Successful Public Spaces Research Articles

The role of successful public spaces in historic centres. Insights from social media data

This study contributes to the existing knowledge on the aspects that are commonly found in socially preferred public spaces. Specifically, it provides a thematic characterisation of specific factors that may play a critical role in their success. User-generated data is used for identifying, characterising, and comparing the most successful public spaces in the historic centres of four cities in the central Spanish Mediterranean Arc. Data from Google Places, Foursquare, Twitter and Instagram are used to infer insights on the offer and demand of economic and urban activity; the spatiotemporal presence of people; and the collective urban image of the plazas and their surrounding areas (500 m isodistance from the plazas' accesses). The results suggest that the success of public plazas nowadays is strongly associated to: (1) the functional complexity of buildings located at the intersections of streets leading into the plazas; (2) having other landmarks or venues of interest and/or clustered activities within 3–5-minutes walking distance from the plazas; (3) good connectivity to other neighbourhoods (2–3-minutes walking distance) with provision of good pedestrian infrastructure; and, (4) the importance of hosting local festivities and celebrations which generate a sense of community and belonging.

PUBLIC SPACE DEVELOPMENT DIMENSIONS: A CRITICAL REVIEW

Public spaces are integral part of human life since ancient civilization. The traces can be found if form of Greek’s agora, Roman’s forum, Indian ghats etc. For the understanding of this crucial space, the paper presents a comprehensive review of literature relating to components for successful public spaces. The paper intents to understand initiatives adopted around the globe for the development of Public Space by comparing the suggested components and identify the gap in context of developing country with high density such as India. A systematic literature review is conducted to understand the expectations and requirements from public place. The finding highlights that women safety, gender ratio, engagement in and around the public space are yet to be explored. Also, safety cannot be equated with the security as it is a subspace of same. The theory of broken window needs to be mitigated and amalgamated with development of public place, to ensure maximum utilization of public space in developing countries. The study is helpful for constructing/ modifying the public space development toolkit.

Tactical Chor(e)ographies: Tactics of Inhibition as a Threat to Public Space in Limassol’s Seafront

This article explores the area that spans between the boardwalk and the Limassol Marina to highlight the tensions between two major trends in terms of the constructions of urban spaces worldwide, namely, open public spaces and segre/gated communities. Between them, lies the area of the boardwalk, one of the most successful public spaces in the island in terms of public access, openness, and inclusion. Employing ethnographic methods, this article examines walking in and other uses of these areas. It challenges de Certeau’s binary framework by suggesting that power may be more complex than simply two discrete levels, hence tactics are not a monopoly of the “powerless.” I argue that those striving to be perceived as powerful and “in control” employ a range of “tactics of inhibition” to limit possible uses of space. “Tactical chor(e)ographies” is proposed as an analytical term that can capture these processes.

An Approach On The Formal Sustainability Of The City And The Definition Of Sustainable Elements On City And Urban Scale. The Case Study Of The City Of Tirana

