Accessibility as a factor in assessing urban public spaces: a case of Kannur, Kerala

Urban commercial complex is the product of social and economic development, as well as the inevitable trend of commercial development. The public space design of urban complex project is an important link in its development process, which is the link between the contact and the building, the city and the building, and the external image display of the complex. Therefore, choosing a suitable and excellent public space design scheme is of great significance to show the superiority of the complex project and improve the project satisfaction and the sustainable operation in the later stage. This paper first defines the concept of urban complex public space and focuses on the analysis of the urban complex public space from four aspects of constituent elements, functional classification, design theory, and principle. Then, the Delphi method is used to determine 26 evaluation indicators to evaluate the urban complex public space design scheme, and the relevant index data of 20 urban complex public space design schemes are collected. The grey correlation analysis method is used to analyze the correlation degree between each indicator and the scheme winning bid. The final evaluation system of urban complex public space design scheme is obtained after removing the 8 indicators with low correlation degree. Support vector mechanism was used to build the optimization model of urban complex public space design scheme, and its accuracy was verified, which provides a relatively simple and quantitative method for urban public space design in the future, helps to improve the city’s business structure, improves the business environment of the city, makes the commercial complex more effectively play its own characteristics and advantages, effectively stimulates the vitality of urban space, and creates more perfect architectural space and urban space for people.

Women's preferences and urban space: Relationship between built environment and women's presence in urban public spaces in Iran

Urban public spaces are the interface of any city that could tell about the city’s dynamic and status quo. In addition, Urban public spaces play a pivotal role in shaping societies’ dynamics and can significantly affect conflict and peacebuilding initiatives. In a context marked by Conflict’s profound impact, this article aims to contribute to the knowledge base for informed urban interventions that foster positive interactions and reconciliation in post-conflict cities. The article seeks to explore the intricate relationship between urban spaces and their influence on war or to promote sustainable peacebuilding through investigating the various roles of the urban public spaces during the war and peacetimes via residents’ experiences of the diverse spaces’ functions that shaped the city’s status quo. In addition, considering the interplay of social dynamics, conflict history, and the mental spatial map of cities in public urban spaces can influence lasting peace or upcoming conflicts. This article focuses on Aleppo as a case study, understanding the positive and negative experiences from the residents’ perspective before and during the current war in Syria, and even distinguishes between two periods during the recent war, which are the active violence and after the end of the direct active violence, where it could inform the decision-makers and urban planners on the areas of focus while developing post-war urban public spaces to ensure its positive role in fostering peace and be able to deal with the social dynamic and the mental spatial map that developed along with the conflict history. The paper utilised a mixed-methods approach, encompassing a case study review of Aleppo City from an urban perspective and fieldwork involving focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with Aleppian from different backgrounds and geographic areas that represent the social dynamic of the city, as well as approached Aleppian who are still in living in the city and those who flee out of it to ensure the coverage of different political direction in addition field work engaged with academia and technical from the city who shared their knowledge and experiences working in the city. Participants were prompted to reflect on their pre-war familiarity with public places and share their experiences. These experiences were categorized by enabling a comprehensive understanding of how conflict context influenced these spaces. The article results offer an understanding of the peace-guiding functions of the urban public spaces based on the city residents’ experiences that could inform architects and urban planners in designing spaces conducive to sustainable peacebuilding. The article’s findings underscore the importance of strategically designed urban public spaces in promoting peace and social cohesion.

