Urban Public Space Research Articles

The Chinese “Streetscape” Investigations on the performative destiny of a social and linguistic space


 
 
 In Europe the street is traditionally the place of self-representation: the “Strada Nuova” in Genova has been designed in 1550 to allow noble families to build their own palaces in a competition of beauty, richness and power. In the American tradition the street became overall a place dominated by its market role (Venturi on Las Vegas, 1972). In China streets are the real public space for people’s daily life and its essential activities (trading, eating, playing, discussing): their role in urban life is so strong that sometime a street can appear even where the planning didn’t establish that.
 The western main urban public/social space is the square, but for the eastern countries - especially China- the streets represent the most representative urban public space that can be used together without the class differences.However, from the ancient cities to today’s high-density cities, the Chinese streets, because of their social role, have experienced also a very important connection with shop signs, posters, notices of all kinds, flags and signs, luminous writings. All these objects are a kind of ornament of daily-life as well as a real interesting documentary material, useful to understand permanencies and variations in the use of the cities during their transition from the former order to the new one.
 The paper introduces the framework and the contents of a multidisciplinary research project at work, between urban morphology and Chinese language and culture. (max. 1500 characters, spaces included)
 
 

Using innovative communication pathways to reframe the perception of young people within the political establishment

AbstractThis paper presents research into communication pathways between young people and political decision‐makers. The aim of the study was to give young people a platform to challenge how they are perceived in urban public space. Using innovative creative mapping methods, a group of teenagers shared insights into their everyday experiences of their urban neighbourhood with elected political representatives. This paper argues that the perception of young people within the political establishment inhibits engagement and change, but that the participation process is an important step towards reframing perceptions and affecting change.

Pathways from street network design to symptoms of depression among emerging adults in China

Streets comprise over 80% of all urban public space, while previous studies associated street network attributes with traffic and transport model choice, they did not examine network design in conjunction with symptoms of depression. This paper developed a path analysis model to examine the direct and indirect effects of street network designs on symptoms of depression among undergraduates. Road network density, road intersection density and public transit density were measured within 1 km buffers centered on university campuses. A survey that included the 9-item patient health questionnaire (PHQ9) addressed these effects and measured the incidence of symptoms of depression among a random sample of 22,060 Chinese undergraduates. After controlling for individual- and campus-level covariates, the results revealed that exposure to PM2.5, poor sleep quality and unhealthy dietary pattern (excluding transport-related physical activity) mediated the relationship between specific street network attributes and symptoms of depression. Higher road density was found to alleviate symptoms of depression by increasing exposure to PM2.5. Greater road connectivity tended to alleviate symptoms of depression by reducing exposure to PM2.5 but to exacerbate symptoms of depression by worsening sleep quality and increasing the incidence of unhealthy dietary patterns. Better access to public transit inclined to ameliorate symptoms of depression by improving sleep quality but to exacerbate symptoms by increasing PM2.5 exposure. These findings emphasize the need for strategies aimed at improving street network designs to include assessments of the aggregate effects on campus environs and the associated impacts on undergraduate mental health.

Assessment of Outdoor Thermal Comfort in Urban Public Space, during the Hottest Period in Annaba City, Algeria

In this study; the outdoor thermal comfort of the users of two urban plazas with different morphologies in Annaba city, Algeria, have been evaluated. First, field measurements of the microclimatic parameters took place; namely the air temperature and the relative humidity in the two urban plazas, during hot days. Then, these measurements were compared with the results of the numerical simulations carried out by ENVI-met software in order to validate the model. The outdoor thermal comfort was evaluated by microclimatic measurements as well as a questionnaire survey consisting of interviews during the measurement days. The main objective was to determine the neutral Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) and to examine the influence of urban microclimatic conditions on the subjective thermal perception of people, as well as to compare it with different indexes of thermal comfort. Hence, the aim was to compare the microclimatic parameters of the two plazas, with and without vegetation and to see their impact on the thermal comfort indices. The results show that there is a difference between the two morphologies. Moreover, vegetation and urban morphology influence the neutral values of the thermal comfort indices.

MENCIPTAKAN KOTA CERDAS: MEMANFAATKAN AI (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE) UNTUK PENGEMBANGAN RUANG PUBLIK PERKOTAAN YANG CERDAS

As cities continue to grow and face increasing challenges, the concept of smart cities has emerged as a solution to create sustainable, efficient, and livable urban environments. One crucial aspect of smart cities is the development of intelligent urban public spaces that cater to the diverse needs and preferences of residents and visitors. This paper explores the role of AI in the development of such spaces, focusing on how AI technologies can enhance their design, functionality, and user experience. It examines the application of AI in areas such as data analytics, user behavior analysis, sensor networks, and adaptive systems to create dynamic and responsive public spaces. Furthermore, it discusses the benefits, challenges, and potential ethical considerations associated with harnessing AI for intelligent urban public spaces development. Through this exploration, the paper highlights the transformative potential of AI in shaping the future of urban environments and fostering inclusive and sustainable communities.

