OPUS - OPen Urban Spaces a project to increase knowledge of how open urban spaces accommodate new urban life and modern cultural events

The purpose of the project is the development of a collaboration research project on the role of public open space in community development and town revitalization. This research will involve developing comparative field methods including behavior mappin g, interviews, case studies and historic analysis of several past and future Cultural Capitals of Europe. The cultural capital program was conceived as a way to bring European cultural life together and is coordinated by the European Ministry for Culture . Stavanger has been selected as the 2008 Cultural Capital of Europe and Stavanger University is taking the lead in developing a project researching public space changes in the city and comparing to other European and American cities.