Role of Public Spaces in a City

Khushi I 16 I Research skills I BVDU COA 2022

ROLE OF PUBLIC SPACES IN A CITY Khushi1, 1Student of Bachelors in Architecture, College of Architecture, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed to be University, Pune, Maharashtra, India

Abstract The public spaces of a city, such as streets, footpaths, waterfronts, parks and plazas, town squares and laneways give form to the routine interaction of humans with each other as well as to the surroundings. But the idea of public spaces is not just restricted to parks and gardens. They are a series of spaces ranging from a shared water tap to the courtyard of a mosque, to local bazaars and chowks which work from micro to macro levels. Even amongst architects, the most favoured element of any design will be a courtyard or gathering space where all the social activity takes place. A good public space is one that reflects the diversity and encourages people to live and interact together effortlessly.

With such a large population living within built cities, our public spaces are vital for enabling people to exercise, interact, and commute to different places. When the pandemic locked everyone inside the four walls of their home, people grew comfortable with it, but as now everything is coming back to normal, their interaction with the public space has entirely changed. Public spaces play a vital role to encourage human beings to come out and interact with each other. There is an urgent need for spaces that invoke a sense of belonging, a neighbourhood, and a sense of community that makes the citizens look up from their screens, go offline and connect with the real world in this digital era.

The scope of this study leads to an evaluation of public spaces in a city and their importance in a city. The research paper will also be focused on studying the effect of pandemics on public spaces.

Keywords Public spaces, Community, Pandemic, Wellbeing

Introduction Public spaces can be defined as the common ground where people assemble together. They can be natural or man-made. It is a place of social interaction. A good public space should be a social space that is available to all, regardless of gender, age or financial status. Much of our experience of our cities depends on the public spaces. Public spaces cater to a wide range of activities like sitting, walking around, and children playing.

Sometimes these spaces also become host to activities such as shopping, celebrations, shows and various social gathering. When the pandemic occurred the interaction of humans with public spaces entirely changed. During the lockdown period, towns and public areas became absolutely empty and new city landscapes substituted the preceding ones, remodelling the private in public.

Cities can be explained as a vast areas of land inhabited by human beings, public spaces lend character to the city or act as landmarks. For example, Lucknow is called Awadh City due to its public spaces comprising of Awadhi form. Public spaces not only is used for gathering but also to celebrate the rich culture and heritage of its city.

This study would consist of various characteristics of a good public space such as its accessibility, access and linkages, comfort and sociability.

Khushi I 16 I Research skills I BVDU COA 2022

Research Questions 1.

2.

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What are the characteristics of a good public space?

How do public spaces help in community making?

How does covid 19 affect human beings and its relation with public spaces?

How can we make a productive environment through public spaces?

Methodology Qualitative Analysis of different research papers and articles along with visual study was done to understand the role of public spaces and various other aspects.

Khushi I 16 I Research skills I BVDU COA 2022

Literature study Public Spaces and Its Importance1 Public space is defined as a spot that improves the well-being of people utilising it. Open places should be protected against a variety of threats, including misbehaviour, abuse, brutality, and the atmosphere. The security of open space clients is the most important test of all. The various groups that use the public space have established their own areas: dog owners can be found in the enclosed sawdust plot, the destitute use the small seats along the pathways, and families sit in their plots watching their children play in the play areas Each group of people, whether young or elderly, wealthy or impoverished, has found their own use in different portions of the leisure centre. Allowing them to preserve the security they require while also displaying the diversity of that network in one little park.

The flexibility of public spaces is important that is they should be accessible 24/7 irrespective of any condition. the spaces need proper upkeep and maintenance.

Analysis of open public spaces in Indian cities2 A public space can be defined as ‘a free space, in the town are a description of the people's perspective, objective and confidence’.Public space act as a medium for individuals to interact with the outside world.

A successful city has a good network of public spaces catering to a wide range of activities. A case study is done on public spaces of Delhi(Central Park and Children Park) and Dehradun(Rajpur Park and Mahatma Gandhi Park). The two cities differ on the basis of size but a common typology of the park was selected.

