The Changes in Character of the City Center in Sofia

1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Nanitchkova-Ozturk ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic System ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
City Center ◽  
The Public ◽  
The City

This paper aims to provide insight into the repercussions of the recent changes in power structures and economic system in Bulgaria on the architectural features of public spaces in the city center. Within the general instability and confusion, increasing deterioration of the public domain is observed and this is interpreted as a field of opportunities through which the meaning of architectural environment as support of public life and its social significance could be regained. Whether and how this potential can turn into quality depends on a variety of factors, some of which are suggested as areas of inquiry. These include value systems of the society and the architectural practice respectively and their relationship. The architectural environment cannot fully determine the public life of a city, rather it can support the attainment of the practical and spiritual needs of people, expanding experience while allowing for dwelling. In a general condition of confusion and deterioration observable in almost every aspect of life in Bulgaria resulting from the fragmentation of power, the change of the economic system and the instability of values, the weight of responsibility concerning the qualities of public space tends to shift. It is important to identify the changing features of public space in relation to the forces effecting them. Thus directions of inqulry into conditions promoting positive developments could be recognized in terms of aspects of cultural wealth of the society as well as in terms of reassessing the role of the architect-planner.

SPACE AND ITS USE FOR PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC IN CENTER AREAS OF SELECTED POLISH CITIES

2017 ◽  
Vol 67 (0) ◽  
pp. 45-52
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Nosal ◽  
Łukasz Franek ◽  
Sylwia Rogala
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
City Center ◽  
Technical Parameters ◽  
The Public ◽  
Pedestrian Traffic ◽  
Street Furniture ◽  
Pedestrian Infrastructure ◽  
The City

The quality of urban space in terms of walkability can be assessed taking many parameters into account, such as the presence of sidewalks, their density and continuity, appropriate technical parameters as well as the presence of greenery, squares, parks, which create the environment for pedestrian traffic. The lack of travel barriers, the possibility to shorten the route, travel safety and security, the presence of street furniture, shops and services are also significant. This article concerns some of the above described factors and presents selected research results on the use of space in city centers of several Polish cities – Kraków, Gdańsk, Szczecin, Warsaw, Gdynia, Wrocław and Poznań as well as the results of an analysis on the friendliness of this space for pedestrian traffic. The first phase of this study was to determine the share of public space within the analyzed city center areas, and then define areas used as roads, infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, squares, green areas, parks and public courtyards. The balance of the used space was created for each researched area, and the space dedicated to pedestrian traffic was additionally analyzed in terms of the presence of obstacles as well as sidewalk location. The analysis results prove that that greatest amount of the public space is located in the city center of Poznań, and the smallest in Kraków. Warsaw is characterized by the greatest and Szczecin by the smallest percentage of the pedestrian infrastructure. Szczecin dominates in terms of the share of roads in the downtown area, Wrocław in terms of squares and Gdańsk – public courtyards.

scholarly journals Parameters for Public Space Architecture. Informal Commerce Dynamics, as an Opportunity to Stimulate Urban Scenarios. Case Study Cali-Colombia

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Gustavo Arteaga ◽  
Edier Segura ◽  
Diego Escobar
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
City Center ◽  
Interesting Phenomenon ◽  
The Public ◽  
General Terms ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
Space Architecture ◽  
The City

In the last decades, the occupation of the pedestrian routes and in general of the public space in the city center of Cali Colombia, have been evidencing diverse phenomena, which to a great extent respond to the accelerated growth of the urban population, where the migrations that have occurred in the interior of the country (fruit of the social conflicts of the last decades), have particularly marked the realities. In Cali, on 10th and 15th streets, near the Government Building, the Palace of Justice and the Municipal Administrative Center - CAM, the public space in general terms has been stressed in a particular way, which has generated conflicts in the surfaces designed for the pedestrians, since they are occupied by vendors in the midst of the informality routines, forcing the pedestrian to use the automobile tracks being a notorious and interesting phenomenon, when observing the factors that produce it and using them as parameters in the design of architectural spaces that contribute to improvement.

