Dimensions of public space, lecture by Petar Vranic, 3 July 2013

“SOCHI – PESHKOM” 2013

Summer School in Architecture & Urban Design

What is not a purpose of this summer school: competition among you for the best public space project ever ….

What is a purpose of this summer school : an collaborative attempt to understand better dimensions of public space, the way it influence people lifestyle….attempt to get beyond conventional architectural approach to design……to invent new tools for assessing and analyze space… to deliver workable proposal to improve public spaces in this beautiful city….and to enjoy while doing all this…

From City to Bench

Program

Week #1Understanding city / space as a process

Objective: to develop better understanding of complex and multi-layered fabric of chosen public space and the system of forces that continuously reconfigure it.

Week #2 Design city / space as a process

Objective: to develop urban design scenario for development of public space/network of spaces, which will include possible stakeholders, phases of implementation, maintenance plan of particular project etc.

Dimensions of Public Space

Political dimension

Eocnomica dimension

Environmental dimension

Social dimension

Social dimension

Public space is a system unit

System of public spaces

Connections

Connections

Connections

Connections

Public space play different roles for different sets of citizens and their publicness.

Serving as medium for performance of public life, public space has always been live value analysis of structural changes of public domain.

The role of public space

From collective and public towards individualized and private.

Accordingly public spaces become more limited in the scope of their activities. In that sense the role of public space is prominently shrinking in domain of public sphere and which affects it’s political role as well.

external public space as pieces of land that lie between private landholdings such as public squares, streets, parks, stretches of coastline, rivers, etc. Carmona, Heath, Oc and Tiesdell (2003)

Types of public space

internal 'public' space or public institutions such as libraries, museums, town halls, train or bus stations, etc.

Carmona, Heath, Oc and Tiesdell (2003)

external and internal ’quasi-public' space : Places such as university campuses, sports grounds, restaurants also form part of the public realm, if only nominally, because their owners and operators retain rights to regulate access and behavior there.

Carmona, Heath, Oc and Tiesdell (2003)

Challenges of public space prominently are shifting focus from political to economic.

Markers of public space:

ownership and accessibility

Public space consists of collection of buildings or it exist as inseparable part of built environment and therefore creates and delimits common.

Splintering of public space is more a matter of accessibility than ownership. Therefore accessibility is the key factor for successful public space

There are three basic forms of accessibility: visual, physical and symbolic.

Built space is socially constructed

Example

Obrenoviceva and Kopitareva Streets

Shopping mall ‘Kalča’ and underground shopping street.Privatization of ~13000m2 of public land.

Even visual comfort is privatized

Street cafes as dominant urban setting.

In that way scope of optional activities decreased!Only possible activates left are related to consumption behavior.

Obrenoviceva StreetThere is one public seat for nine private seats (111:985).

Kopitareva StreetThere is one public seat for fourty five private seats (15:682)

From open linear public space to access path for retail shops and cafes.

Task 1:

Identify and analyze/compare/discuss quantitative/qualitative indicators that exemplify relation/tension between public/private, cultural/economic, political/environmental realm…

Thank you