UN-Habitat has worked with the issue of public space for 15 years or more. However, at the 23rd Governing Council of UN-Habitat in 2011, United Nations Member States asked UN-Habitat to place a larger focus on public space and how it can contribute to sustainable urban development (Resolution 23/4 on Sustainable Urban Development through Access to Public Spaces). Specifically, UN-Habitat is mandated: To advance the agenda on place-making and public spaces in a way that will consolidate local and international approaches to creating inclusive cities, enhance the knowledge of UN-Habitat partners and local authorities of place-making, public spaces and the quality of urban life, and facilitate and implement exchange, cooperation and research between partners working in this fieldTo develop a policy approach on the role that public spaces can play in meeting the challenges of our rapidly urbanizing world, to disseminate that policy and its results widely and to develop a plan for ensuring its application internationally;To assist in coordinating UN-Habitat partners in disseminating knowledge to existing sustainable urban development processes at all government levels.Globally, the growing attention to public space informed the 23rd Session of the Governing Council of The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) in 2011, where member states mandated UN-Habitat to consolidate agency-wide work on public space, to develop and promote public space policy, coordination, disseminate knowledge and directly assist cities in public space initiatives.[1] Against this backdrop, UN-Habitat established in 2012, a Global Programme on Public Space now working in 30 cities. The world secretariat of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) has created a Strategic Planning Committee chaired by the cities of Porto Alegre and Durban with a strategic focus on global advocacy, establishing regional networks of cities working on public space, supporting learning exchanges, tool development and documenting good practices in partnership with UN-Habitat. The Italian Institute of Urbanism (INU) has been instrumental in developing the Charter on Public Space as well as hosting the public space biennale. Another great milestone which has been achieved is the adoption of the 2016-2030 Sustainable Development Goals which adopted a Goal 11 ‘Build cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.’ One of the proposed targets set out is “by 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, particularly for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities”. The adoption of the SDG 11.7 by the General Assembly in September 2015, constituted the most significant attention ever to public space in the global policy arena. However, continued support for SDG 11, and in particular public space Target 11.7, will be even more important to ensure adequate means of implementation and a sound monitoring framework that will be necessary to catalyse action on public space as a contribution to sustainable cities and human settlements. This will require that cities invest in public space and in the spirit of the new urban agenda cities and local governments should take an integrated, trans-disciplinary approach by working in partnership with a range of stakeholders and organizations, including civil society, academia and the private sector to ensure inclusive, safe and accessible public spaces for all. In 2013-15, the Future of Places (FoP) initiative significantly contributed to raising awareness around the public space agenda on a global level. The FoP is a multi-stakeholder initiative which was established by Ax:son Johnson Foundation, UN-Habitat and Project for Public Spaces (PPS) bringing together a large and diverse network of stakeholders around the issues of public space through a series of annual conferences (2013 in Stockholm, 2014 in Buenos Aires and 2015 in Stockholm again). The Future of Places gathered leading global thinkers, academia, decision-makers, practitioners, other UN Agencies, media, communities and private sector that subscribe to the transformative power that good quality public spaces can have in a city. All together the network represents about 1,500 individuals from 700 organisations, from 275 cities, across 100 countries. The success of this initiative has shown the commitment of a wide range of actors with a stake in public space, as well as highlighted the global importance of this theme. In a short time it has created a global movement for public space (10.000 followers on twitter) contributing actively to highlighting its benefits and putting it on the global development agenda.UN-Habitat has worked in the area of public space for over 15 years. However, at the 23rd Governing Council of UN-Habitat in 2011, United Nations Member States asked UN-Habitat to place a larger focus on public space and how it can contribute to sustainable urban development. Specifically, UN-Habitat is mandated: a) To advance the agenda on place-making and public spaces in a way that will consolidate local and international approaches to creating inclusive cities, enhance the knowledge of UN-Habitat partners and local authorities of place-making, public spaces and the quality of urban life, and facilitate and implement exchange, cooperation and research between partners working in this field; b) To develop a policy approach on the role that public spaces can play in meeting the challenges of our rapidly urbanizing world, to disseminate that policy and its results widely and to develop a plan for ensuring its application internationally; c) To assist in coordinating UN-Habitat partners in disseminating knowledge to existing sustainable urban development processes at all government levels. The project is also aligned with the UN-Habitat Strategic Plan 2014-2019 and specifically to Sub-programme 2: urban planning and design and expected accomplishment 2: integrated and participatory urban plans and public space for compact, inclusive and connected cities. For example, the project links with the following UN-Habitat interventions: · Urban Basic Services: Sustainable Urban Transport in East African Cities (SUSTRAN) Programme · Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP) · Municipal Spatial Support Programme (MuSPP) · The Safer Cities Programme UN Habitat is also a knowledge leader in the public space arena, developing tools and guidelines as well as contributing to global thinking through the Habitat III issue papers, policy units, amongst others. Moreover, UN-Habitat has commenced several partnerships on the global but also on the regional level focusing on issues related to public space. Therefore, UN-Habitat is perfectly placed to take advantage of the opportunities presented by SDG11.7 on public space and continue working on public space for the next four years.