In a recent address in Sydney Henriette Vamberg, partner and managing director at the global urban strategy and design firm Gehl, zeroed in on the importance of public spaces as critical infrastructure for climate resilience.
Historically, cities have prioritised buildings, roads, and economic infrastructure as urban planning essentials; now, as heatwaves increasingly batter ill-prepared cities and metropolitan areas brace for continued population growth, public spaces are emerging as critical infrastructure for public health, environmental resilience, and social cohesion.
At this year’s 2026 Gene Willsford UTZON Address, keynote speaker Henriette Vamberg, partner and managing director at the global urban strategy and design firm Gehl, highlighted the importance of public spaces and shared insights from globally recognised urban design projects.
Presented in partnership with the Committee for Sydney, the address was followed by a panel discussion exploring the value of balancing infrastructure development with community well-being and sustainability to foster vibrant, connected cities.
“In a growing city, it is crucial that we continue to … build out the social infrastructure of our cities, the community spaces,” Vamberg said. The key focus of urban development should be “not just housing,” but also ensuring a city “stays viable and stays connected.”
Vamberg said a major part of this viability is protecting urban populations from the effects of global warming. These effects are amplified by the urban heat island effect as city infrastructure materials such as asphalt and concrete trap significantly more heat.
“It’s like entering a baking oven with nowhere to cool off,” Vamberg said.
Classical-model Italian cities are particularly threatened by heat, with their large open plazas, brick buildings, and hard-surface squares. In response to climate pressures, Gehl is working with Italian city planners to “try to squeeze in as much green as we can.”
While necessary, this strategy of implementing climate-adapted designs, which may include pavement alternatives, advanced shading, and water features, creates its own challenges with countering communities’ “cultural understanding of what the city should look and feel like.” Regardless of these concerns, Vamberg said, “there’s no way around it.”
As El Niño conditions and long-term climate change trigger unprecedented global heat waves, urban areas especially must prepare for deadly, record-breaking heat. While public spaces are redesigned to address climate concerns, other factors are also being brought to the forefront of social infrastructure considerations.
The panel discussion, hosted by Estelle Grech, urban planner and policy specialist director at Committee for Sydney, agreed that the purpose of public spaces, beyond climate retrofitting, is to provide essential areas for civic connection and recreation.
A space should be designed for multi-purpose use with “flexibility and agility” in mind to create a stronger sense of “connectedness,” according to Alia Karaman, project director at Transport for NSW.
Expanding on this concept, Hassell Fellow and honorary professor at UNSW Sydney, Ken Maher, said that what ultimately makes a public space “pivotal” to a community is “when you can anchor yourself in a location and utilise it as a secondary place that you are able to enjoy.”
The panel determined a large part of this enjoyment comes from a sense of cultural belonging to the space.
“If a square or a public space is a physical expression of the public realm, we need to be able to find identity within them,” explained Amber Nehal, senior planner for urban planning, policy, and development advisory consultancy Mecone.
This attachment of identity to a public space happens “naturally” and is “something that can’t fully be forced.”
As designers plan new spaces, Nehal said it’s important to consider “who we’re building them for and the identity that needs to be created,” so that cities can transition into climate-resilient designs without eroding cultural identity or sense of place.
To assess the value of new infrastructure changes, Jan Gehl, the founding partner of Gehl, developed the Twelve Quality Criteria to evaluate public life. The criteria are organised into three levels, including protection, comfort, and enjoyment, to address people’s basic needs, human experience, and quality of place.
The assessment monitors the physical environment of urban public spaces to understand their effect on human behaviour and pedestrian experiences. In Copenhagen, where Gehl is headquartered, it found areas that successfully attracted more people for longer periods were human scaled, offered ample seating, and featured accessible community spaces.
Vamberg noted that the development of higher-quality public spaces did not change the activities people enjoyed, such as observing public life and engaging with the community, but rather encouraged their past-time behaviours.
“It’s not just about pretty streets,” Vamberg said. Designers should consider the community “as connected networks that we need to invest in over time.”
“It comes in intervals, this investment in public infrastructure and how we see that as vital elements that offer connectedness … But now it’s about time again.”