Mapping urban public spaces based on the Nolli map method

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to move beyond the stage of analysis of exclusively physical microclimatic phenomena and extending ourselves to the study of the impact of the microclimate environment on the user behavior in public spaces. This paper will open up new opportunities for the development of urban open spaces and facilitate the decision-making for urban decision-makers, city managers and planners to make the right urban planning decision.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology for identifying the links between microclimatic quality of urban routes and behaviors was developed on the basis of the results obtained from field surveys carried out in nine public urban areas of the city of Biskra, three urban space are located in a traditional urban fabric (the medina) and the other five in new urban areas, in the two climatic seasons (winter, summer) of 2019. For this exploratory research, two types of instruments were used to collect data from environmental and human monitoring.FindingsImproving microclimatic conditions in urban spaces can allow people to spend more time outside, with the possibility of increasing their social cohesion. The overall objective of this research is to better understand the impact of microclimatic characteristics on pedestrian behavior of nine selected public urban spaces in the city of Biskra, Algeria. To characterize this impact, the authors developed an approach based on crossing data of field surveys, including structured interviews with a questionnaire and observations of human activities (video recordings), as well as microclimate monitoring, conducted during the two climatic seasons (winter, summer) 2019. The analysis of the results allowed to verify the impact of the two climatic seasons (winter, summer) on the variation in the density of occupancy of the different urban areas studied and the duration of the user stations. The authors also illustrated that the number of individuals higher in the traditional urban spaces of the city of Biskra or the conditions of climate comfort are more comfortable than the urban spaces in the new urban areas of the city of Biskra during the summer, which is the season most problematic.Originality/valueIn recent years, there has been a proliferation of scientific studies on the subject of control of microclimatic characteristics and, in particular, on the consideration of the thermal comfort of persons by qualitative analysis, prediction and representation of the perception of external environments. Improving microclimatic conditions in urban spaces can allow people to spend more time outside, with the possibility of increasing their social cohesion. This study highlights the importance of climate-conscious urban design and design flexibility. Urban environments can be modified in summer and winter to provide a better outdoor thermal environment for users. In addition, this study also shows the importance of harmony between microclimate and urban design. Such harmony can be achieved by including requirements for a climate-conscious urban design in the planning regulations for cities in arid zones.

Older people have received little attention in policy and planning in relation to health and related in urban space in world and specially in Iran. While the demographic index of Iran shows ageing of the population, policies and plans not supporting health space in urban area for older people. Elderly individuals and their presence in urban public spaces have a mutual effect on each other and are two components that are mainly considered by urban public space planners and designers. Predictions indicate that Iran would face population aging problem in the society and cities during approximately next 40 years. However, urban public spaces are important places for life continuation and social interaction formations. Due to their special physical, psychological and social conditions, elderly individuals need appropriate facilities in line with their needs so that they can be present in urban public spaces and be capable of taking the responsibility of active roles. The main purpose of the current research was recognizing age-friendly city`s indices and investigating these indices` status in region 1 of Shiraz municipality. Due to having the highest age mean among 11 regions of Shiraz municipality, region 1 of Shiraz municipality was selected as the scope of the study. The methodology of this research was quantitative and survey regarding which, the data have been collected using questionnaire. The reliability of the research`s questionnaire was obtained 87.0 through Cronbach Alpha, which was an acceptable amount. The statistical population of this research included elderly individuals of region 1 of Shiraz municipality, among which, 375 individuals were selected as random convenient samples. Data was analyzed using SPSS software. The summary of the findings of the current research indicated that overall, urban public spaces of region 1 of Shiraz municipality couldn`t respond to elderlies` needs and the status of 8 indices of the age-friendly city in public spaces of this region was less than medium and was at the least standard status.

