Public Open Space Research Articles

Safe and Inclusive Urban Public Spaces: A Gendered Perspective. The Case of Attica’s Public Spaces During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Greece

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions in everyday life, including restrictions on social activities and physical separation. Urban public spaces have become popular places for people to relax and socialize while keeping physical distance. Gender and other social identities, on the other hand, have a major influence on people's perceptions of safety in these public places. The goal of this research was to look into the relationship between perceptions of safety, relaxation, and gender in urban public places during the pandemic. The study's findings revealed that women were more likely than men to report feeling unsafe in public places. This result indicates that gender identity influences women's perceptions of safety in public places. Furthermore, women's feelings of insecurity hampered their ability to relax and enjoy these spaces, possibly limiting their access to public spaces and the benefits they provide. There is an obvious interrelation between easily accessible open public spaces and safety The study's findings outline the significance of inclusive design and planning for public spaces in order to guarantee safety and promote well-being.

Exploring the Urban Environment in the Educational Design of Design Objects for Public Spaces

The purpose of the study is to find ways of involving students of the “Environmental Design” speciality in solving real problems of open public spaces in cities by means of design during educational process. General scientific methods of theoretical research are applied: analysis and synthesis, generalization and comparison. The novelty of the research. In view of the relevance of creating high-quality public places in the urban environment and the presence of a significant number of problems associated with the placement of design elements in public space, it was considered necessary to include in the educational process of students majoring in Environmental Design the exploration of the real-existing urban environment to improve its quality at the artistic and design level. The task of developing the concept of a multifunctional design object with pronounced artistic and figurative characteristics in the public space has been proposed and substantiated. The article reveals the sequence of basic steps of pre-design research intended to guide students to learn how to analyse (from the point of view of design) the existing state of public spaces in which students can feel themselves as direct users and designers. The basis of this task is the methodology for performing pre-design research and forming conceptual ideas in the field of Environmental Design. The main teaching method is the project method as a set of research problematic methods of creative direction. Conclusions. Such pre-design research can be carried out as part of a course or diploma project; or as a separate task in the process of studying professional disciplines in the field of Environmental Design. Exposing students to the real problems of the urban environment and involving them in solving the issues in the educational process will help prevent unconscious neglect of the context in their future professional careers. As a result of the assignment, students learn to notice and distinguish elements of the urban environment, to be critical of design objects in public space, to approach their design only after a comprehensive pre-design analysis, to understand the importance of visual purity of space and to appreciate the integrity of the existing architectural composition. Presenting to their fellow students the rationale for adopted solutions helps them critically evaluate their ideas and prepare for active participation in public projects to improve the comfort, social attractiveness, and the urban environment safety.

Urban environment, unhealthy buildings as a root of inequalities and importance of SDGs

Abstract The current pandemic reinforced inequalities and injustice on multiple levels: health, social, and especially urban environment. Cities represent human prosperity and wealth, but also inequity, and health detrimental environments lacking green spaces and sufficiently good air quality, transportation, water supply. Emergencies like COVID-19 pandemic, but also other natural disasters like earthquake and humanitarian crisis have brought a renewed interest in the urban environment and healthy living. With the special circumstances, last year's special attention from public health has become an urban environment concern. The built natural environment, various public spaces like urban parks and forests, transportation hubs and urban open public spaces, are not only significant factors influencing the spread of infectious diseases, but those spaces also have protective roles for health, particularly mental health. There are a lot of examples which reflect increased inequalities in urban areas. Various urban facilities and buildings are in very unhealthy conditions and produce a lot of risks for their inhabitants. Public spaces revealed influential properties for older patients, whereas middle and young-aged adults were more influenced by traveling and the location of business services. The ethnic and minority vulnerability has also a legacy of historical issues in urban planning and unhealthy buildings. This is characterized by diverse racial and minority group populations, with the increased risk from COVID- 19, but also noticeably lower accessibility to green open areas for physical activity. It seems that the Covid crisis have increased the risk of slowing down the achievement of sustainable development goals in urban areas: It is especially important to re-examine the goals and prevent the slowdown in progress towards goals 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 10 (inequalities) in connection with SDG 3 Health) and SDG 17 (strong global partnerships).