Exploring Mobility of The Elderly in Urban Public Spaces and Transportation Facilities

Ageing is a global issue. As cities grow, the share of residents aged 60 and over also increases. In Malaysia, the population aged 65 years and over increased from 6.5% in 2018 to 6.7% in 2019. Therefore, Malaysia is estimated to reach an ageing nation status in 10 years, and 15% of the population will be at least 60 years old. The World Bank predicts Malaysia will become a "super-aged society" as 20% of the population will be over 65 by 2056. Aligned with the 12th Malaysian Plan (2021-2025), Malaysia has made preparations for the Smart City Initiative, with a primary focus on improving the well-being of its people. In addition, an Intelligent Transport System Blueprint (2017–2022) has been introduced as part of the government's efforts to upgrade the current transportation system. Today's world shows the rise of an ageing population, which has implications in many areas and facilities, such as healthcare, financial services, city planning, transportation, and religious centres. This rising elderly population requires changes in their living environment to make their lives easier. There will be serious problems and challenges in the mobility of the elderly in health service needs and physical areas. Therefore, the primary objective of this conceptual study is to explore the contributing aspects that allow older people with smart mobility to use public spaces and transportation facilities. A qualitative research design is employed to achieve research objectives. This study is helpful for the development of smart cities and transportation planning to support the sustainable mobility of the elderly in Malaysia, which is facing an increasingly ageing society. Also, the study will address the ageing society in the national development plans and revisit existing planning together with physical areas of development to fulfill the needs of the elderly. It is aligned with the National Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of increasing the elderly population's quality of life.

A systems approach for managing risks with complex interactions in urban spaces

Extreme phenomena have emerged strongly in urban areas in recent years and are directly linked to the current urban challenges, such as climate change and digital transformation, that future cities must face efficiently. Risk management in urban public spaces is the primary means by which decision makers and local stakeholders ensure urban resilience and enhance urban smartness. In this framework, the current research proposes risk management solutions for urban areas considering their complexity as systems. The implementation of STPA (System-Theoretic Process Analysis) method, as a relatively new hazard analysis technique for complex systems is presented. The applied method delivers a mechanism useful in understanding where gaps in current operational risk structures may exist. The findings in terms of loss scenarios can be used to generate a variety of safeguards to ensure secure operational control and in implementing targeted strategies through standard approaches of risk assessment. Results from a use case in Patras city, Greece, indicate that a systemic, hierarchically structured, and adaptive approach, can effectively assist local stakeholders in risk management of urban public spaces.

Analysis and Evaluation of the Service Capacity of a Waterfront Public Space Using Point-of-Interest Data Combined with Questionnaire Surveys

The analysis and evaluation of the service capacity of an urban public space is of great importance for optimizing spatial design and ensuring sustainable regeneration of the space. Point-of-interest (POI) data analysis is a common method for evaluating the performance of public space since it contains various geographical information about specific facilities. However, this method is incapable of providing intuitive and clear feedback on the usage of the space, such as visitor experience and satisfaction levels. In this paper, we present a hybrid approach that combines POI data with questionnaire surveys to comprehensively analyze and evaluate the service capacity of the facilities in a waterfront public space. By taking the Changning section of the Suzhou Creek in Shanghai as an example, we evaluate and verify the utilization rate and satisfaction level of public facilities based on this hybrid approach with three satisfaction factors: accessibility, landscape visual quality, and service functions. The results reveal that the service space that can be reached on foot provides the most satisfaction in terms of accessibility, followed by the space that can be reached by bicycle. When it comes to landscape visual quality, visitors are more concerned with the view around the facility than with the greenery. Regarding service functions, the service facility with beverage outlets, fitness, and small gatherings is more appealing. The proposed approach will be useful for further developing advanced public space evaluation strategies with real-time feedback capabilities, as well as for the intelligent design and long-term regeneration of future public spaces.

