Abstract
Nowadays, due to economic dynamics, modernity, technology and urban sprawl, humans are suffering from “placelessness”. A look at the urban fabric of metropolitan cities makes evident that public places are losing their distinctive idiosyncrasies. 21st-century built environments are diminishing the unique characters that make places noteworthy. The problem with this is that people have the desire to associate with distinctive places. Ignoring this tendency will create a type of environment where places do not matter any more. Public spaces that serve as platforms for life are not only essential to the identity of cities but also provide venues for social-cultural activities that will attract people. This thesis aims to investigate the role of architecture in increasing the quality of people’s daily experiences in the public domain, and to explore opportunities to frame a new type of public market place in Toronto by imbuing ‘The Architecture of Place’ with ‘a sense of place’.
Highlights
The quote speaks of the need of focusing on the urban fabric – the form that makes up the built environment- in order to enhance the quality of urban life in cities
Relph mentions in this regard that “To be human is to live in a world that is filled with significant places”, “to be human is to have and to know your place” (Relph, Place and Placelessness, 1976, p. 1)
It is important to know how they are experienced by both residents outsiders, and what approach would be most effective in obtaining the goal od being perceived as place from an architectural point of view, and how a place can be formed in the urban public realm of cities
Summary
20th- century modernity has been relentlessly condemned as an iron cage of conformity and mediocrity, a spiritual wilderness of populations bleached of any organic community or vital autonomy (Anderson, 1984, p. 96). The quote speaks of the need of focusing on the urban fabric – the form that makes up the built environment- in order to enhance the quality of urban life in cities. This is urgent when the majority of people on the planet are living urban lives. It seeks to show how the issue of placelessness can be addressed through creating characteristic of a ‘Place’ It will demonstrate how architectural design can be a valuable tool to address the problem of placelessness in modern-day Toronto, and to help places meet human needs
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