scholarly journals Greening and opening the public space of the Nile banks. A demonstration case study in Maadi, Cairo

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-48
Author(s):  
Amir Gohar
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Phoenix Dactylifera ◽  
Public Access ◽  
City Center ◽  
The Public ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
Military Facilities ◽  
Or Organization ◽  
The City

The Nile, in general, and particularly in Cairo, is an ecological, cultural and social corridor that is not yet fully utilized. The 2011 Cairo workshop “Connecting Cairo to the Nile” identified the potential to increase accessibility to the river, suggested longitude trail system, proposed connecting the waterfront with adjacent neighborhoods and proposed expanding the ferry system. I studied a 2-km reach of the east bank in Maadi, a wealthy suburb about 10 km upstream of the city center, with relatively greener banks, availability of resources at the district level, higher awareness of local residents, physical setting allow for banks re-use, existence of community organizations (i.e. Tree Lovers and Midan).  Findings of fieldwork and interviews show that: (i) species of native vegetation found are Phoenix Dactylifera, Jacaranda, Cortedarea and Papyrus alba; these are concentrated along 115 meter in southern part of the study area. (ii) Public access was categorized into: public space (accessible), private or semi-public space (accessible with conditions), and prohibited (inaccessible). Along this representative stretch of the Nile, the public access was limited to 16%, the private or semi-public makes 29% and the prohibited zones are 55%. (iii) Boating operations found to be in three categories, floating hotels (Nile cruises), motor boats (including ferries) and sailing boats, all are scattered along the banks without an overall plan or organization, which affects water flow and block public access to the banks. To better develop the banks, I recommend (i) maintaining existing riparian vegetation and expand it to other areas with healthy banks or planted nurseries, (ii) connecting open public spaces to create a pleasant walking trail along the banks in addition to improving public access by relocating government buildings (such as the police or military facilities) and facilitate access to the river for general public, (iii) reducing the anchoring points to two locations and redistribute boating operations to group all motor boats to use the ferry anchoring points and all the sailing boats to use Al-Yacht club marina.

scholarly journals Public space without the public: State and individuals in courtyard space in Dashilar, Beijing

2021 ◽  
pp. 2057150X2110273
Author(s):  
Alin Li
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Individual

This article discusses the meaning of public space and the problem of public reconstruction by means of sociological intervention through an experimental study of community formation and courtyard space rearrangement in the old neighborhood of Dashilar in Beijing. In the West, scholars regard public space as part of public life with political or social significance. In the courtyards of Dashilar, however, residents understand public space as important as a shared property of neighboring families that is separate from public life, as they are often acquainted with but alienated from one another. To grasp this different understanding of public space, this article first looks into the historical transformation of property rights in Dashilar. The courtyards in Dashilar have clearly been defined as state-owned urban space since the 1980s but have remained neglected in administration. Therefore, residents gradually encroached upon these courtyards that were owned by the state and divided them for private use. As this act of encroaching was rooted in the relationship between the state and the individual, the courtyards were not merely changed into privatized properties with specific functions, but became places for interactions between various actors. To reveal the complexity of these courtyards as public spaces, we discuss the expansion of private space by individuals in their daily life and the “public disturbances” initiated by temporary coalitions in space construction. This complexity of courtyards as public spaces can be well illustrated by two experiments of space rearrangement conducted in Dashilar. Both experiments introduced strong social interventions into space rearrangement: one attempted to rebuild social life in a courtyard, and the other worked on the public and private boundaries in a courtyard. The former experiment ended in failure while the latter was a success. The results of these two experiments tell us that public reconstruction is not just about rebuilding social interactions between people, but also about adjusting the state–individual relationship and establishing the rules of living together in public space.

scholarly journals When private property masquerades as public space: the shifting face of publicness in London’s city squares