IntroductionContemporary societies are increasingly becoming sites in which it is more difficult for people to respectfully negotiate disagreements about human diversity. This is exemplified by people who must oppose oppressive social conventions that marginalise them because they identify as belonging to one or more minority groups. One of the key factors in this dynamic is how people’s being in particular sites impacts their being as a person. The “fate of the stranger” is shaped by the spaces they inhabit and people are labelled as “insiders or outsiders” (Amin Land 2); for many people this means our societies are sites of dissatisfaction. For example, in some sites asylum seekers and refugees are referred to as “co-habitant and potential citizen,” while in other sites they are referred to as “impure and threats” (Amin Land 2). This process of defining a person’s being is also experienced by people who are “multi-abled, multi-sexed, multi-sexual, or multi-faith” (Garbutt 275). This article provides a reading of the Human Library in relation to contemporary understandings of space from human geographers such as Ash Amin, as a way of rethinking our everyday spaces as sites for protesting the marginalisation of difference. It primarily draws on my researching and organising Human Libraries across Australia.Protest can employ both instrumental and expressive forms of activism. Instrumental activism aims to change law or policy, gain improvements in living conditions, and win important human services. Expressive activism is often understood as a continuum of political acts extending from lawful demonstrations through to violent activities. Recent studies demonstrate that protest has developed beyond such conventional forms (Dalton, Van Sickle, and Weldon). Contemporary protest includes such things as: acts of spontaneity (Snow and Moss); advocating rights via cultural rather than political protest (Bruce); and activating spatial politics by engaging in urban public spaces to highlight long-standing socio-spatial inequalities (Marom).These examples demonstrate the tension that exists within contemporary protest. While some people accuse expressive activism of being “a thing-for-itself that is not aimed at producing results”, others recognise that “both expressive and instrumental activism are necessary and important” (Maddison and Scalmer 69-71). Far from being self-interested, protest that adopts expressive activism offers its practitioners an important tool:Expressive activism is oriented towards the construction, reconstruction and/or transformation of norms, values, identities and ways of living and being. It is not just about ‘who we are’ […] but also about ‘how we are’ in the world, consequently requiring evaluation of ‘what we do’ and ‘how we do it’. (Stammers 164-165)This understanding of expressive activism provides a useful lens for reading the Human Library as a means of rethinking everyday spaces as sites for protesting the marginalisation of difference. This is particularly so because the Human Library, as an activist organisation dedicated to increasing respect for difference, is situated within the contemporary anti-prejudice movement (Stammers; Chesters and Welsh; Watson "'You Shouldn't Have to Suffer'").Introducing the Human LibraryHuman Libraries transform the spaces provided by traditional libraries into spaces that challenge contemporary socio-spatial dynamics. Human Libraries provide people (Readers) with a safe space in which they can choose another person (a volunteer known as a Human Book) and engage in a conversation or ‘reading’ about the way that people perceive and experience difference. Readers choose their Human Books from a catalogue of titles and descriptions which are developed by each Human Book.and express something about how they identify. For example, titles include such things as belonging to sexual minority groups, living with physical or mental impairment, or belonging to different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Each ‘reading’ is defined by three rules: 1) you may raise any topic or ask any question; 2) a ‘reading’ is a dialogue so Human Books ask their Readers questions too; and 3) each person may decline to answer any question and to end the reading at any time. Using this method, Human Libraries protest the way in which socio-spatial norms marginalise people who are different. They enact a form of expressive activism that reconstructs the way that norms are used in local sites to marginalise different ways of living and being. This reconstruction of the relationship between norms and sites enables people to be “who we are” and “how we are” without having to be inauthentic about “what we do” and “how we do it” (Stammers 164-165).The first Human Library took place at the Roskilde Festival (Denmark) in the summer of 2000 and as an international activist organisation within the anti-prejudice movement, has since become active in over 80 countries and used in a variety of local community sites thus demonstrating its ability to “transcend borders and be adapted to different situations” (Abergel et al. 13). It now operates in such diverse settings as local libraries, universities, schools, music and cultural festivals and workplaces. Participants’ (Organisers, Readers and Human Books) reflections on their experiences of engaging in Human Libraries helps to illustrate how they perceive Human Libraries as sites that challenge socio-spatial norms.Human Libraries enable people to create sites that reverse our usual social interactions. The following phrases, used by participants to describe their contact with the Human Library, illustrate this. An Organiser, whose local government job requires her to develop projects that encourage interactions between in-groups and out-groups, explains that Human Libraries bring people who usually live “on the margins […] into the centre of the page” and that “the powerful people […] who are usually in the centre” are required to listen to different experiences. Likewise, Human Books describe themselves as being “totally open” in order to encourage their Readers to ask about topics that society labels as “taboo”. Readers illustrate how they encounter Human Libraries in ways that the other spaces in their day-to-day lives function. One Reader talks about “stumbling upon” a Human Library within a community event and describes this as “a kind of a stroke of brilliance to catch people at a place like that rather than in a more conventional library setting”. Other Readers emphasise the significance of this type of encounter when they explain that they “probably wouldn’t just go and bother someone in the street” and that participating in a Human Library has provided a type of conversation “that doesn’t happen in any other way”. The outcome of this is highlighted by a Reader who explains that she pushed herself “to go beyond […] just a polite social conversation” because the Human Library “lays it all out there and says, we’re here to talk” (Watson "'You Shouldn't Have to Suffer'" 124-132). These descriptions of people’s experiences of Human Libraries demonstrate how they perceive Human Libraries as spaces that enable them to have conversations with people they would not normally speak to about topics they would usually feel unable to speak about. Their examples are better appreciated when considered along with the scholarship on the interconnectedness of space and intergroup relations.The Interconnectedness of Space and Intergroup RelationsA multiplicity of spaces shape people’s everyday lives. The everyday refers to the “flow of routine” often defined by such mundane habitual practices as going to work, crossing streets and shopping (Dirksmeier and Helbrecht 495). Who a person is, where a person lives, the spaces a person can enter and move about, and how a person is treated in those spaces are intertwined. Belonging is not an abstract concept; as people move in and out of different spaces they demonstrate how belonging is “experienced differentially, and the pleasures and powers it confers are not distributed evenly but [are] linked to relations of inequality and practices of social exclusion” (Noble and Poynting 490). This warns us against romanticizing the urban space of the city and regarding it over-simplistically as neutral and accessible to all, as a space of open flow and untroubled human interaction and as a natural catalyst for proximate reflexivity (Noble and Poynting; Amin and Thrift; Amin Land; Priest et al.).Acknowledging the negative impacts inherent in the interconnectedness of the city and intergroup relations, some scholars have moved their attention from examining integration at the macrospatial level of society to studying the microecology of segregation (Clack, Dixon, and Tredoux; Dixon, Tredoux and Clack; Alexander and Tredoux; Priest et al.; Thomas; Dandy and Pe-Pua; Dixon and Durrheim; Durrheim et al.). This shifts the focus from a primary interest in the city and the neighbourhood to a closer examination of people’s everyday life spaces. This focus examines how members of different groups “share proximity and co-presence” (Clack, Dixon, and Tredoux 2) and engage in informal practices that uphold barriers (Alexander and Tredoux; Dixon and Durrheim). For example, people were observed as they shared spaces such as beaches, school cafeterias and university class rooms and were found to use these spaces in ways that enacted segregation along lines of race, ethnicity, age, and gender. In examples such as these, everyday life spaces are seen to function in ways that (re)instate borders around difference through everyday spatial practices and they act as sites in which “informal segregation practices can be enacted and reproduced” (Priest et al. 32). The shift in scholarly interest to the microecology of segregation serves my interest in how we might use everyday spaces as sites to contest segregation. The following discusse