Evaluation and Optimization of Urban Public Space Accessibility for Residents’ Satisfaction: A Case Study of Nanshan District, Shenzhen City

In order to meet the people’s growing aspirations for a better life and to improve the efficient supply capacity of the citizens’ diversified needs, our government has made the optimization of the supply of public services in urban communities a key task in urban planning and construction and has taken the community living circle as a starting point to make up for the short boards of urban public services, which is of great practical significance in improving the quality of urban life and optimizing the spatial structure of the city. As an important carrier of urban residents’ public life, urban public open space plays an indispensable role in improving the quality of life of urban residents. Accessibility is an important indicator to characterize the publicity and service level of a public open space. This study focuses on the construction of the community living circle, optimizing the GIS-based, Gaussian, two-part mobile search method to quantitatively calculate and evaluate the accessibility of a public open space within a 500 m walking distance for the residents in Nanshan District, Shenzhen. On this basis, social survey methods, including the questionnaire survey method via a field survey and the interview method, were used to conduct field research on the residents’ accessibility satisfaction. Comparing the differences and correlations between the two results, the deep-seated reasons affecting the residents’ accessibility satisfaction are explored at the levels of the construction system, management services, and structural layout and spatial design of the public open space, and targeted guiding countermeasures are put forward to guide the development and construction of public open space in the future.

How do the year’s seasons and specific weather indices affect physical activity and the patterns of use of public open spaces in the Brazilian context?

BackgroundPublic open spaces (POS) can offer various resources to promote visitation and engagement in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). However, the influence of seasonal variations and specific meteorological conditions on this relationship remains unclear. Thus, this study aims to investigate the effect of seasonal variations and specific meteorological elements on different days of the week and times of day on POS use and POS-based MVPA in the Brazilian context.MethodsIn 2018, repeated measurements carried out in Southern Brazil used a systematic observation to identify the presence of users in the POS and their engagement in MVPA. The meteorological elements (temperature, thermal sensation, and relative humidity), as well as seasonality (summer, autumn, winter, and spring), were aggregated into the observations.ResultsA total of 19,712 systematic observations were conducted across nine POS. During these observations, a total of 59,354 users were identified. Out of theses, 39,153 (66.0%) were engaged in POS-based MVPA. The presence of users was found to be more frequent during the spring season (38.7%) and on weekends (ranging from 37.6 to 50.1% across seasons). Additionally, user presence was higher in the late afternoon (ranging from 36.4 to 58.2% across seasons) and at higher temperatures with lower relative humidity (p-value < 0.001). Regarding POS-based MVPA, it was more frequent during the winter season (36.4%) and on weekdays (ranging from 73.2 to 79.9% across seasons). Similarly, MVPA was higher in the late afternoon (ranging from 58.3 to 67.5% across seasons) and at lower temperatures and thermal sensations (p-value < 0.005).ConclusionsHigher presence of users in POS, as well as their visiting, to practice POS-based MVPA, depending on the seasons and specific meteorological elements. By creating infrastructure and conducive conditions, cities can encourage individuals to adopt more active and healthy behaviors. These findings emphasize the importance of designing urban spaces that promote physical activity and contribute to overall well-being.