Experiencing Amsterdam’s Red Light District as a female resident: normalization, alliances and diversion

Every year, Amsterdam’s de Wallen neighbourhood attracts high numbers of tourists looking to experience a unique Red Light District (RLD). Yet de Wallen is a multi-use area, that combines sexualised consumption and leisure practices, with everyday residential urban functions and public spaces. This study investigated how female residents of this neighbourhood experience its sexualised nature, adjust their behaviour to it, as well as how they negotiate their feelings of belonging and being at home. Data was collected through in-depth interviews and focus groups. The results indicate that female residents navigate their ordinary lives in the neighbourhood with a sense of normality and familiarity, while acknowledging and maintaining a distance to the areas more extraordinary peculiarities, nuisances and darker, more unknown sides. They take ownership of their neighbourhood by creating a community, standing up for sex workers and reacting boldly towards sexual harassment. Becoming targets of objectification and sexualisation by male visitors to the area stimulates them to deconstruct power relations between genders. Generally speaking, this study shows how respondents residing in de Wallen manage to feel secure, spatially confident as well as attached and protective of an area that is both ordinary and extraordinary.

ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC SPACE QUALITY OF DISTRICT CENTERS IN DELHI USING GOOD PUBLIC SPACE INDEX

Public Spaces are a representative image of a city and play a vital role in maintaining social quotient of its people. Social interactions are a part of human nature for healthy and happy lifestyle. These interactions can happen with anybody and everybody varying from person to person. District centers are a typology of public spaces conceived in a master plan as part of mandatory commercial quotient in a neighborhood. In Delhi, these district centers are fundamental for public gatherings as they possess active and passive commercial spaces, retail, offices, food outlets and much more. This research paper aims to examine the qualitative aspects of these district centers with respect to good public space index (GPSI) given by researcher Vikas Mehta via primary surveys and public interaction. The study is a part of bigger research problem of evaluating publicness of Indian public spaces. It covers key attributes of a public space and people’s perception of it, followed by recommendations to enhance the value of urban public spaces.

From Conservation to Connection: Exploring the Role of Nativeness in Shaping People’s Relationships with Urban Trees

Deciding whether to plant native or non-native trees in public urban green spaces is becoming complex and conflicted, and decisions purely based on biotic nativeness are likely to be hamstrung as climate change and rising urban heat push many native species beyond their natural ranges. Importantly, tree selection considerations by urban planners and environmental managers will have to move beyond a primary focus on securing conservation and ecological outcomes, to elucidate and engage with a growing interest in the socio-cultural values and services of urban trees. Building on emerging theoretical perspectives, this place-based study explores the role that perceptions of nativeness have in shaping people’s relationships with native and non-native urban trees and landscapes in an Australian city. Nativeness was associated with a range of subjective meanings including cultural identity, political expression, nature connection, desirable and undesirable traits, and environmental and cultural compatibility. Our findings emphasise that the ways in which urban trees and green spaces are valued and experienced is likely mediated by people’s perceptions of nativeness and its importance relative to other attributes. To provision and sustain green spaces that meet the diverse needs and preferences of urban publics, planners and managers need to elucidate and incorporate the nuanced, place-based and multifaceted subjective meanings of nativeness into urban greening decision-making and practice.

How to alleviate alienation from the perspective of urban community public space—Evidence from urban young residents in China

Alienation among young residents is imposing different degrees of distress on society and community residents. For this paper, an online survey platform was used to collect 637 samples of young residents from 22 provinces in China. Based on the mediating effect of social capital, and by using path analysis and structural equation modeling, this paper examines the effect and mechanism of how the usage of urban community public spaces alleviates alienation among young residents. The findings show that the usage of urban community public spaces can not only alleviate alienation among young residents at the general level, but also through the path of interpersonal trust and reciprocity norm. The implications of these findings are that urban community public spaces play an essential role in improving community relations and happiness of residents. Therefore, in urban development, sufficient community public space, especially space for social activities, should be reserved. Furthermore, accurately understand to the use characteristics and actual needs of young residents for community space should be highlighted, to meet the diversified social needs of young residents and expand the value of public space through community space reconstruction and micro-renewal.

Improvisation and Planning: Engaging With Unforeseen Encounters in Urban Public Space

Despite the significant emphasis in Scandinavian cities on vital urban spaces and creative unfolding in urban development, there is a tendency towards designing for “finished” urban spaces with a pre-defined conclusion. The result is often standardised design and staged play, ignoring the diversity of lived experiences taking place in the here and now. How can urban spaces be generated to accommodate unforeseen encounters fostering moments of intensity, affect, and disorder? In this article, we explore the potential of improvisation in urban spaces by examining how urban public spaces facilitate improvisation in interactions between places, senses, materials, and participants. Improvisation is understood as a productive force in urban development that gives space to what occurs in urban encounters. The article draws on Richard Sennett’s concept of “disorder” and Jennifer Mason’s concept of “affinity.” By using design experiments and sensory and visual methods inspired by ethnographic methodology the article analyses two improvisational practices occurring in public spaces in Norway and Denmark, which emphasise the performative, affective, and sensory elements of urban life. The analysis brings forth a discussion of how improvisation unfolds in multimodal urban encounters, between order and disorder, and sensory and emotional connections. The authors argue for a more place-sensitive form of city-making and more improvisatorial urban designs that stimulate varied, spontaneous, and changeable use.

