Open Space Network Research Articles

Pockets of survival and alleys of livelihood: tracking local practices to sustain urban vitality in cities during and post-conflict in the city of Homs/Syria

ABSTRACT Armed conflict desolates the built environment and contributes to extremely complex political and economic conditions, which makes it difficult to envision revival strategies. This is a clear situation in sensitive conflict contexts such as in Syria. Creative solutions, built on local contributions as a response to crises, are inspiring references that can support envisioning post-war revitalisation strategies for affected cities. This paper focuses on the City of Homs in Syria and attempts to map the development of an open public space network in the City during and after the war (2011–2022). Informed by the concept of urban vitality, the article aims to depict the transformation of the open public spaces network in the city, which took place mainly by initiatives of residents in response to the conflict.

The Role of the Spatial Network in Urban Disaster Risk Variations: Reimagining the Notion of Spatial Vulnerability at the Urban Scale

The notion of “spatial vulnerability” is present in most disaster studies with a strong geographical connotation and accordingly is adopted at all scales, including the urban. While enabling mapping and visualizing risk patterns at macroscales, this geocentric foundation fails to capture disaster risk dynamics associated with the urban spatial network—an element that plays a significant role in the everyday and emergency functioning of cities, enabling users’ movement and interaction. Yet, urban vulnerability assessment overlooks this aspect and thus leaves urban disaster risk mechanisms partially unexplored. This study investigated the role of the network of urban public open spaces (UPOS) in the creation and progression of urban disaster risk in earthquake-prone settlements. Through a multimethod approach that integrates quantitative and qualitative methods and explores spatial configuration, planning policies, and practices of use of UPOS in everyday and emergency scenarios, our study demonstrated that UPOS configuration plays an active role in urban disaster risk. Urban public open spaces impact risk by influencing the exposure of pedestrians and their capacity for self-protection. The study further reconceptualized spatial vulnerability at the urban scale, as the fraction of vulnerability associated to the spatial network, highlighting the interplay of planning policies and spatial practices in its production and progression. Our findings make the notion of spatial vulnerability less ambiguous at the urban scale, by viewing the variable as an imbalance in capacities and exposure that generates spatially unsafe conditions. This refined conceptualization of spatial vulnerability becomes a lens for a more granular approach to urban disaster risk reduction and city planning by identifying and integrating sociospatial considerations.

Participatory Budgeting and Placemaking: Concepts, Methods, and Practices

Participatory budgeting has arisen as an interesting form of citizen participation in urban development and, thus, as a new way of exercising placemaking and grassroots democracy. In this article, we provide an analysis of projects in Lisbon (Portugal), Valencia (Spain), and Warsaw (Poland) with a focus on three key projects concerned with improving the public realm and their contribution to enhancing the network of public open spaces. Our guiding question is: What are the potential benefits of participatory budgeting to increase green spaces and urban governance? A comparison of the three cities’ participatory budgeting programmes provides an overview of their social and political goals and the contents that provide opportunities for citizens’ participation in decision-making. The cases of Jardim do Caracol da Penha (Lisbon), the Green Street Świętokrzyska (Warsaw), and the Green Plan for the Poblats Marítims District (Valencia) pave the way for a discussion on engagement, empowerment, and connectivity with the local communities through public spaces. Using participatory budgeting as a planning and political instrument at the municipal level, as the three cases show, can be a useful way to enhance and enrich the communities’ engagement with their environments. One aspect that emerged is the communication strategies implemented in the three cases. The analysis shows that the use of media and social networks to disseminate information and gather supporters for their ideas and this growth in political influence seems to be essential for participatory budgeting. The study is backed by desk work (comprehensive understanding of the local programmes) and field work to better identify the changes in loco.

