Kunskapsskolan Enskede, a school for 11- to 16-year-olds in a suburb of Stockholm, is a former office block into which classrooms, open-study spaces and two small lecture-theatres have been squeezed (pictured).

ECONOMIST: Private education

She is also determined that, as Rhodes Scholars have Rhodes House, her "scholars will have spaces to study and work" and to socialize.

WSJ: 'Imaginative' Oxford Gift to Boost Humanities Study

Study after study shows marked reductions in transmission in public spaces when hand hygiene is practiced, and a recent study found nearly undetectable influenza particle levels after hands contaminated with influenza were washed with either soap and water or an over-the-counter gel containing at least 50 percent alcohol.

CNN: Commentary: Flu and your health on a plane

Perhaps the most remarkable case study to date is the Occupy movement, which demonstrated the value of public spaces as well as some of the more ingenious ways these spaces can be designed for public experience.

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