DEMO DOMAIN; for of and by the local people of Europe

Abstract

The binding factor of the European Union's diverse nations is their practice of democracy. However, recently the EU has been dealing with the rising power of populism, increasing polarization and strong bubble forming; all leading to a weakening practice of local, national and union scale democracies. An important factor in this is the lacking tradition of Public Sphere in our society; a safe and comfortable space that invites and facilitates dialectic engagement between people of different believes. Bringing back this sphere into the spatial realm, accessible to people, will strengthen the local practice of democracy. An institution that has played an import role in the traditional practice of European Democracy is that of the Public Domain; the space that derives its function and value based on the peoples' needs. This locally strong embedded institution already facilitate the Expression Sphere and Protests Spheres hence it needs to evolve, adding to it the Public Sphere. Public Domains through the whole of Europe need to spatially evolve in a bottom-up and gentle manner. Above all; the manifestation of Public Sphere needs to become deeply rooted in the local society and context to connect to the local society and its people. This relation between local people and the Public Sphere is coloured by the qualitative application of architectural atmosphere as it has the capacity to colour and define the emotional relationship between institution and space. One of the evolved manifestations of the public domain is that of the Demo Domain of Nowa Huta; a former utopian socialist town, close to Krakow, Poland.