How public are hybrid public spaces? Assessing publicness of privately owned public spaces in Hamburg

ABSTRACT As new forms of public space emerge and the distinction between public and private space is increasingly blurred, the notion of hybrid space has come to light. It encompasses different kinds of public, semi-public, semi-private and private spaces. The proliferation of hybrid space across cities raises an important question as to whether they are public spaces and if so, how public are they? This paper aims to examine the publicness of privately owned public space/s (POPS). POPS are a popular mechanism to provide public spaces, however little is known about their quality. Empirical research using three case studies in Hamburg, Germany, was carried out to understand the publicness of these spaces and qualities that impact this. Through applying the OMAI model – an acronym for ownership, management, accessibility and inclusiveness – key attributes that impact the publicness of the studied POPS are revealed. The lack of private management, use of rights-of-way, inclusion of amenities, the role of public agencies, and transparency regarding ownership affect the publicness of these POPS. Based on the analysis, recommendations are provided so that POPS can functionally integrate with the broader open space network and make a positive contribution to the city overall.

H-BET Historic Built Environment Typologies. Open spaces and SUOD events in the compact historic town

The relationships between the Built Environment (BE) and SUdden-Onset Disasters (SUOD) are increasingly the focus of hazard mitigation investigation. Specifically, in the Historic Built Environment (HBE), defined as the network of buildings, infrastructure, and open spaces of the compact historic city, recent and past events have shown the need for an elevation of the resilience of the resident community. Previous studies by the author’s research team have objectified the characterisation of HBEs prone to SUODs. What emerged was the primary importance of open spaces in the Built Environment as elements to be characterised with respect to possible emergency phases and BE user behaviour. Specifically, the Historic Built Environment Typologies (H-BETs) can help to evaluate user behaviour during and after the event. Focusing on the role of the classification of the open spaces, the paper presents the H-BETs and their potential role in the multi-risk assessment of the compact historic town. The specific risk conditions of the urban areas (e.g., crowding, the complexity of the overall form of BEs, characteristics of built elements, uses of BEs), and the physical characteristics of historic urban BE (e.g., the height of the built fronts, number, and type of accesses, the slope of the ground) are considered together in order to propose a classification of different type of open spaces, starting from morphological classes towards the definition of a complete typological categorisation, representative of the urban system’s variables that interact with the identified SUOD hazards.

H-BET Historic Built Environment Typologies. Open spaces and SUOD events in the compact historic town

The relationships between the Built Environment (BE) and SUdden-Onset Disasters (SUOD) are increasingly the focus of hazard mitigation investigation. Specifically, in the Historic Built Environment (HBE), defined as the network of buildings, infrastructure, and open spaces of the compact historic city, recent and past events have shown the need for an elevation of the resilience of the resident community. Previous studies by the author’s research team have objectified the characterisation of HBEs prone to SUODs. What emerged was the primary importance of open spaces in the Built Environment as elements to be characterised with respect to possible emergency phases and BE user behaviour. Specifically, the Historic Built Environment Typologies (H-BETs) can help to evaluate user behaviour during and after the event. Focusing on the role of the classification of the open spaces, the paper presents the H-BETs and their potential role in the multi-risk assessment of the compact historic town. The specific risk conditions of the urban areas (e.g., crowding, the complexity of the overall form of BEs, characteristics of built elements, uses of BEs), and the physical characteristics of historic urban BE (e.g., the height of the built fronts, number, and type of accesses, the slope of the ground) are considered together in order to propose a classification of different type of open spaces, starting from morphological classes towards the definition of a complete typological categorisation, representative of the urban system’s variables that interact with the identified SUOD hazards.

