 Human activity animates the public spaces of the city, wherever you are. It's the glue that keeps the city together. It's where people meet to connect and engage, to celebrate and to protest, to see the world go by. The COVID pandemic put a sudden stop to all this. But cities have fought back, reclaiming and activating public open space. We can design our cities to humanize or brutalize, to bring people together or to keep them apart. A redundant railway is reimagined as a public place. The city and the street become human theater. A former sewer which divided the community is repurposed into a linear gathering space. Steep barriers are turned into slides, a place to hang out, to meet and to play. Well-designed public spaces can breathe new life into soulless communities. But it requires design and imagination. Gated courtyards are transformed into social condensers in this housing estate, bringing the community together at different times of day and the week. The roof of a museum becomes a viewing platform for the city. A museum courtyard becomes a setting for urban life. A new park reconnects the city with its citizens, with new perspectives and experiences. This is what public space is about. A platform for everyday life, but also for the unplanned, for the unexpected. Complexity in public space keeps cities alive. It makes them more human and more humane.