Our cities are densifying to accommodate the growing urban population within the existing urban fabric. More and smaller homes are being built. This appears to be the result of an ongoing global housing crisis. Therefore, good quality public space becomes even more essential, as it acts as the expansion of our living rooms. It is the immediate living environment, where we live in, use, appropriate, and experience it together (Harteveld, 2020).
The growth of private spaces within our city limits, a reaction to the housing crises, should also lead to the expansion of our public space network. Especially if new building mass is introduced within city limits by filling up gaps, leftover spaces, or public spaces, which is then substituted by a great amount of private spaces. This ‘eating up’ of public spaces is f.e. happening with the planned projects of Kavel 6/7 and Habitat Royal, which are expanding the private areas of Amsterdam Zuid into the Beatrixpark, or Rotta Nova in Rotterdam, which is replacing a publicly used green space with a great amount of private spaces. These approaches of densification make the public space network of our cities shrink. Losing public space and not giving much more back than winning new private spaces. The logical outcome would be to reintroduce public and collective space (public interiors) as part of those projects to equal up for the deduction of public space, however, in these examples, it is not happening.
A merge of public space with private buildings as a response to densification could be achieved with public interiors. These expand the network of public space into the insides and outsides of private buildings. They are a vital component of the extension of the public space network and can become part of our everyday urban lives (Harteveld, 2014).