Sponsorship

Autodesk supports the Public Spaces Program

Autodesk collaborates with like-minded organizations to help bring the subject of sustainability to a global audience and promote the change in the urban structure. One of such effort is a regional support of the Public Spaces Program run by the The Environmental Partnership for Sustainable Development Organisation. This is a consortium of six foundations in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia dedicated to mobilizing and empowering people to improve their environment, their local communities and societies.

Partnerships for Public Spaces

The core of the Partnership for Public Spaces Program is encouraging and supporting communities to transform public spaces into vibrant centers of community life incorporating principles of sustainability and environmental protection. Through training, technical assistance and small grants community members and stakeholders identify an area of their community and create and implement a project to transform that space into an environmentally and people friendly center. The program strives to make transportation, parks, squares, pubic markets, waterfronts, and streets people centered, while introducing concepts of civic participation, urban renewal, brownfield regeneration and “smart growth”. In this way, the program not only helps community address environmental health issues and improve the quality of life of their community, but also build their capacity to make more changes for the better in the future. Currently, public spaces program are being implemented in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania with related activities taking place in Poland and Bulgaria. The knowledge is nevertheless also disseminating to other countries, e.g.: Croatia and Serbia.

Why green spaces?

Cities are vibrant and exciting, but they also can be overwhelming and intimidating. Trees, flowers, a small park, even a sidewalk bench can soften the rough edges of a city. Well-functioning plazas, streets, parks, river fronts or playgrounds nurture people's happiness, wellbeing, sense of belonging and community pride. Community based Green Spaces are essential building blocks of strong neighborhoods, thriving cities and healthy societies.

Autodesk is proud to be the partner of the Public Spaces Program and help enable the movement around the urban communities. Together with the Environmental Partnership for Sustainable Development Organisation Autodesk believes that communities actively shaping their places is the key to sustainability. The know-how and expertise of the Environmental Partnership for Sustainable Development Organisation has been also acquired from world renowned leading architects for public spaces such as Danish urban planner Jan Gehl, British professional in community planning Nick Waits and colleagues from Project for Public Spaces New York, who helped to establish the program in other European countries.