The context in architecture has always been a special place of discussion. Many architects and philosophers who dealt with cities and urban planning always tried to find ideal solutions for the community, for the city, and beyond. As a result of continuous studies, thoughts, and numerous analyses, there are many definitions, questions, and conclusions about the ideal city and inevitably in each conclusion or result from the identity of the country came naturally as a component.The objective of this project is to develop a methodology or set of methods for measuring and evaluating the sustainability of the urban form. The outcome of the project will be instruments of analysis and architectural/urban composition expressed through drawing. The concept will be compositions that indicate the sustainability of an existing site and propose a future sustainable form. The objective of this collaborative research project will orient in solutions to sustainable elements by itself and at the scale of the city of urban by differentiating sustainable and unsustainable elements. The idea of belonging and place are parameters that will always be stable and that people naturally look for, therefore, here the local identity, stability, belonging, memory, and connection with the place where we live and work come to the fore. This raises the question of what makes a place sustainable in terms of form, architecture, and belonging. What are those elements that contribute directly and indirectly to the formation of the country ? (T. Jashari Kajtazi and R. Zogiani, 2021) From the case study, during two workshops in the framework of doctoral studies and scientific research on this topic, analyses were made in Polis and Ferrara with groups of students of different profiles to determine the elements and those indicators that have given a result of gender and the construction of cities- theoretically and practically. As Rossi claims in Architecture of the city (Rossi, 1984)- critiques modern architectural practice for its lack of awareness of the city in this book. Rossi contends that a city must be examined and cherished as something built through time, with special emphasis on urban artifacts that outlast the passage of time – that seems to be correct in some aspects of the city. On the other hand, (Sitte, 1945) examined successful public spaces in ancient towns in terms of patterns and relationships between town features, as well as the sequence and complexity of plazas and roadways – so by analysing the city of Tirana practically will be seen the elements relevant to each theory and claims fit in or not.From these two organized workshops, systematic and professional work was done in the fields of architecture, urban planning, and the environment so that the research was as real and comprehensive as possible. Tirana was the city that was studied by us and the outcomes were derived from analysing Tirana, so that they serve for other approaches with same complexities and difficulties for other cities with similar issues.

EXPLORING THE ATTRIBUTES OF OPEN PUBLIC SPACES IN THE DEVELOPING CITIES

Open Public Spaces, according to Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), are vital elements of urban fabrics that animate communities in cities. These significant spaces not only provide the residents with different facilities, but also promote social, economic, environmental and health opportunities. Successful open public spaces meet the needs of people of various social classes, ethnicities, and different backgrounds in general. Despite its importance within the city, the lack of appropriate design and planning strategies in developing cities have resulted in a degradation of the urban environment and subsequently the quality of urban life. The problem needs to be addressed with sensitivity to space as well as the people- its main users. The research, therefore, aims to explore the attributes of successful open public spaces that contributes to enhance the quality of public life from users’ perspective. The research focuses on one case study: Horsh Al-Sanawbar, Beirut, Lebanon, which is perceived as the largest green public space in the heart of Beirut, where it plays a significant role in enhancing the public quality within the city. The paper argues that open public space dimensions consist of several attributes that makes an open public space successful, where these spaces can act as catalysts for enhancing the quality of life within the developing city. To prove this hypothesis, the paper adopts a qualitative approach, first, through desk research for defining the main keyword, and examining data from previous works and articles on the same topic wrote by various architects, urban planners, and theorists. Second a field methodology will be supported by questionnaire survey, walking interviews, and onsite observations regarding the four key attributes of successful open public spaces that are: physical, social, functional, and perceptual attributes. The author finally suggests a series of dimensions found in the design and development of open public spaces, that will contribute to create a design guideline for using the attributes in achieving better open public spaces.

Integrated Planning: Towards a Mutually Inclusive Approach to Infrastructure Planning and Design

Increasingly independent fields of specialization, civil engineering, and urban design find themselves practicing in isolation on the same urban issues. The result surfaces on the relative qualities of public spaces: projects that are functionally successful but spatially poor, and vice versa This is critical in the global south, where infrastructure is prioritized, and politicized, as the key driver of change but often heedless of spatial consequences. The present study explores the dynamics of integration between logics arising from technical and spatial fields, and the planning processes under which such integration is feasible. An urban design/infrastructural project in Argentina, stalled for more than two decades under regulatory policies, was selected as a case study. An overview and background of the adopted planning/design methodologies are followed by a structural/spatial analysis, focusing on type, logistics, and construction on the one hand, and on indicators of successful public spaces on the other: access, uses, comfort and image. Aspects that a priori appeared as inevitable compromises found a common, but the critically logical ground in which urban and structural thinking complemented each other. More than a functional asset, infrastructure presents an opportunity to re-think the future of the built environment as a typology that could be conceived, designed and evaluated, on the same terms as successful public spaces.