Greened out: mitigating the impacts of eco-gentrification through community dialogue

Cities are increasingly employing green infrastructure, defined as a network of multi-functional open spaces within cities and between cities – including green corridors, green streets, formal parks and street trees – to promote resilience and provide clean air, flood protection and erosion control. Yet there is a growing link between these efforts and rising property values and – in some cities, including Washington, DC – displacement. This history of greening and subsequent displacement can hinder successful green-infrastructure implementation. The geographical areas with the greatest need for these amenities and other resilience strategies are often those with high concentrations of low-income, racial minorities who have traditionally been disenfranchised from local planning and development processes due to a lack of knowledge and limited access, as well as institutional racism. In these areas, the perception of green infrastructure is that of something planned by others, for others, with little direct benefit to the community. This exploratory research, which examines lived experiences, builds upon the quantitative documentation of gentrification and demographic shifts in Washington, DC. Through a series of listening sessions, the study explores residents’ experiences of green infrastructure, gentrification and civic engagement in their community. The study uncovers ways in which policymakers and planners can increase support for and the success of green-infrastructure implementation by amplifying the voices of stakeholders, including communities with vulnerable populations, in the planning process.

Fostering Functional Public Open Space within Low-income, Post-Apartheid Environments

Public open space is fundamental to the lives of residents within low-income post-apartheid settlements. With the prioritisation of the provision of housing post-apartheid, limited consideration has been given to the public realm and the functioning of public open space. It is essential that we regard the public realm as an integral component to the lives of the people who inhabit these environments. Because of the living conditions, large portions of people's lives are conducted outside of this prioritised private realm. It is evident that public spaces within these environments become neglected due to a lack of ownership and management. The intention of this paper is to find principles of enhancing public life through encouraging shared open spaces. Delft South, a post-apartheid suburb on the periphery of Cape Town, is a representation of how the legacy of apartheid persists within the landscape. Using the case of Delft South, this paper highlights the attitude towards the provision and upkeep of public open space by the state whilst foregrounding its importance to the lives and livelihoods of residents. Qualitative research analysis is conducted within the area to elicit how the current open space network is used and to grasp the consequences of a lack of public open space provision. The use of the public open space network by school children plays a significant role in the public life of the area. Using this analysis and further theoretical unpacking, this paper seeks to elicit principles of fostering functional open space within post-apartheid South Africa.

Maximizing Public and Private Satisfaction for a Better Privately Owned Public Space: The Case of Yeouido Business District

This paper proposes that balancing public and private satisfaction in the creation of privately owned public space (POPS) might be the key to producing more efficient and effective POPSs. Seven qualitative techniques categorized into on-site observations, space syntax, survey, and regulatory review were used to gather data, and triangulation methods were used to derive conclusions. We then discussed methods for improving POPS planning and designs that prioritize both public and private sectors by assessing the indirect and direct benefits of POPS. Indirect benefits are delivered when POPS can elevate the pleasantness of the surrounding environment. In this study, users and tenants of the host buildings were found to obtain the most benefits with their easy access to POPS, while the public saw the existence of POPS as insignificant compared to local parks. Furthermore, the lack of good designs resulted in low public interest and awareness. Although developers gain direct benefits from bonus FAR, a less rigid but more comprehensive system is needed to increase developer motivation to create better POPS. Proposals that combine two or more POPS and regulations that require connection to existing public open space networks should be considered in future.

Ambiguous temporariness: production of time-space territories in Hong Kong’s small urban open spaces

This article integrates temporality into territoriality theories and investigates Hong Kong’s small urban open spaces through a territorial perspective. It conceptualises these compact public open spaces as landscapes of different territorial events, foregrounds the temporal aspects of the territorialising processes, and analyzes the frictions between the various social and environmental processes that define the city’s formative cycles. Focussing specifically on sitting-out areas and rest gardens, the smallest components of the city’s official network of open-spaces that are often created through temporary government land allocations, this study offers a unique local narrative within the larger discussion of creating small-scale, opportunistically-achieved, temporary open spaces around the world. Three detailed case studies examined in this article reveal diverse forms of territorial production specific to Hong Kong’s geographical, socio-economic and cultural context, collectively contributing to a critical understanding of the ‘temporariness’ of the city’s small urban open spaces characterised by ambiguity, volatility and uncertainty.