Descriptive and Network Post-Occupancy Evaluation of the Urban Public Space through Social Media: A Case Study of Bryant Park, NY

In modern cities, urban public spaces, such as parks, gardens, plazas, and streets, play a big role in people’s social activities, physical activities, mental health, and overall well-being. However, the traditional post-occupancy evaluation (POE) process for public spaces such as large urban parks is extremely difficult, especially for long-term user experiences through observations, surveys, and interviews. On the other hand, social media has emerged as a major media outlet recording millions of user experiences to the public, which provides opportunities to inform how public space is used and perceived by users. Furthermore, unlike previous research that primarily presented descriptive characters of park programs, our study employs a network model to elucidate the interactive relationships and intensities among reported park elements, human activities, and experiences. This approach enables us to track the sources within the space that impact people’s perceptions, such as weather conditions, food options, and notable landmarks. The utilization of this network model opens avenues for future research to comprehensively investigate the factors shaping people’s perceptions in public open spaces. This study uses Bryant Park as an example and presents a new analytical framework, POSE (post-occupancy social media evaluation), to support long-term POE studies for large public spaces. Methods such as data automation, descriptive statistics, and social network analysis were used. The identification and quantification of meaningful park activities, scenes, and sentiments as well as their relationships will help optimize the design and management of park programs.

The impact of heatwaves on human perceived thermal comfort and thermal resilience potential in urban public open spaces

Climate change increases the likelihood of heatwave events, causing human thermal discomfort and even mortality. However, it is not clear to what extent humans with long-term and short-term experience of hot-summer exposure can adapt to thermal comfort in urban public open spaces when both experience their heatwave periods. Therefore, this study aims to investigate outdoor perceived thermal comfort in urban public open spaces during heatwave periods between two groups of people who have long-term and short-term experience of hot-summer exposure. Field surveys were conducted in public squares and parks during the heatwaves in Chongqing, China and Reading, the UK. Chongqing is known as a ‘furnace city’ and people have been living in a hot summer for a long time, while in Reading the summer is warm and people unusually experience the heatwave. The main results show that Chongqing respondents living in a hot climate for a longer period can endure more heat than Reading respondents during the heatwaves, indicating that Chongqing respondents have more thermal resilience. Besides, different behavioural adaptation measures show that people are active participants to choose their thermal preferences, rather than passive recipients of the thermal environments. The research implication contributes that protective measures against heatwaves need to be taken for pedestrians, including more shaded places with efficient ventilation design for sheltering and handy facilities such as drinking fountains and water spray. The research has novelty in deepening the dynamic theory of human thermal comfort and providing empirical evidence of thermal adaptation in extreme-high temperature events.

The creative body memory in Covid’s time: a participatory pedagogic methodology with site-specific dance and performance in urban places

ABSTRACT Given the social circumstances arising from the COVID-19 health crisis, we developed a participatory pedagogic methodology involving body experimentation and performing arts to explore ‘body memory’ as a tool for redefining new affective bonds and adaptation processes within urban environments and public spaces. This experimental methodology, addressed to community participation, involves exercises of body movement improvisation, physical theatre techniques and site-specific dance. We aim to draw an arc of cumulative learning and individual and group awareness that should facilitate a critical rediscovery of everyday urban experiences inside a ‘body-place-community’ dialogue. In the performative exercises, we inquire about a ‘creative body memory’ composed of conscious, temporal, and cognitive knowledge built on interpretive fragments, images, and mental representations; and an embodied unconscious and extemporal one, built on emotional and adaptive ‘body-place-community’ connections. This methodology was tested in a pilot laboratory addressed to a group of adolescents living in Raval’s multicultural neighbourhood (Barcelona) and some of them at risk of social exclusion. It was implemented with the collaboration of ‘Xamfrà, Raval’s Music and Performance Centre’ in the context of Raval’s summer youth activities organised in July 2021.