Tehran, Iran(corresponding outer ) ABSTRACT : Urban spaces are places in order happening crime. Considering of them both of quality and quantity aspects is necessary. On the other hand, gender urban design is important due to some urban spaces are unsafely for attendance of women. Planning and designing safe public spaces for women and girls means creating public spaces with features that enhance women's safety and feelings of safety, and detract from features that cause women's insecurity and feelings of insecurity. While planning and designing safe public spaces for women, planners, designers and architects place special focus on lighting, landscaping, visibility, motorized traffic, pedestrian traffic, urban furniture, potential hiding spots, signage, security personnel, proximity to other public spaces, proximity to emergency services, and access to public transportation. Each of these areas is given particular consideration from the perspective of the women and girls who use public spaces. In order to, this research is applied and the research method is descriptive - analytical. The method of data collected is field and questionnaire. Therefore were used 180 questionnaires. Also, was used SPSS method for analyzing data. The finding shows that urban space safeties in studied area have decreased. on the other hand if the time of attendance women increase , urban security will increase . KEY WORD: Urban public space, women security, safe space, Mashhad metropolitan

Due to the shortage of land space resources and the uneven distribution of urban space resources under the current development model, the existing urban public open space is distributed discretely in urban space, lacking systematic integration and full-cycle guidance and control and management which highlights lacking publicity. The existing urban public space can not meet the needs of public life of citizens, while the building public open space attached to the building plots that has not been utilized effectively possesses great potential for development and utilization. In recent years, the Shenzhen Bay Street complex in the Nanshan District of Shenzhen has become one of the few practical cases of the joint development design and integrated construction of urban public open space and building public open space in China. The systematic study from it can provide valuable reference for the integrated development and guidance and control of public open space in Chinese cities.