The impact of different tree planting strategies on ecosystem services and disservices in the piazzas of a northern Italian city

Achieving urban sustainability goals, and improving the quality of life in cities, are aided by the careful selection of tree species for public green spaces. Numerous trade-offs and synergies are necessary to consider when selecting tree species for successful public green spaces and there is little data on effective species mixes. In this transdisciplinary research we consider the relative impacts of nine different tree planting scenarios, as modelled with i-Tree, in three piazzas of Bolzano, North Italy. The scenarios consider the opinions of the general public gathered from focused workshops and data collected via a purposefully created smartphone application in addition to data from local urban tree inventories. Shade provision and aesthetics were the primary factors that influenced citizen tree preferences. Scenarios which included larger tree species generally performed the best due to the greater provision of ecosystem services that arises with larger tree dimensions. Ecosystem disservices also increase with larger trees but can be minimised by careful species selection. Public participation in the planning of urban green spaces can be a beneficial activity which ensures new planning outputs will be well-received whilst providing opportunities for education of citizens about the multiple ecosystem services and disservices in urban contexts. Model outputs revealed that different tree species choices can have greatly different impacts in terms of ecosystem service and disservice provision.

Reconceptualising everyday public spaces: An alternative approach in the design of market spaces

Public spaces play a variety of roles in cities in everyday life and contribute to people’s health, happiness and well-being. People make places and they live on memories, emotions and values by interacting with a particular place and locality. Successful public spaces require diversity, activities, and to be closely linked to the physical setting (milieu) to enable and boost different types of activities and functions. This study attempts to explore the socio-spatial dynamics in everyday public spaces with a primary focus on understanding the evolution and pattern of development of market spaces. This paper looks at the case of the Krishna Rajendra (KR) market in Bengaluru, which is one of the oldest markets located in the city’s centre. The market, due to the expansion of the city, has grown into an unorganised and chaotic space. This research aims to understand the unorganised development of the KR market space and its impact on the people and existing urban fabric through a series of surveys and documentation. It also proposes policies to provide a new paradigm for shopping.

How design shapes space choice behaviors in public urban and shared indoor spaces- A review

This systematic literature review synthesizes the major physical and socio-physical determinants on space choice behaviors in open (i.e., non-defined uses) versus enclosed (i.e., specific uses defined) spaces. The purpose is to better understand the trade-offs between open and enclosed spaces and how opposing and complimentary design elements influence behavior and occupancy choices. Using the lens of space choice behaviors, we hypothesize that similar design challenges exists at both scales, and that analogous insights can be applied to both urban planning and building design. We analyze the focus areas, research drivers, locations, and methods applied in the reviewed studies, and find overlapping similarities within research at both scales, particularly in the methods applied. The drivers for research into buildings tend to be more about optimizing space allocation, whereas lifestyles and well-being are more common in urban studies. We synthesize the content of the literature and find that challenges of successful public and common spaces in cities and buildings are similar in terms of trade-offs, barriers, and impacts on user activities. The implementation of diverse open spaces create more flexibility and adaptability to changing trends, attract different interest groups, and ultimately provide more synergistic benefits to the use of buildings and cities.

Supplemental safety? Exploring experienced safety in relation to other qualities of successful public spaces

ABSTRACT Combining insights from the urban design and criminological literature, this paper explores the degree to which conviviality, feeling welcome, and feeling at home are related to peoples’ experiences of safety. A questionnaire was distributed on four squares in the city of Utrecht, the Netherlands. While participants valued the positive qualities of the squares differently, feeling safe was connected to a wider, positive evaluation of the quality of space and especially to feeling at home. By investing primarily in public spaces that are ‘homely’ or ‘domesticated’, a ‘supplemental safety’ might therefore be nurtured. This poses important insights for safety management.