New Christian friendships and spaces of sociability in the early modern Spanish city

ABSTRACT This essay suggests that reading Spanish Inquisition records against the grain allows us to write a cultural and social history of New Christians not solely from the lens of heresy and “judaizing”, but from a lens that reconstructs their amical and spatial experiences. In particular, it examines the social relationships between New Christians as they took shape in various public spaces in Madrid as well as in other Spanish cities during the seventeenth century. During this period, the Inquisition focused mostly on New Christians of Portuguese origin, who as immigrants often sought after friendship. This study makes the argument that the historiographical tendency to consider New Christians primarily as “crypto-Jews” overshadows the various ways in which this group used public urban space for social interactions similarly to Old Christians, as well as for exchanging essential information about the Jewish faith and its commandments. Additionally, this study suggests that we should avoid the binary division of space as either public or private, since public spaces were also used for clandestine activities, and since the New Christian household was often a far more dangerous place to practice the Jewish tradition, due to the ongoing presence of servants, family members and friends. Nevertheless, New Christians celebrated friendship to a great extent, as it played an essential role in their religious identity and experience.

Public space in different cultural conditions: The cases of Glasgow and Poznań

Public spaces are among the most important components of the contemporary city. They are supposed to be places of vibrant social life, where a broad set of activities and behaviours can be observed. However, the role of public spaces as well as their spatial features can differ in various societies. The built environment, as a human creation, is affected by many social factors and one of them is culture. Thus, cultural conditions can have an impact on how urban space is created, perceived, and used. Those differences are most clearly visible in distant cultures, but they may occur to a greater or lesser extent within a single culture circle. Public spaces, because of their accessibility, egalitarianism, and wide range of users are especially useful as an area of research on the relationship between space and culture. This paper presents differences between Glasgow (United Kingdom) and Poznań (Poland) in the perception and attitude towards urban public space concerning cultural conditions. The theoretical background of the relations between space and culture, and the contemporary views of public space are discussed. Afterwards, the results of the survey study conducted in both cities are presented. The research results are discussed in the context of cultural differences derived from the cultural models and show that cultural dimensions can be used to explain the activity of users of urban public spaces. They also indicate that the variety in behaviour patterns and approaches to public space can be observed within the European cultural circle.

Quantitative Evaluation of Friendliness in Streets’ Pedestrian Networks Based on Complete Streets: A Case Study in Wuhan, China

In recent years, with the rapid growth in the number of cars, the safe and convenient street pedestrian traffic network in cities has been broken by motor vehicle lanes. The pedestrian traffic function of streets as an important urban public space has been lost, and the pedestrian friendliness of streets needs urgent improvement. However, the existing pedestrian-friendly street space assessment has not yet formed a set of full-factor quantitative evaluation systems, making the construction of pedestrian-friendly streets still in the conceptual stage and lacking practical significance. The complete streets design concept clarifies the goal of street pedestrian space construction and proposes the full elements of street pedestrian space design, which provides important support for the construction of the street pedestrian friendliness evaluation system. Based on the complete streets design concept, this study constructs a complete set of quantitative evaluation systems of street walkability from three aspects of street space: traffic, environment and function. Meanwhile, a street pedestrian usability evaluation method is proposed to further explore the actual demand of streets. Combined with the comprehensive evaluation matrix of street pedestrian friendliness and usability, the areas where the planning of street pedestrian space does not match with the actual space are explored. The case study in Wuhan found that the overall pedestrian friendliness was high in the area, but there was significant variability. The study area is dominated by streets in need of improvement, with medium demand–low friendliness, and both the pedestrian friendliness and usability of the streets need to be improved.

The Influence of Residential Block Form on Summer Thermal Comfort of Street Canyons in the Warm Temperate Zone of China

The residential block is the cognitive unit for residents to constitute urban imagery. As one of the most frequently used urban outdoor public spaces by residents, the thermal comfort of street canyons is an essential indicator for assessing sustainable and livable cities. The problem of the uncomfortable summer climate in the warm temperate zone of China has not been adequately studied. The study aims to analyze the influence of the building layout form of residential block units and block configuration on the outdoor summer thermal comfort of street canyons. Outdoor air temperature (Ta), mean radiant temperature (Tmrt), wind speed (Va), and physiological equivalent temperature (PET) were simulated using ENVI-met. A new index, PETws, was introduced based on a statistical analysis of the PET index to assess the overall street canyon thermal comfort of the block. The results indicate that the number of rows of buildings in the building row layout has a more significant effect on the summer thermal comfort PET of street canyons than the number of columns in the warm temperate zone, especially on N–S-oriented streets. Reducing the number of rows can increase the overall thermal comfort PETws of street canyons by a maximum of 2.2%. The best choice for the number of building columns is two columns. Adopting different block configurations can increase the thermal comfort PETws of street canyons by up to 2.5%. An optimal block form has been created to improve the overall street canyon summer thermal comfort of the block.