신도시 개발 컨셉으로서 정원도시 구현 전략† - 영암․해남 관광레저형 기업도시 솔라시도를 대상으로 -

This study proposes urban development concept and strategies for Garden City, focused on Solaseado, Yeongam Heanam Tourism-Leisure Type Enterprise City in Korea. Understanding that an essential element of a garden is the endless care performed by gardeners, the Garden City development concept suggests applying this idea to making planned cities by cultivating the potential natural landscape of the site in the long run. The meaning of Garden City can be defined in three aspects; an attitude and process of planning a city, a system for constructing the spatial structure of a city, and city branding. A Garden City is a city structured with the spirit of a garden, a city where open space networks become the urban structure, and a city that builds its identity through the landscape, respectively. From this point of view, the research draws development strategies with spatial design examples to embody the Garden City concept in Solaseado by following three steps; establishing the main urban axes, creating city networks through the conjunction of the axes, and categorizing and systematizing open spaces within the city. Consequently, the study shows an alternative urban planning model that extends the concept of a Garden City while maintaining the intrinsic landscape as an urban resource. In addition, the conceptual master plan of Solaseado will structure the urban landscape and park system according to the Garden City strategies.

Review of open space rules and regulations and identification of specificities for plot-level open spaces to facilitate sustainable development: An Indian case

Rapid urbanization and an increase in the alteration of natural resources have led to climate crises, driving the need to promote sustainable development. Urban open space management plays a vital role in such scenarios. Research on urban open spaces has been mainly conducted at regional, municipal, and neighborhood scales. Rarely has the focus been on the plot-level potentials and management of open spaces. Therefore, the study looks into the Indian development control rules and regulations and identifies that although these stipulate the percentage of open space for development on each plot, specificities for open spaces are unclear. Further, the study analyses quantitative and qualitative aspects of open spaces for selected group housing schemes in Pune city. The inquiry shows that per capita open space in Pune is comparatively lower than national standards. The quantitative aspects include FSI, building ground coverage, built-up area, number of floors, and number of dwelling units, and each relates to open spaces in one way or another. The qualitative interpretations disclose that a plot-level open space can significantly impact the regional-level open space network. Hence, the research advocates a bottom-up approach wherein plot-level open space can become the focus in formulating new norms and policies for sustainable development.

Open Spaces and Transformations in the Territory of the Encosta Norte Housing Complex, East Side of São Paulo

This article consists of an analysis of open spaces network in the Encosta Norte Housing Complex, located in the city of São Paulo. The complex accommodates a series of open areas in its extensive area that can be grouped into three categories: programmed spaces, spaces of spontaneous use and spaces of potentiality. The first group consists of squares conceived in the original CDHU project and which contain equipment and furniture for permanence, leisure and physical exercise. The second group is the result of the transformation processes that the area has undergone since the installation of the complex and whose uses have been adapted gradually. Potential areas are empty awaiting definition of form and use. This article aims to understand how the network of open spaces is constituted and consolidated from the use that residents make of it. To this end, the methodology applied uses technical visits to the site, interviews with technicians from the CDHU, in addition to the analysis of documents such as maps, projects and literature review. As a result, a fragmented territory was found, with free spaces included in the different categories listed, and which, at times, distanced itself from the planned condition during the idealization of the set. It is possible to understand that this network of open spaces in the Encosta Norte Housing Complex is diversified and made more flexible depending on how residents use each of these spaces: sometimes as a permanence, sometimes as a crossing, sometimes as leisure, sometimes as a latency void.

Advancing urban metabolism studies through GIS data: Resource flows, open space networks, and vulnerable communities in Mexico City

AbstractUrban metabolism studies provide valuable insights that can improve resource efficiency at the city scale. However, only a limited number of such studies include spatially explicit data to inform planning practitioners. In this article, we argue that integrating spatially explicit urban metabolism data in urban planning can leverage resource‐efficient development and management of open space networks. Based on this premise, our research presents a methodological strategy to investigate how the use of GIS data can improve the applicability of metabolic studies in urban planning and the management of open space networks in particular. A GIS‐based urban metabolism assessment of Mexico City was performed at the city scale, including data on vulnerable communities, communal lands, and indigenous areas. After mapping selected GIS layers, a detailed resource‐efficiency analysis was performed through the compilation of a Borough Pattern Scan, based on quantification of resource use, total areas of resource infrastructure, and public open spaces. The results of our multiscale spatially explicit analysis provide an improved understanding of borough metabolic profiles, which can leverage a more resource‐efficient development of open space networks in Mexico City.