Using Wi-Fi probe and location data to analyze the human distribution characteristics of green spaces: A case study of the Yanfu Greenland Park, China

Public open space constitutes a significant part of the sustainable urban environment. Urban green space—which includes parks, sports fields, and wetlands—is a crucial type of public open space in a healthy urban ecosystem. Most studies on urban green spaces comprise large-scale objective evaluations, with relatively few related theoretical studies from the perspective of human behavior. This is predominantly due to the technical constraints involved in obtaining small-scale public open space population activity data. To address this issue, this study examines the crowd activities of an urban green space by combining Wi-Fi probe and location data to discern population distribution characteristics. This study uses Yanfu Greenland Park, a green space in a central area of Shanghai—a typical high-density city—as a case study. This study proposes a technical method for measuring population distribution in a small-scale public space, demonstrating its applicability through an analysis of the population density distribution and activity trajectory in an urban green space. The methodology demonstrated in this study can help urban planning designers and managers create more successful public open spaces. This technical method may also assist urban planning and related research on different scales.

Reversed urbanism: Inferring urban performance through behavioral patterns in temporal telecom data

AbstractA fundamental aspect of well performing cities is successful public spaces. For centuries, understanding these places has been limited to sporadic observations and laborious data collection...

Public space quality evaluation: prerequisite for public space management

Public spaces are an important part of cities as they contribute to improvements in liveability, environmental quality and sustainability. Despite these conditions of public spaces in cities in developing countries like India, are far from desirable in terms of quantity as well as quality. Though considerable research has been done on successful public open spaces to identify quality attributes/criteria and their evaluation in the context of developed countries, much of this has been primarily aimed at providing design guidelines/solutions. Besides, the role of proper management in ensuring quality and overall success of public spaces has also been assessed. However, not much research has been done in this regard in Indian context, where there is a considerable difference between the norms and provision of public spaces; the usage of public spaces and their quality from those in developed/rich countries This demands an in-depth understanding of the problems and issues surrounding public spaces, the criteria for quality in public spaces, and development of an evaluation framework, so that appropriate management strategies can be framed for their improvement. In view of the above, the study investigates public spaces in the context of three Indian cities and identifies the quality attributes/criteria based on a survey of users’ opinion and observational studies of selected public spaces. Further, a framework for the evaluation of the quality of public spaces employing the Public Space Quality Index (PSQI), has been developed and applied in selected public spaces. Using the above methodology, public spaces in a city with different performance levels, and factors responsible for the same can be identified, which can then become the basis for formulating appropriate management strategies for their improvement and comparing performances of public spaces in specific areas of a city/different cities to encourage competitiveness among cities to improve the quality of their public realm.

Conceptual commentary of public spaces in Durban, South Africa

Within the context of African cities that are considered to have poor economic prospects and are failing its inhabitants, this article explores and assesses the quality of Durban’s open public spaces through a phenomenological lens, by applying the concept of the sociality of public space and drawing on different theorists’ ideas of what constitutes a good open public space. Various factors have led to the corrosion of open public spaces, including modernism and globalisation and their resultant effects as well as spatial apartheid in South Africa. The following theories are used to understand open public spaces: Jacob’s “eyes on the street”, which supports safer public spaces; Massey’s theory of thrown-togetherness, which advocates for a range of different elements present in public spaces, and Parkinson’s democracy of public space, which encompasses the way in which people express themselves in public spaces. The research methodology includes a literature review, phenomenological ethnographic observations, mapping, and drawing with written narrative. The spaces considered in the study include a range of Durban’s successful and less successful public spaces, including the beachfront, parks, gardens, and a public square. The article concludes that open public spaces are a necessity for quality civic life and are still considered a luxury in Africa. Keywords : Durban open public spaces, sociality, thrown-togetherness, democracy of space

Attributes of Successful Public Spaces through Users Perception

The success of the revitalization program of urban public space is viewed through attributes that have been identified. This study aims to investigate the perception of users in public space through the on-site survey. In summary, the motivations, behavioural patterns, impressions on the public space as an attraction and the perceived importance of urban public spaces in the development of the city are important attributes for successful public space. The findings of this study will show main attributes in successful revitalization of urban public space based on users perception and can be used in a meaningful way to the users.