The difference in the elderly’s visual impact assessment of pocket park landscape

As an important part of urban public open space, pocket parks have become an important activity place for the elderly in the context of the aging society in China. With the pocket parks in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China as research object, this paper set six landscape features to be studied, namely, Height of trees, Green color richness, Stratification of green landscapes, Green space ratio, Leisure facilities, and Water landscape. The elderly respondents with different demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, education level and residential type, were subjected to the picture stimulation experiment whose results were then statistically analyzed. The results indicate that gender and residential type exert certain influence on the elderly’s visual impact assessment of pocket park landscape. To be specific, the male elderly prefer the pocket park landscape with 3-6 m high trees, medium green space ratio, and more leisure facilities; the female elderly are in greater favor of pocket park landscapes with 0-3 m high trees, five or more colors, three or more layers; the elderly who live with their families prefer pocket park landscapes with medium green space ratio and more leisure facilities; to the elderly who live alone, pocket park landscapes with trees which are 0–3 m high, five or more colors, and medium leisure facilities are more attractive. This study can provide valuable reference for pocket park design in China.

Common measures of green and blue space for built environment, health equity and intervention research: a scoping review

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to describe self-report and audit-based measurement tools of green and blue space used for health equity and intervention research. This scoping review was conducted and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). In March 2022, we performed a literature search of MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus. We found 22 papers, six of which used self-report tools and 16 of which relied on audit-based measures to assess green or blue space. These tools measure aspects of blue and green space including accessibility, equipment, and use. The System for Observing Parks and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC) was most used followed by the Public Open Space Audit Tool (POST) and the Community Park Audit Tool (CPAT). The priority populations most often studied were residents of low socio-economic status/high disadvantage neighbourhoods, followed by racialized groups and women. This scoping review provides guidance on common measurement tools that can be used by researchers working on green/blue space for health equity and intervention research. No reliable and valid self-report measure was used or available in the literature to examine equity in green/blue space.

Micro-Museum Quarter as an Approach in the Culture-Led Urban Regeneration of Small Shrinking Historic Cities: The Case of Sombor, Serbia

Demographic and economic shrinkage has become a common trend in the current urbanisation environment, especially for small cities in developed countries. The desired socio-economic redevelopment of these cities has been significantly affected by the functional, organisational, financial, and professional constraints caused by both shrinkage and city size. Paradoxically, this slow development has enabled better preservation of their historic cores, urban heritage, and traditional culture. Nevertheless, the aforementioned local constraints have a profound impact on sustainable urban regeneration, and successful examples are still quite rare. This research presents an inspiring case—a small museum quarter in Sombor, Serbia. Museum quarters are a relatively new concept in culture-led urban regeneration; all known examples are located in big cities. Hence, this research tries to create an innovative methodological link between two theoretical fundaments: the role of cultural heritage in shrinking small cities and its expression through a museum quarter as one of the concepts of culture-led urban regeneration. An analytical framework for the aforementioned single case study is derived by forming this link. The main findings underline that the museum quarters in shrinking small cities should be developed in a micro-format to rationally address and the limited local resources. Furthermore, in contrast to museum quarters in big cities, they should be physically detached from the main retail street to enhance their separate identity and should be internally balanced in both spatial and functional aspects, meaning that the key museum/cultural institutions are equally dispersed throughout the quarter and clearly interconnected by a pedestrian-friendly open public space.

PENILAIAN PLACEMAKING DI RUANG TERBUKA PUBLIK KAWASAN JAM GADANG

Jam Gadang is a landmark of Bukittinggi City so it becomes a tourist destination. The concentration of visitors in Jam Gadang Plaza makes Jam Gadang very crowded, especially during the holiday. Moreover, it impacts the activities of visitors, which cannot be accommodated at the same time by the public open space of Jam Gadang. Although there are 2 other public open spaces near Jam Gadang Plaza, which are Bung Hatta Monument Park and Pahlawan Tak Dikenal Monument Park, the two public open spaces cannot have a role in receiving some of Jam Gadang Plaza's visitors. This research was conducted to find out how the quality of public spaces in the Jam Gadang area according to the placemaking assessment. The research method used place-centered mapping, questionnaires dissemination, and interviews. The results of the placemaking assessment showed that Jam Gadang Plaza has a "Good" score from respondents for every variable. Furthermore, the placemaking assessment in Pahlawan Tak Dikenal Monument Park and Bung Hatta Monument Park has a "Deficient" score in the comfort &amp; image aspect, as well as the uses &amp; activity aspect.

