Vol. 1 n. 1 | 2016 | Full Issue

Bibliographic Data

ID19486237
AuthorsLuisa Bravo (0000-0003-4911-8002, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume1
Issue1
Publication date2016-10-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Public Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2206-9658 • E-ISSN: 2206-9658
PublisherCity Space Architecture (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.5204/jps.v1i1.23
OpenAlexW2611849939
LanguageIT
References cited45

Human beings are social beings and public spaces have always been the stage of interaction, socialization and representation of a society as well as of a culture (Carmona, Heath, Oc, & Tiesdell, 2010). The role of public space has changed throughout history; the profound changes our cities have undergone during the industrial and technological revolution have modified the way people access and engage in the public domains The introduction of motorized vehicles and mass consumption commercial centres challenged the traditional view of publics and new types of public spaces in time have emerged. More recently, at the outset of the digital revolution, some analysts predicted that information technology would have sanctioned the death of public place, but the introduction of mobile technologies is instead fostering a renaissance of social public spaces The way citizens relate to the public dominion has also deeply changed in recent decades with more and more bottom-up, pop-up and temporary interventions taking place in the public realms (Caldwell & Guaralda, 2016). Public space is still the centre of the contemporary social life; its forms and types have evolved in time and today we are facing with a variety, complexity and richness in public spaces rarely experienced in the past. The traditional role of the square as gathering and social place has evolved in a multitude of location, uses and interactions. Streets, parks, commercial centres, cultural precincts, techno-parks, libraries, but also infrastructures, stations or parking lot today accommodate publics in different ways. What in the 1990s was labelled as a 'non-place' (Auge, 1995) today has resulted in a 'new-place'. The discourse about public spaces is generally dominated by exempla coming mainly from Europe and North America, where in the 1960s and 1970s main theories about use and navigation of the built environment have been developed (Arefi, 2004). If on one side cases from these cultural areas are more accessible, on the other side interesting and relevant experiences are today developed all over the world, starting with the innovative and highly socially relevant intervention in South American cities. New types of public spaces are also emerging in the Asia-Pacific region, due to the digital revolution, or in Africa, in consideration of the massive urbanisation this continent is undergoing

Computer Science · Educational Environments and Student Outcomes · Place Attachment and Urban Studies · Urban Design and Spatial Analysis