STREETS AND OPEN SPACES: COMPARING MOBILITY AND URBAN FORM AT ANGAMUCO AND CHUNCHUCMIL, MEXICO

AbstractAngamuco and Chunchucmil are two of the few Mesoamerican cities with relatively complete street maps. These maps provide a rare opportunity to study how the bulk of the population moved through cities, how people worked together to organize a network of paths and open spaces, what kind of interactions these features afforded, and how they contributed to the formation of social identities. Having found that space syntax methods confirmed intuitive understandings without generating new findings, we apply a segment (paths) and node (intersections) analysis to both sites. With these analyses we recorded and characterized segment variables such as width, length, form, and curvature, and node variables such as size, form, and number of linked segments. Many of the nodes at both sites are open spaces, allowing us to register details about the configuration of shared public spaces that are less formal than monumental plazas. The analyses revealed neighborhood differentiation, local-level coordination of labor, and intentional efforts to create markets or spaces of assembly that may have complemented collective governance proposed for both sites. While Angamuco and Chunchucmil differ in terms of the general pattern of their pedestrian networks, they share similarities in terms of density of paths and types of intersections.

Uticaj rekonstrukcije megabloka (1990-2020) na kvalitet otvorenih zajedničkih javnih prostora - blokovi 21 i 28 na novom beogradu

The quality of common open public spaces is conditioned, among other things, by the layout and characteristics of the facilities located in their immediate vicinity, but also by the functions and contents, equipment and materialization of the ground floor of those facilities. For this reason, interventions on existing facilities and the construction of new ones around common open public spaces can positively or negatively affect the quality of these areas. The construction of New Belgrade began in 1948 and continues today. In the area of New Belgrade, the network of common open public spaces covers more than 50% of the total area of the municipality. Initially, the blocks in New Belgrade were built on the basis of a unique planning solution. The transformation of the blocks began in the 1990s in the post-socialist period, when it became possible to change the legal regulations and enable a greater participation of private investments in the processes of reconstruction and new construction. In order to determine the real impact of the reconstruction of mega blocks on the quality of common open public spaces, this paper will present the criteria for determining the quality of these spaces. The criteria will help to examine the differences between the quality of common open public spaces within a block that has had frequent interventions and one where there have been no significant interventions over the last few decades. The conclusions should provide an answer as to whether and to what extent spatial interventions affect the quality of common open public spaces.

Defining public open spaces: an investigation framework to inform planning and design decision-making processes

ABSTRACT Typomorphological analysis has been used to study building types, but it is seldom applied to open spaces. This paper argues that the same systematic and rigorous approach can be applied to define public open spaces. It explores the potential of the application of a systematic analysis of types and forms to define urban landscapes. Drawing on existing literature, this paper identifies specific attributes related to urban landscape elements including formal and spatial aspects. This paper highlights the potential of open space networks to respond to the contemporary challenges facing urban designers working to create better places to live in. This paper contributes to the field of design research through the development of a method of survey and analysis to inform design decision-making processes. Its significance lies in proposing a comprehensive framework to contribute to a more detailed definition of urban landscape character and inform the development of sustainable urban strategies.