Analysing the Design Criteria of Public Open Spaces for the Disabled Persons: An Evaluation of Kumsal Park in Northern Cyprus

Analysing the Design Criteria of Public Open Spaces for the Disabled Persons: An Evaluation of Kumsal Park in Northern Cyprus

Rainwater Storage Engineering based on Water-Sensitive Urban Design in Lapangan Pancasila, Semarang City

Lapangan Pancasila is a public open space that located in Jln. Seroja Dalam III no. 9 Semarang City. Flooding is often occurs at Lapangan Pancasila in rainy season. Floods in Semarang City are caused by the occurrence of land subsidence and water catchment area decreases. Rainwater harvesting system with water sensitive urban design(WSUD) basic, is one of plenty solution that can be applied to reduces flooding at Lapangan Pancasila. The research was conducted using a descriptive methodology which refers to the spatial and ecological approach. A spatial approach is used to determine the physical condition of the site, while an ecological approach is used to determine the components required for engineering rainwater storage. Based on the calculations that have been carried out, the discharge from the calculation of the planned rainfall is 0.003886 m3/s. Rainwater collection engineering at Lapangan Pancasila was built as a complex system that combines various components of rainwater treatment such as rainwater catchment areas, macro water filtration tanks, sand filter tanks to filter mud and purify water, clean water reservoirs, sprinkle landscape irrigation systems, and infiltration wells.

PENDEKATAN ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY DALAM PERANCANGAN RUANG TERBUKA PUBLIK YANG HUMANIS

Urban development needs to pay attention to environmental psychology. The city has lost space for socializing, recreation and expression. Children as the basis of complete human development are deprived of their rights to play safely and comfortably. This research highlights the phenomenon of recreational activities that occur in inappropriate spaces such as railroad tracks, underpasses, and abandoned spaces where the activities cause human-vehicle conflict. The research uses a descriptive-qualitative analysis method by observing several cases due to the absence of public open space, identifying physical-non-physical elements, as well as basic human needs (humanism). This method finds the quality of a city (and country) through the adequacy of humanist public open spaces, where psychological and physical needs are met.

An Exploration of Public Open Spaces with Data Driven Approaches: A Case Study of Beyazıt Square

Data-driven approaches are widely used to gain insight in urban dynamics and support urban decisions with pervasive adoption of information technologies. In the presented study, the students adopt data data-driven approaches to observe, and analyze public spaces, and make conceptual decisions for urban furniture in the context of the workshop. This workshop is developed within the scope of the Environmental Computing course. It is conducted with 27 students in Beyazıt Square as a case study area. In the scope of the study, open public spaces were observed and analyzed using data-driven approaches. Based on the analysis results, the students were expected to develop urban furniture design that would enhance user experience and activities in the area. This study questions how data-driven approaches aid in exploring public spaces and support design decisions. The objective of the study was to explore user-generated urban dynamics using multiple data and make decisions for urban furniture that augments urban dynamics. The conceptual design process of urban furniture is shaped as results of data-driven approach. The students were introduced to the Public Life Tools developed by the Gehl Institute for site observation. They were divided into particular groups and used relevant digital tracking applications to measure user activities, user profiles, and live traffic in the area. They evaluated the quality of place based on predetermined criteria by Gehl Institute. The phases of the study involve (1) the exploration of digital observation methods, (2) mapping observational, data, urban data, and locative media data in Geographic Information System (GIS), and (3) defining the relationships between the parameters affecting urban dynamics. (4) This was followed by making conceptual design decisions and (5) developing the design of urban furniture considering data analysis results. According to the findings, the use of data-driven observation and analysis methods has been effective in developing user scenarios, determining user profiles, identifying needs, and taking functional decisions in urban furniture design. Based on the students’ evaluation, the data-driven decision-making process was effective in identifying needs, problems, and potentials in the area. As the limitations of the study, the students stated that the use of digital observation methods and the learning process of GIS software were challenging. This study contributes to the field of urban computing through its conducted fieldwork.