Determinants of a successful public open space: the case of Dataran Merdeka in the city centre of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Successful public open spaces are comfortable arenas where people of different backgrounds, genders and ethnicities benefit from miscellaneous opportunities. This paper seeks to determine the components of a successful public open space. First, a self-administered questionnaire survey identifies the users’ evaluations. Second, structured interviews explore the experts’ opinions about the relevant issues. The results show that social success is the most important factor in making successful public open spaces, while the physical attributes play the least significant role in such spaces. The paper presents a series of pragmatic suggestions that assist urban designers, landscape architects, architects, policy-makers and urban planners in creating lively communities in city centres, which contributes to the social sustainability of cities.

Governance Models of Successful Urban Public Spaces: Reflections on the Case of Cairo, Egypt

Urban Public Spaces (UPS) have vital roles in shaping our cities; they affect our quality of life, and introduce direct and indirect benefits, when being successfully provided. However, the challenge is how to provide and manage them successfully. Traditionally, it has been the governments' responsibility to provide and manage UPS. Nowadays, with the changing nature of governance modes in general and urban governance in particular, both the private and voluntary sectors became more involved and new models of UPS governance emerged to satisfy other visions and targeted outputs. Such change accompanied with the presence of new governing bodies, transfer of responsibilities and power, and different outcome benefits. This paper focuses on the governance dimension of UPS within Cairo, with an aim to provide guidelines for the involvement of different actors and sectors. It discusses such involvement in two ways. First which actor/sector’s involvement should be highly supported based on the targeted output, and second how to organize their involvement for reaching maximum benefits with minimal negative impact. Reaching the paper’s aim will be through analysing field notes about four models of Cairo’s UPS governance in relative to a framework produced from previous analysis of successful models of UPS' governance worldwide.

GIS mapping and analysis of behaviour in small urban public spaces

In city centres where public space is at a premium, checklists and images of design quality attributes generated from observations of successful public spaces are increasingly being utilised in designs of new or refurbished areas. This replication assumes the success and popularity of these elements will generalise to other locations. However, the accuracy and reliability of observations in using current methods of behaviour mapping can miss important details in the small and often crowded successful public spaces. Coding of time interval photographic records of public spaces in Geographic Information System (GIS) is introduced as a data collection methodology for mapping and analysing behaviour. The results indicate that actualised affordance is a function of the spatial configuration of design elements with respect to the number of users, the availability of choice, climate (sun and shade), and the enclosure and exposure of design elements within subspaces. Although design elements are selected for their potential affordance, actualised affordance is defined by the configuration within which elements are embedded in a specific location.

Using locative social media and urban cartographies to identify and locate successful urban plazas

Locative social media networks as open sources of data allow researchers and professionals to acknowledge which city places are preferred, used and livable. Following this hypothesis, this paper proposes a methodology to identify successful public spaces – plazas – through the location-based social media network Foursquare and to analyze their urban position using morphological and historical cartographies.The overall methodology comprises three stages. First, the most important cities of the province of Alicante were selected. Second, the most relevant plaza of each city was identified using data retrieved from the social network Foursquare. Finally, the location of each plaza is analyzed in relation to the historic center and the main axes of the city. Possible correlations between their urban location and their vibrant character were subsequently identified.Two findings have emerged from this study: (a) a strong spatial relationship exists between the most successful plazas and the historic city center, which reinforces their traditional social character; and (b) all plazas share two similar traits, their location within the urban network and their proximity to the main axes of the city.

Sustainable Approach for Developing Local Mixed- use Streets Case Study Beit Al Maqdis Street in Jeddah

Designing streets as successful public spaces represents the spine of all sustainable urban movements. As a part of the continuing efforts of Saudi Arabia in the field of urban development; the research aims to investigate one of the local streets of Jeddah city -Beit Al Maqdis Street- in terms of main functions and form of the surrounding buildings to identify problems and potentials of the street as a public space. The research will conclude in proposal for developing one of the mixed use streets in Jeddah, using sustainable streets’ strategies to be an exemplary model for sustainable, well-designed and pedestrian oriented streets.