Risk Reduction Strategies against Terrorist Acts in Urban Built Environments: Towards Sustainable and Human-Centred Challenges

Terrorist impacts have been increasing over time in many countries, being one of the most significant threats for the Built Environment (BE), intended as a network of open spaces (streets, squares) and facing buildings, and their users. Such risk is affected by a combination of strategic functions and crowd conditions. This work traces, for the first time, the state-of-the-art consolidated Risk Mitigation and Reduction Strategies (RMRSs). Solid RMRS regulatory frameworks from all over the world are collected. The results show how classification criteria distinguish them by attack targets and typologies, effectiveness over time/space, and physical implementation versus management-based deployment. Nevertheless, these criteria seem to be too fragmented, failing in pursuing RMRSs selection in a holistic outlook. Thus, a new classification adopting the BE composing elements (physical elements, layout, access/surveillance systems, safety/security management) as key-factors is provided. Features, dependencies and coordination among them are discussed in a sustainability-based perspective, by showing how the main challenges for RMRSs’ design concern applicability, redundancy, and users’ emergency support. Safety/security management strategies have the overall highest sustainability level and play a pivotal role with respect to the other BE composing elements, which should be planned in reference to them. In addition, a human-centred approach (individuals’ interactions with BEs and RMRSs) will also be needed. These results will support efforts to include simulation-oriented approaches into RMRSs selection, effectiveness and feasibility analyses.

Urban open spaces from a dispersal perspective: lessons from an individual-based model approach to assess the effects of landscape patterns on the viability of wildlife populations

Green areas drawn on a city plan represent open spaces that have different meanings for humans and wildlife. Diverse kinds of green may influence species viability in urban environments. It is necessary to understand what those areas mean for wildlife populations and how land-use changes affect habitats and movements for making scientifically defensible planning and design decisions. My objective was to demonstrate how open space and urban development patterns affect the viability of wildlife populations in urbanizing landscapes from a movements perspective. Eight scenarios for 2060 for an urbanizing area near Portland, Oregon combined four open space (none, corridors, parks, and network) with two urban development patterns (compact and dispersed). Dispersal model HexSim simulated three target species – Red-legged frog (Rana aurora aurora), Western meadowlark (Sturnella neclecta) and Douglas squirrel (Tamasciurus douglasii) – movements on those scenarios to compare and contrast sustained populations to the ca. 2010 baseline landscape. Network scenarios presented the largest number of frog breeders. Greenway scenarios showed the largest populations of squirrels. Park and network scenarios sustained viable populations of meadowlarks, but park scenarios performed best. Compact development scenarios performed best for most indicators, while dispersed development scenarios performed better for meadowlarks. Network scenarios performed best when considering the collective of species. Networks presented more diverse habitats, sustaining higher diversity of species. For plans to sustain more species, more comprehensive and diverse habitats must be promoted, otherwise trade-offs should be expected – like the extinction of meadowlarks in greenway scenarios.

Universal Open Space Design to Inform Digital Technologies for a Disability-Inclusive Place-Making on the Example of Hungary

This study explores the ‘people’ and ‘place’ components of the smart city concept in order to inform its third component, ‘technology’, for augmented disability inclusion. The research objective was to reveal the capability of the universal open space design (UOSD) method in classifying key spatial factors according to their type of digital applicability as a channel or subject for information and communication technologies (ICTs). Results were derived from three Hungarian design projects presented as case studies, using the research through design (RtD) method. User needs and usage patterns, open space environmental components and types according to their tolerance towards physical modification, and relevant disability-related concepts linked to UOSD were hierarchized and interrelated to digital technologies that can replace or complement the environmental components. Findings were represented in the spatial Maslow pyramid of user needs related to the relevant spatial design concepts, open spaces public services, and digital technologies. The results showed that upper (less basic) levels of the digital Maslow pyramid related to public services other than transport and concepts other than physical accessibility lack digital completion or replacement. In particular, a more detailed and consistent knowledge about spatial–digital interrelations for sensory accessibility should be incorporated into the practical and theoretical background of “smart” UOSD. In conclusion, this paper demonstrates how the combination of the concepts of UOSD and the smart city support a more complex disability-inclusive experience in an interconnected physical, sociocultural, and digital network of open spaces.