This article presents the results of a scientific study conducted within the framework of an intra-university grant. The work was partially supported by the V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University Development Program for 2015-2024. The analysis of the world experience in the design of biopositive public spaces in various cities of the world is considered, the methods for the formation of a sustainable biopositive urban space are outlined in the theoretical works of leading specialists in various directions. Spaces of Crimean cities, in particular its capital - Simferopol, listed a number of problems of the following public urban spaces : areas, landscape objects, pedestrian streets, embankment, etc., formed as a result of the development and growth of the modern city, the results of surveys conducted by the authors (questionnaires, social questions) among guests and local population of Crimean cities. wishes of the residents of Simferopol city, Alushta city and Chernomorskoye settlement to architectural-planning, composition-landscape and artistic expressive qualities of urban public spaces. A short characteristic of the most popular urban spaces is given, their advantages and disadvantages are indicated. The requirements of residents and guests of these the Crimean cities to the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the material and technical and vegetable content of the urban environment are analyzed. Practical recommendations on the architectural and planning reconstruction of transport and pedestrian units, squares, garden and park facilities, embankments and courtyard spaces, taking into account the principles of biopositivity, are given. Experimental design models are proposed that consider the idea of transforming the existing public spaces of Crimean cities, taking into account modern international standards and information of sociological surveys.

This thesis focuses on the process of place making by continuous ‘craft fairs’ held in fixed urban public spaces in Taipei. Craft fairs, fairs that gather art and handmade crafts and live band performances, have become new cultural events in recent three years. Unlike other papers and books explaining the creation process of craft artists and the icon meaning of the crafts, this paper tries to discover wandering experiences from different perspectives. By in-depth interviews with participants of craft fairs, including fair holders, craft artists and citizens, I would like to discuss the experiences of wandering in craft fairs and how the sensory experiences affect the sense of one place. To answer the main question: “how do craft fairs become a key role between participants and place when they take place in every festival in Taiwan?” firstly I choose three places of different space patterns and holders as my research field. Ku Lin craft and book fair, the prototype and very beginning of craft fairs in Taiwan, presents an example of old book street revitalization. Besides, it also points out the complex power competition among different organizations behind the craft fair. Eslite Bookstore, the cultural landmark of Taipei, held craft fairs as a stimulus to improve the sales volume of the bookstore. The activity ended when the sales goal was achieved; however, through craft fairs taking place on the square, the bookstore square has become a stage in urban space with vital public life. CAMPO leads a great fever of craft fairs successfully. After attracting lots of people to Cinema Park, it intensifies and represents its subculture with the image of Ximenting. Second, I intend to elaborate on the meaning of craft fairs through the participants’ behaviors and sensory experiences. Taking place in public spaces, craft fairs as cultural events, intermediate urban dwellers and urban public spaces. Being a competition field for heterogeneous participants, the meaning of craft fairs has changed constantly in the process of power struggling and decreasing. From the body experiences of visions, sounds, tactile impression, emotion and feeling of space, people construct images of craft fairs and urban landscape. Lastly, as newly hot cultural events, craft fairs reveal the lack of social public space in Taipei. Craft fairs have brought diverse possibilities to different participants: to government and capitalists, craft fairs are indicative of brilliant future for culture and creative industries and great business; to craft artists, craft fairs are a place to exhibit and share their new ideas; for people wandering in craft fairs, the fairs offer a way to approach public space and crowds. It is their open and public characteristics that craft fairs contribute to public life between urban people, society and environment.

Carbon sinks in urban public green spaces under carbon neutrality: A bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review

