Espaçopubli.co: online platform maps Brasília's public spaces and their uses

Brazil's recent political and social crisis—exemplified by the results of the latest election—is concerning and has been undermining citizens' trust in the decision-making processes that affect our lives and cities. One of the reasons for this is the absence of public spaces where people of different social classes, races, ethnicities, perspectives, and worldviews can meet, exchange, and represent who they are.

Public spaces are fundamental to democracy and citizenship. Modern planning and unequal urban development have led Brasília to become a segregated, fragmented, and deeply unequal city. The deteriorated public sphere and the resulting individualization of lifestyles worsen the situation, leaving us increasingly disconnected, intolerant, and civically disengaged.

Fortunately, a recent phenomenon has given rise to new forms of civic engagement and participation. Whether through demonstrations, cultural occupations, community gardens, street markets, carnival blocks, or parties in public spaces, different initiatives are reinventing politics and urban citizenship by reimagining public space and the city.

Although these initiatives arise in different ways and act through different means, they all share similar goals and outcomes. They also share challenges—excessive bureaucracy, the criminalization of their activities, a lack of financial support, and unequal access to resources. These groups organize organically, independently, and, in many cases, disconnected from one another and without government support. Although they have a lot to say, they do not seem to have a voice in the city's future.

Under these circumstances, urban planner Eduarda Aun developed a project that aims to boost existing initiatives by giving them visibility, connecting them, and providing resources through the online platform Espaço Público. Through a map, users can interact with events and spaces, choosing to participate or access tools and other resources (case studies, urban data, legislation, guides) to organize on their own. Since most of these initiatives are already organized online through Facebook and WhatsApp groups, the use of online platforms is familiar while offering great potential for collaboration, expansion, and interactivity.

Espacopubli.co demonstrates the importance of critically understanding our social, political, and urban issues, and having the tools and paths to solve them. It was also developed to bring topics and conversations usually restricted to urban planners to a broader audience, presenting income distribution and accessibility maps, for instance, in an accessible and engaging way, and highlighting the importance of public spaces and collective action for fairer and more inclusive urban development. The platform also emphasizes the importance of movement visibility to encourage others to participate and occupy public space, to enable new connections between groups, and to show urban planners and government officials that there are demands to be met, but above all, that viable paths already exist.

Coincidentally, the platform emerges at the same time as the Government of Brasília launches the "Adote uma Praça" (Adopt a Square) program. The program aims to promote partnerships between business owners and residents to maintain and revitalize sites such as gardens, parking lots, roundabouts, tourist spots, playgrounds, and community meeting points (PECs). Decree No. 39,690/DF (which regulates the 1993 law on square adoption) encourages cooperation between the Federal District (DF) and private parties interested in making improvements to and maintaining street furniture and public spaces, promoting urban, cultural, social, technological, athletic, environmental, and landscaping improvements. The platform serves as an opportunity for the government to recognize existing demands and showcase potential partnerships between those who are already spontaneously transforming public spaces and companies or entities interested in financially supporting these projects—especially since funding is one of the greatest challenges for most organizations, particularly with the recent suspension of two public funding calls from the Cultural Support Fund (FAC), which many of these organizations rely on.

Espaçopubli.co serves as a wake-up call that many organizations are bringing culture and economic development to the Federal District and need government support through cultural grants and broader calls that address other types of urban interventions. The project reminds us that public spaces are important for sociability, leisure, and well-being, but also fundamental for democratic participation and citizenship. At the same time, it complements government programs: both the "Adote uma Praça" program and the FAC Ocupação public call (which aims to occupy and program public facilities) can use the mapping to understand which spaces are already being occupied by the population and how they are being used, as well as which areas and groups are benefiting, ensuring that resources are allocated democratically and benefit the population as a whole.

The platform introduces a new perspective on public space, framing it not as something given, but as something built through collective action. Rather than just physical and fixed locations, public space is what enables the mixing and coexistence of different people and ideas, open to all regardless of income, race, gender, or ideology. It is a space built by and for people, openly accessible, with shared impacts and serving as a stage for public roles, whether permanent or temporary. And let's face it, we are in dire need of spaces like these!

Espaçopubli.co was developed for Brasília, but it is an invitation for collaboration with other organizations and expansion to other cities and public spaces across Brazil.

Text provided by the project's author.