A inter-relação entre os espaços livres e os recursos hídricos urbanos: uma revisão sistemática da literatura

With the rapid urban growth, the expansion of cities has significantly impacted the environmental dimension. Within cities, open spaces play an important multifunctional role, being areas not occupied by buildings and with social, political and cultural relevance. The Open Space System (OSS) involves elements and relationships that structure this set of open spaces, including its water network, and its understanding is essential for the development and quality of life in urban areas. This bibliographic research used the Systematic Literature Review to understand the state of the art of scientific productions that interrelate public open spaces with water resources. Articles, dissertations and theses were selected. Bibliometric analysis revealed that the topic is widely discussed in specialized journals and has been researched in several countries. This systematic review contributed to outline the relationship between open spaces and water resources, highlighting the importance of integrated urban planning that promotes the conservation of natural resources and the creation of a sustainable urban environment.

Open space dynamics during coronavirus disease-2019

Although numerous studies have been carried out to examine the general trend of urban mobility during coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), there is not enough research on changes in pedestrian behavioural characteristics and crowd dynamics in public spaces. Understanding and monitoring such changes are critical for the better management and design of public open space in case of future outbreaks of infectious diseases. To fill this gap, pedestrian movements are tracked and analysed with deep learning-based video analytics based on anonymised video footage along a major promenade in Hong Kong before and during COVID-19. Specifically, comparisons were made on pedestrian-flow characteristics, pedestrian activities and social distancing. Then, this study examines the dynamics of pedestrian crowding under different scenarios, using agent-based simulation. Model results suggest that the public space was characterised by fewer visitors, a higher average walking speed, a higher percentage of people exercising and a lower percentage of people carrying out stationary activities during COVID-19. In addition, a higher level of voluntary social distancing was observed. Several hot spots for pedestrian crowding were also identified. Learning from the above, it is suggested that multifunctional public space should be designed; and data-driven visitor management systems should be established to prepare for different scenarios in future cities.

TRENDS OF DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC SPACE FORMS

The article summarizes the main forms of public space and their types and development trends. Features of open, covered, atrium forms of public space and public space with a complex structure are described.&#x0D; The conditions of the active functioning of a comfortable public space are considered. Examples of progressive projects of the organization of public space, which are implemented in world practice and which illustrate the proposed classification of public spaces by form, are given. Modern possibilities of organizing public space, which can be included inside the building and located outside relative to the buildings, are based on the main groups of forms: open public space (area with design in an open urban environment), covered public space (area with design in an open urban environment with canopy structure), atrium public space (communication and recreation atrium part of a public building) and public space of a complex structure (combination of open, covered and atrium parts: vertically at different levels or by blocking horizontally). The most complicated form of a complex with public space is a multi-level combination of a transport hub, a shopping center and a recreation area on the upper levels.

THE ROLE OF GREEN PUBLIC SPACES IN THE FORMATION OF THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

The article analyzes the role of open green public spaces in the formation of a sustainable urban environment. In the urban planning dimension, public spaces are pedestrian streets, squares, boulevards, embankments, parks and squares, which were formed under the influence of historical, cultural, social and economic factors. In the social dimension, the listed objects are a territory publicly available for use by all residents to meet the needs of recreation, communication, sports, etc.&#x0D; The article also considers the typology of open landscaped spaces. The problem of the formation of public spaces for the cities of Ukraine is particularly relevant in view of the changes of the last decades in the field of economy, sociology, urban planning concepts of sustainable development, which stimulated the transformation of cities. Consideration of public space as a structural element of the city is important in the issue of sustainable development of Ukrainian cities and requires appropriate methodological support for analysis, evaluation, modeling and management of scientific and project activities. Resolving the contradiction between the knowledge of regularities and basic theories of the interaction of sciences in the development of the city and the real state of affairs will ensure the validity of the theoretical provisions in further studies of the spatial development of the city and practical urban planning solutions.