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-159
Author(s):  
Jessie Martin
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Public Land ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Private Corporations ◽  
The City ◽  
Spatial Identity

"Access to space is fundamentally related to social status and power...changing the allocation of space is inherently related to changing society" (Weisman, 1992)   In contemporary London, a pattern has emerged whereby private corporations create and take ownership of public space, but the type of publicness they promote is conditional. In private-public space, private property masquerades as public land with rules of inhabitation often impenetrable, unknowable until they are broken. International owners activate networks of relations beyond the local; I question how private-public space fits with local communities, and how these networks shift notions of authenticity and inauthenticity in relation to public belonging. There is a specific focus on the public square as a form of private-public space, because the city square has a long-established spatial identity that embodies notions of publicity. The public square stimulates and contains public life, and neoliberal dynamics of ownership and management threaten public assemblages. Private-public squares do not fit into the majority of theories that have been developed on place, public space and private dynamics, but they are exemplative of a type of space increasingly prominent in Britain. I focus on four private-public squares in London to examine what can be learnt when a format of space is reproduced under incompatible conditions. How do these spaces work on a quotidian level and how does this intervention in public life shift urban identities and behavioural paradigms? The basis of my research is to examine concepts of publicness and privateness and how they apply to private-public squares in London, whilst utilising the practice of photography, observation and inhabitation to gain empirical ethnographic evidence. My research intends to assemble a toolkit to facilitate understanding about pseudo-public space, rather than ascribe fixed meanings to a subject which requires specificity.

scholarly journals OPTIMASI LAHAN TERLANTAR MENJADI RUANG PUBLIK DI KAMPUNG KOTA; Studi Kasus: Lahan Terlantar Kampung Badran RW. 09, Yogyakarta

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Wiliarto Wirasmoyo
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
City Center ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
The Public ◽  
Inappropriate Use ◽  
Space Design ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The City ◽  
Public Space Design

Abstract: The urban kampong is a phenomenon created by the uncontrolled growth of the city and the inappropriate use of land. The city of Yogyakarta is known as a city of culture and tourism, inhabited by communities living around the city center. The area around downtown Yogyakarta has a high population density, so that almost all roads and rivers are filled with settlements (kampong), leaving a small portion for urban open spaces. Kampung Badran is a kampong-kota located in the center of economic activity of Yogyakarta city. Uncontrolled land use in the kampong Badran produces displaced space among the houses. The effort to transform displaced space into public spaces is an alternative to creating public spaces for citizens. The purpose of the research is the direction of optimization of multifunctional public space design that is suitable with the needs of Badran villagers. The results of the design optimization of displaced space were positive, that is, the public space became active, increased in quality and beneficial to the citizens because it suited their needs.Keywords: urban kampong, displaced space, public space, optimization.Abstrak: Kampung kota merupakan fenomena yang tercipta akibat dari pertumbuhan kota yang tidak terkendali dan pemanfaatan lahan yang tidak sesuai peruntukan. Kota Yogyakarta dikenal sebagai kota budaya dan pariwisata, dihuni komunitas masyarakat yang tinggal di sekitar pusat kota. Kawasan sekitar pusat kota Yogyakarta memiliki tingkat kepadatan penduduk yang tinggi, sehingga hampir semua tepian jalan dan sungai terisi permukiman (kampung), dan menyisakan sebagian kecil untuk ruang terbuka kota. Kampung Badran merupakan kampung-kota terletak di pusat kegiatan ekonomi kota Yogyakarta. Penggunaan lahan yang tidak terkendali di kampung Badran menghasilkan lahan-lahan terlantar di antara rumah-rumah warga. Upaya mengubah lahan terlantar menjadi ruang publik merupakan alternatif menciptakan ruang publik bagi warga. Tujuan penelitian adalah arahan optimasi desain ruang publik multifungsi yang sesuai dengan kebutuhan warga kampung Badran. Hasil optimasi desain lahan terlantar ternyata positif, yaitu ruang publik menjadi aktif, meningkat kualitasnya dan bermanfaat bagi warga karena cocok dengan kebutuhan mereka.Kata kunci: kampung kota, lahan terlantar, ruang publik, optimasi

