ShareAt Boulevard open public space park
KUWAIT: (From left) Dr Ameera Al-Hassan, Adwan Al-Adwani and Dr Tarek El-Sheikh are seen during the signing ceremony.KUWAIT: The United Nations Human Settlements Programme UN-Habitat and Boulevard under Al-Salmiya Group for Enterprise Development Company has announced the successful signing between the two organizations to launch an engaging celebratory event on Public Space during March 15th and 16th at Boulevard Park.
This year's celebrations marks the theme 'Public Space for Peace,' a celebratory event bringing communities together to celebrate our appreciation for Kuwait's coalition countries by having an 'International Tasting Bazaar' and celebrating the importance of having an open public space around Kuwait districts that is socially engaging and impactful.
Boulevard Park is considered Sustainable due to its multipurpose setting for park goers having a library, shopping, and restaurants with beautiful open out-door space creates a sense of holistic well-being for guests to finish and enjoy their daily activities.
Boulevard Park has been selected due to its commitment in promoting and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals specifically SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities advocating that a well-planned city-wide public space systems with natural green areas that are well connected can create networks to regenerate ecological systems and tackle challenges posed by climate change.
The UN-Habitat and Boulevard cooperation aims to bring together people. It represents the culmination of the cooperation between private sector and UN organizations along with participation of all sectors of the society. Bringing in cultural diversity by enriching residents experience in a variety of international food dishes, representing different regions of the world, and achieving creating cross-cultural friendships.
The signing ceremony held at Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah building and attended by Dr Tarek El-Sheikh, United Nations Resident Coordinator and Acting Head of Office UN-Habitat Dr Ameera Al-Hassan and Adwan Al-Adwani, Chairman of Al-Salmiya Group.
"Bringing forward this initiative to Boulevard aims to raise awareness of the importance of having an open public space around Kuwait districts that helps to achieve a compact, connected and integral inclusive in Kuwait future cities," Adwani said.
"This is part of our mandate to update and inform all residents of Kuwait on the international pillars of what makes a community sustainable by promoting both the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)," Sheikh further added
In order to generate more awareness of what is 'open public space,' a youth competition will run simultaneously during the second day of the bazaar geared to students in private schools who offer the UN curricula to showcase their creative talents in either drawing or design a model of what they need and want in the sustainable 'My Future City Model' competition.
Adwan added that Boulevard Park was designed in a way to promote a unique offering of a mix of in-door and out-door services, activities, and facilities to empower families by contributing to the local community and making it accessibly convenient for both families and kids.
Strategically located at the heart of Salmiya, Kuwait's most vibrant district, Boulevard stands as an urban hub for recreational, social, commercial, natural, and touristic attractions in which visitors can enjoy an array of activities.
Hassan stated that as a shopping mall with an open space, Boulevard provides its shoppers with a multipurpose park, where each family member enjoys a safe and environmental friendly open space, the youth can also practice sports and intellectual activities which leads them to become a more creative and productive generation, and that in its essence achieves the UN-Habitat New Urban Agenda objectives and at the same time it achieves the economic growth of the city.
Hassan further added that the interesting part is that Boulevard design places in consideration of all kinds of shopper's access requirements including infants, people with special needs and elderly making it easier for nearby commuters.
Sheikh emphasized, that UN role we are tasked to help raise awareness and create a place that empower residents to be involved in decision making process's in order to meet their general demand as set by Agenda 2030.
Messages from 'Public Space for Peace' celebration will promote the five pillars of what makes a Sustainable Public Space:
1) creating adequate public space that serve an inter-generational mix of diverse people and cultures since communities are key to sustainable development;
2) Public space should be people-centered empowering residents to participate in the urban planning process ;
3) Public Spaces should be sustainable spaces that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable;
4)Partnerships with private sector is critical and essential in advancing sustainable practices and ensuring the global messages are reached effectively through demonstration projects and lastly ;
5) Effective Local level leaderships (at the Mokhtar level) together with empowered Governorates makes our future better and our needs met effectively.
It is worth noting; that public art performances in public spaces can celebrate and validate a sense of community, identity, belonging and well-being. The more that our cities architecture and urban design is admired and loved by the public, the longer it will be cared, adopted and sustained.
Boulevard Shopping is the one-stop shopping destination that embodies a diverse array of retailers, cafes and restaurants. The entire mall is equipped with a full range of facilities that guarantees convenience of both its visitors and tenants.
* 2000+ parking spaces
* Free Wi-Fi
* Special needs facilities
* 24/7 security services
* Banking and ATM services
* Sultan Center Hyper Market
* A huge shopping mall
* Jarir Bookstore
* Best Electronics (opening soon)
* Kids Entertainment
* Seven gates overlooking four main streets
* Prayer rooms
Public Space is the banner of urban community where people perform a number of functions that are shared with all and when planned efficiently public spaces can;
1) Generate income of investment and wealth creation
2) Producers of environmental sustainability
3) Increases transportation efficiency and enhances Safety
4) Improves Public Health
5) Act as promoters of equity and social inclusion
6) Opportunities for generation citizen involvement
7) Generators of great cities.
UN-Habitat is the UN agency for Housing and Cities that supports sustainability in urban areas for more than 40 years UN-Habitat has been working in human settlement programs throughout the world with a focus of building brighter future for developing villages, towns, cities of all sizes, which are in need of support in guiding the process of urbanizations.
The collaboration between UN-Habitat and Boulevard will educate and inform ' youths' about the benefits of public space for sustainability and how this plays a strong impact for societies to thrive in Kuwait. Teaching residents and youths the added benefits of having an open public space and investing more into attractive outdoor communities are 50 percent more likely to achieve high levels of walking which help slow global warming and its role to shape urban development communities.
Dalal Al-Radhi, Partnership and Advocacy Associate at UN-Habitat ended by saying, Green public space must be a key consideration in urban planning for the health of the city and its people, considering world's most famous cities are known for their open space as for their culture such as, Barcelona La Rambla tree lined pedestrian or the Bukit Timah Nature Preserve in Singapore.