Research on the extraction method of traditional elements in environmental art space design based on intelligent algorithm

Abstract This paper builds a spatial design model based on the reconstruction of 3D visual spatial points in an indoor environment and combines the minimum Euclidean distance to calculate the vector relationship between spatial points and realize the corresponding spatial point matching. For the exploration of traditional elements in spatial design, an extraction method based on the improved cuckoo algorithm is proposed. By adding a dynamic inertia weight adjustment method, one inertia weight value is randomly selected from the Gaussian distribution each time to balance the algorithm’s local and global search. By extracting traditional elements, calligraphy is the most frequent in the home space, with 79.4% integration. The tea set is the most frequent traditional element in the dining space, with 84.53% integration. A couplet is the most frequent traditional element in the public open space, with 71.98% integration. The extraction based on intelligent algorithms can help designers better integrate traditional elements in the design of environmental spaces.

WASTELANDS. Recycling urban spaces for the shrinking city

Shrinkage processes are multidimensional phenomena affecting city sectors or regions that are experiencing a decline in their economic and social foundations and struggle in finding sound postindustrial revitalisation strategies. The symptoms of such structural crisis are population loss and ageing, economic recession, employment decline and social problems. The repeated international crises that followed the global economic, productive and cultural changes since the 1980s have resulted in the formation of neglected, underused and decay urban voids. The current abandonment scenario and related transformation opportunities are extremely complex and include a wide variety of typologically different wastelands. They comprise shrinking urban and peripheral fabrics, specific empty or obsolete infrastructure, derelict sites, and voids of with heritage value no longer animated by the socio-cultural “regime” that originated them. Wastelands are not unusual in Western society but their pervasiveness is certainly unprecedented given the general socioeconomic crises and dynamics. Abandonment is a challenging and constant process of space production to be filled with new functions by civil society. The re-cycle is even more challenging because the disposal of significant assets has occurred within a limited time frame compared to the post-industrial wastelands. Wastelands constitute a resource with relevant strategic opportunities for addressing a variety of issues – i.e., reducing land consumption, providing urban maintenance and rehabilitation, and increasing the supply of public open spaces, environmental quality characteristics, community standards and services. Last but not least, wastelands may provide new habitable and accessible spaces in contrast to various types of emergencies or polycrises the society is facing – i.e. climate, pandemics, territorial imbalances, ecological and energy resources impoverishment – thus addressing the transition scenario.

Development of Public Spaces: the Impact of Metro Stations Construction on the Formation of the Structure of the Adjacent Territory

The article aims to study the development potential of local urban centers around the rapid transit system with due regard to the historical traditions of urban development and modern urban planning principles. To attain this end, the authors use a set of methods, including site analysis, data collection, classification, and project proposal development. The paper presents the tradition of forming a peripheral public space within the historical boundaries of the city. It is demonstrated that the current development of local public spaces based on peripheral rapid transit stations can be considered a continuation of this tradition at a new historical and technological stage. The authors select metro stations suitable for the formation of local urban centers. To determine the possibility of placing a public space in the vicinity of metro stations, calculations are made for territories included in forty-three metro zones of the peripheral part of the city and thirteen zones of the middle part of the city. Based on a group of indicators for the selected stations, the authors conduct an analysis and compile a table that characterizes the territories near each rapid transit station. As a result, the density and floor space index, passenger traffic per day, and the balance of the adjacent territory for each station were determined. There are draft projects for the development of territories, layouts, and visualizations of the proposed options for building open public spaces. The authors consider scenarios for the placement and transformation of public centers near metro stations. The study reveals how the construction of each metro station affects the adjacent territory. It is worth mentioning that new stations affect not only the lifestyle of citizens, with improved transport accessibility, the status of the territory increases, new centers of social activity, and new public spaces emerge.