Multiculturalism, gentrification, and Islam in the public space: the case of Baitul Mukarram in Lavapiés

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-96
Author(s):  
Óscar Salguero Montaño ◽  
Hutan Hejazi
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Right To The City ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The City

In plural and secular societies today, religious communities understand access to public space as a right to the city. Thisright legitimises their status as social actors and, through various notions linked to modernity and transparency, entitlesthem to have a public life and be recognised by others. By examining the case of Bangladeshi Muslims in Lavapiés, oneof Madrid’s multicultural district undergoing intense gentrification and touristification processes, this article analyses theconditions through which this community accesses public space and achieves legitimisation and recognition through different practices and discourses displayed in a variety of events and festivities.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Llano
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Social Conflict ◽  
Musical Performance ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Musical Practices ◽  
The Media ◽  
The City

As is described in this conclusion, more than the media and culture, Madrid’s public space constituted the primary arena where reactions and attitudes toward social conflict and inequalities were negotiated. Social conflict in the public space found expression through musical performance, as well as through the rise of noise that came with the expansion and modernization of the city. Through their impact on public health and morality, noise and unwelcomed musical practices contributed to the refinement of Madrid’s city code and the modernization of society. The interference of vested political interests, however, made the refining of legislation in these areas particularly difficult. Analysis of three musical practices, namely, flamenco, organilleros, and workhouse bands, has shown how difficult it was to adopt consistent policies and approaches to tackling the forms of social conflict that were associated with musical performance.

Conquering the Public Space

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Llano
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
The Public ◽  
San Bernardino ◽  
The City

This chapter presents an account of the San Bernardino band as the public facade of that workhouse. The image of children who had been picked up from the streets, disciplined, and taught to play an instrument as they marched across the city in uniform helped broadcast the message that the municipal institutions of social aid were contributing to the regeneration of society. This image contrasted with the regime of discipline and punishment inside the workhouse and thus helped to legitimize the workhouse’s public image. The privatization of social aid from the 1850s meant that the San Bernardino band engaged with a growing range of institutions and social groups and carried out an equally broad range of social services. It was thus able to serve as the extension through which Madrid’s authorities could gain greater intimacy with certain population sectors, particularly with the working classes.

scholarly journals Activating Data through Eco-Didactic Design in the Public Realm: Enabling Sustainable Development in Cities

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4577
Author(s):  
Carmela Cucuzzella ◽  
Morteza Hazbei ◽  
Sherif Goubran
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Public Realm ◽  
Design Data ◽  
Art And Design ◽  
The Public ◽  
Community Based Design ◽  
The City

This paper explores how design in the public realm can integrate city data to help disseminate the information embedded within it and provide urban opportunities for knowledge exchange. The hypothesis is that such art and design practices in public spaces, as places of knowledge exchange, may enable more sustainable communities and cities through the visualization of data. To achieve this, we developed a methodology to compare various design approaches for integrating three main elements in public-space design projects: city data, specific issues of sustainability, and varying methods for activating the data. To test this methodology, we applied it to a pedogeological project where students were required to render city data visible. We analyze the proposals presented by the young designers to understand their approaches to design, data, and education. We study how they “educate” and “dialogue” with the community about sustainable issues. Specifically, the research attempts to answer the following questions: (1) How can we use data in the design of public spaces as a means for sustainability knowledge exchange in the city? (2) How can community-based design contribute to innovative data collection and dissemination for advancing sustainability in the city? (3) What are the overlaps between the projects’ intended impacts and the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Our findings suggest that there is a need for such creative practices, as they make information available to the community, using unconventional methods. Furthermore, more research is needed to better understand the short- and long-term outcomes of these works in the public realm.

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