YOUNG ADULTS LOCAL HUB
“Local hubs” is defined as a public space designed to cater to a specific purpose, whether it is a group of people or a set of activities. In this case, it is considered as public space for youths and young adults.
Some main criterias for what is considered local hubs are:
1. Open, public outdoor or indoor space
2. Easily accessible by foot or bicycle from the main road, with space for parking bicycle
3. Undefined space that is open for interpretation or flexible for multiple activities
4. Non-traditional public space, such as abandoned sites, small roads
5. Mis-used public space or spaces used for reasons other than their intended purposed, such as public square parkings (as identified earlier)
The site of these local hubs should be within a youth, student, or young adult active areas (as previously defined). Together they will form a network of smaller public spaces connected together by cycling routes , with activities catered towards the different needs and interests of young adults.
YOUNG ADULTS ACTIVITIES
The overarching goal is to instill a sense of community among youths and young adults . Therefore, local hub activities are chosen based on two factors:
1. Various interests of youths and young adults
2. Programs and events that may be relevant and/or useful for their future, in terms of personal and social development and career goals
To avoid creating a controlled environment, the activities do not have to be fixed and can be changed throughout the day, on different days of the week and season . This temporary program provides an opportunity for users to define the space themselves, according to their needs and multiple interests and the local resources available.
Some potential activities that can be implemented include:
1. Workshops relating to essential technical and practical skills (cooking, financing, networking, technological intelligence)
2. University / higher education day
3. Local brewery / beer garden
4. Temporary urban skate parks
5. Art /creative exhibition space
ONE-STOP CENTER - UNIVERSITY DAY
A one-stop center can be implemented in the central square of the city, as it can easily be accessible by everyone and all means of transportation. In this paritcular scenario, it can be transformed into a university center, whereby representatives from universities and other specialized institutes in Kielce can gather in one spot and incoming or interested students can come, to learn the process of application or other essential information. This form of activity can be implemented during the school period, to provide students with opportunities and time to think about their future.
CREATIVE OUTLET SPACE
Due to the nature of the existing site, the temporarily closed concert shell, it can easily be converted into a creative outlet space, a space where youths and young adults can gather to express their imagination and emotion and to inspire one another. The above image depicts how the space can be transformed to support a casual, musical jam session (or at other times, an urban art exhibition). This can help youths and young adults explore different forms of creativity, de-stress and socialize among people with similar interests, while simultaneously provide a fun and free entertainment for the public to enjoy.
PRACTICAL SKILL WORKSHOP
Many youths and young adults, especially children leaving the foster care system, are thrown out into the adult world without having gained or learned essential life skills, such as cooking, financing and social networking. This makes it difficult for them to mature and become independent. Therefore, to help them, several of the local hubs can be used to support different practical skill workshops. The image below depicts a potential scenario in which the outdoor space by the Kielce Cultural Center is used to hold a cooking workshop. The event can be themed and changed regularly to provide more diversity, such as a month of cooking, where a weekend is dedicated to local dishes, the next to asian cuisine and another to quick and easy dorm recipes.
Small roads or alleyways within a residential area is also a popular social spot for many young adults, as they are often close to home and underutilized during specific times of the day. For example, a dead end road with interesting terrain and landscape can be converted into a temporary urban skate park, or other popular young adult functions, such as a local garage gallery or an alley gallery.
TEMPORARY URBAN SKATE PARK
LOCAL BREWERY - BEER GARDEN
Baza Zbozowa Arts and Cultural Center is a potential local hub located opposite a university area and can easily be transformed to cater activities that are interesting and fun for students. In this case, the outdoor space, and potentially the indoor space, can be converted into a beer garden. This creates a casual, social space for students to hang out without always having to go to the city center, while simultaneously provides an opportunity for local brewery to expand and promote their business.
To thoroughly connect the local hubs and eventually the entire city by a network of cycling route requires a much more in depth analysis of the entire road network and current situation.
However, the eventual transformation of Kielce into a sustainable, cycling friendly city can be broken down into two steps.
1. Short-term transformation
This includes implementation of the proposed cycling network to connect the local hubs, with transformation along roads that do not have a cycling infrastructure. It focuses on removing on-street parking to provide space for pedestrian and bicyclists, and a better utilization of public space along the river, to create an attractive cycling and running route for youths and young adults.
2. Long-term transformation
This focuses on re-routing traffic, to create a network of car-free streets, especially for roads within the center of the city. The aim is to minimize the dependence on personal vehicle to the periphery of the city with public transportation connecting people to the city and the innermost or busiest zones accessible only by cycling and walking.
4. Abandoned Children’s Hospital
1. Józefa Wybickiego Square
2. Abandoned Outdoor Gym
3. Outdoor Park
5. Temporarily Closed Concert Shell
6. City Center Square
9. Outdoor Space by Kielce Cultural Center
10. Inspiration Zone - European Rover Challenge
11. Open Space, Small Street
12. Baza Zbozowa Arts and Cultural Center
7. Liberty Square
8. Parking Square
