Public Open Spaces in North Sumatra Province

Abstract

Since the regions in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia, become more urbanized, commercial centers grow up. In contrast, public open space (POS) tends to decline. In this condition, the study aim is to explore the public life that goes on. Through field observation, the research collected physical quality of POS and the variation and intensity of activities that community did there. The results showed that almost all of the POS design did not refer to the criteria of successful POS. However, people utilize the POS intensively and meet their needs, both in the good and poor quality of the POS. 2398-4295 © 2017 The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK.. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, UniversitiTeknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: Public life; public open space; small towns; North Sumatra