid pier-park. It will accommodate a variety of activities including walking, jogging, watersports, eating, fishing, shopping and relaxing.

Philadelphia is hoping to follow in the footsteps of New York and Chicago by converting its defunct overhead railway into public parkland. At 3 mi (4.8 km), the Philadelphia Rail Park would be longer than both the High Line and the 606, and would provide much-needed green space for the area.

People out and about in Dubai can now use palm trees to get online and recharge their phones. The Smart Palm is hi-tech version of the date palm tree and is being rolled out by D-Idea Media. In addition to Wi-Fi and device charging, it provides local info, directions, seating and shade.

A new public park and trail system will open in the US city of Chicago this weekend. The 606, so-called because of the Chicago ZIP code prefix, is built on the former route of the Bloomingdale Line railway track. Its centerpiece is a 2.7-mi (4.3 km) elevated recreation and cultural trail.

A new bridge in the Netherlands is designed to do more than get people from A to B. The Paleisbrug, in the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, is a raised park, pedestrian bridge and cycle-link all in one.