Em um cenário cada vez mais intenso de precarização da vida urbana, a situação de rua se integra às reflexões críticas da Arquitetura e do Urbanismo para debatermos as condições nas quais determinados corpos vivenciam as cidades. Nesta pesquisa, desenvolvida como uma leitura espacializada da teoria da performatividade, de Judith Butler, a relação das pessoas que estão em situação de rua por tempo prolongado com o espaço público urbano é vista por meio de suas experiências perceptivas e corporificadas. Como fundamentação teórica, a relação do corpo com o espaço urbano é interpretada em suas dimensões material, social, cultural, política e econômica; a identidade indica o espaço público urbano como palco da reafirmação das diferenças; e a performatividade pode ser entendida como o momento em que o ambiente afeta o comportamento do indivíduo, pois trata de papéis sociais exercidos a partir de uma condição que o categoriza socialmente. Buscou-se, assim, uma abordagem transdisciplinar com o objetivo de investigar processos de subjetivação na cidade contemporânea, guiada pela temática corpo-cidade, a partir da situação de rua. Essa pesquisa tem abordagem fenomenológica, com referência principal a Merleau-Ponty, e se enquadra na categoria de pesquisas corporificadas. Foram realizadas observações e entrevistas semiestruturadas com pessoas em situação de rua na cidade de Juiz de Fora-MG e analisadas suas experiências vividas no espaço público urbano. O conceito de “performatividade urbana” foi estruturado, constatando a hipótese originária do trabalho, e é apresentado como a condensação da experiência corporificada no espaço- tempo, que se inscreve no sujeito e extrapola os limites individuais para se manifestar como prática pública do corpo. Considera-se que a articulação de um urbanismo corporificado passe pela reflexão dos processos de subjetivação dos corpos habitantes de cidades, absorvendo diferenças e interseccionalidades para proporcionar espaços públicos que possam ser usados com equidade e segurança por todos os corpos. Palavras-chave: Moradores de rua. Corpo e cidade. Pesquisa corporificada. Fenomenologia da percepção. Fenomenologia urbana. Urbanismo corporificado.

<p><b>In Western democratic society, urban public space has always been dominated by theMainstream user. The Marginalised, to being periodically shifted from one area to another through prevailing processes that gentrify and regulate space. These habitual processes directly and indirectly manage civic space eroding particular character evolved fromMarginalised occupation and expression, and in doing so, urban space caters to the needs and wants of the Mainstream.</b></p> <p>This project investigates such a situation yet with such habits reversed. Through the landscape design of urban space the project asks can we design urban space to accommodate thesocio-spatial needs of the Marginalised whilst at the same time, support Mainstream users?</p> <p>The investigation situates its research in Te Aro Park, a public urban space in Wellington Cityoccupied predominantly by the Marginalised. From the homeless to the eccentric, the drugaddict to the gang member, the space is often a considered a black spot avoided oruncomfortably and rapidly moved through by the Mainstream user. With a social hierarchy that has been flipped on its head the space exudes the diverse nature of Wellington with murals and public artwork that represent the Marginalised groups including local Iwi.</p> <p>This project aims to use landscape architecture design to critically assess, seek and developpotentials for harmony of urban spaces exhibiting spatial and social conflicts betweenMarginalised and Mainstream citizens. It is an attempt through landscape architecture technique, to destabilize the binary between Mainstream and marginal, and therefore engender conditions for truly diverse urban spaces. In doing so the research discovers how designers can approach public space design problems while opposing the forces of displacement. The researchadditionally contributes an understanding of the underpinnings of trying to introduce new actors without displacement of the existing and more vulnerable actors.</p>

<p><strong>In Western democratic society, urban public space has always been dominated by theMainstream user. The Marginalised, to being periodically shifted from one area to another through prevailing processes that gentrify and regulate space. These habitual processes directly and indirectly manage civic space eroding particular character evolved fromMarginalised occupation and expression, and in doing so, urban space caters to the needs and wants of the Mainstream.</strong></p> <p>This project investigates such a situation yet with such habits reversed. Through the landscape design of urban space the project asks can we design urban space to accommodate thesocio-spatial needs of the Marginalised whilst at the same time, support Mainstream users?</p> <p>The investigation situates its research in Te Aro Park, a public urban space in Wellington City occupied predominantly by the Marginalised. From the homeless to the eccentric, the drug addict to the gang member, the space is often a considered a black spot avoided or uncomfortably and rapidly moved through by the Mainstream user. With a social hierarchy that has been flipped on its head the space exudes the diverse nature of Wellington with murals and public artwork that represent the Marginalised groups including local Iwi.</p> <p>This project aims to use landscape architecture design to critically assess, seek and develop potentials for harmony of urban spaces exhibiting spatial and social conflicts between Marginalised and Mainstream citizens. It is an attempt through landscape architecture technique, to destabilize the binary between Mainstream and marginal, and therefore engender conditions for truly diverse urban spaces. In doing so the research discovers how designers can approach public space design problems while opposing the forces of displacement. The research additionally contributes an understanding of the underpinnings of trying to introduce new actors without displacement of the existing and more vulnerable actors.</p>