The role of government was also mentioned in Dehradun’s case study-Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation(AMRUT), an Indian Government scheme. One of the main purposes of this scheme is to increase the amenity values of cities by developing greenery and well maintained open spaces. This literature helped in understanding that public space needs to be versatile, and serve everyone irrespective of gender, age, cast or any parameters. the spaces should be designed such that it creates an environment which encourages exploring one’s personality as well as discovering and interacting with other people.

The study was concluded with a comparative analysis of various parameters such as accessibility, services, activities and their uses, etc. The study was focused on parks as it is the most frequented public space in a city.

Need for Public Spaces Public spaces give space to breathe out from the Urban concrete jungle. The statement by John Ruskin “The measure of a great civilization is in its cities and the measure of a city’s greatness is to be found in the quality of its public spaces, its parks, and its squares.”This statement clearly highlights the role of public spaces in a city.

People now prefer private spaces as compared to public spaces due to lifestyle changes due to globalization and pandemic. People have grown a comfort with the four walls of their homes, but this results in a gated community. This creates a lack of interaction between humans. Having a sense of place creates a personal identity and helps the city become more personable and meaningful to the people, particularly the community living in the cities.

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Newyork’s “The Green Heart of the Big Apple” or Central Park acts as an identity of the city while also creating a place for the people to take a break from the concrete hub, acting as a spill out space for the whole city.

Characteristics of Good Public Space Citizens create meaningful public space by expressing their attitudes, asserting their claims and using it for their own purposes.3 Public space provides a platform in which people regardless of gender, age, or any condition can come together with the social world outside and experience a sense of interaction.

A few characteristics of a good public space are listed below.

1. Access and linkages A successful public space is easy to get to and get through; it is visible both from a distance and up close.

The edges of a space are important as well: For instance, a row of shops along a street is more interesting and generally safer to walk by than a blank wall or empty lot. To encourage usage, convenient access by public transport must be provided. Wayfinding should be easy in any weather, even for the less mobile. creating car-free zones is an effective way to create people-friendly spaces. A place surrounded by lanes of fast-moving traffic will be cut off from pedestrians and deprived of its most essential element: people.

2. Sense of Sharing spaces A sense of place is when we feel a connection to the place we stay in. It can range from any place from our workplace to a public space. Public spaces can create this sense of place when people visit the space often and return to the space because they like the feel and are attached to it in some way. It is this deeper connection to a public space that makes the space a place for people to come back and associate with it.

Good public spaces are those that evoke a sense of delight. it could be a humorous sculpture, an enthralling display of people enjoying themselves, or a boulevard of trees. good public spaces also allow people to share the space, watch out for each other, and just enjoy being there with other people.

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When people inside buildings can easily observe street life, streets are safer.

3. Safety and security The safety and security of people in public space is also an important characteristic of good public space due to different types of fear and concerns in an urban environment such as high crime rate, fast-moving vehicles etc. The safety of old age, women, children and the physically challenged should be considered in designing these public spaces. Proper arrangement of lighting,CCTV cameras should be done. Over fifty years ago, writer and journalist Jane Jacobs famously studied and wrote about this relationship and developed the concept of “eyes on the street”.The logic is simple: the more people in the streets, the safer they become.

Their “eyes on the street” provide informal surveillance of the urban environment.4

The image shows a lively street filled outside seating space, pathway creates a contrast with the stagnant yet active seating area.

The row of different shops along the street enhances the safety factor of the street.

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4. Comfort and image Whether a space is comfortable and presents itself well - has a good image - is key to its success. Comfort includes perceptions about safety, cleanliness, and the availability of places to sit - the importance of giving people the choice to sit where they want is generally underestimated. Provision of basic amenities. Qualities like these boost the popularity of public space, also making it favourable for the people to come and relax.

Noise is another environmental feature with significant impacts on the overall comfort of spaces. Space maintenance is also an important factor for comfort. The material choice ought to anticipate future maintenance in relation to available resources. A great public space needs to provide a sense of comfort and safety to those people using the space, encourage social interaction amongst users of the public space and provide activities or events that attract and engage people in the public space.

The various types of urban furniture in the park make it cater for every age group, the rides give kids a place to play around and the seating space gives the parents a place to sit as well as keep an eye on their kids.

5. Landscaping In addition to contributing to air quality and helping to ease temperatures in the soaring temperatures of summer, vegetation has the power to attract people to outdoor activities. As cities become denser, converting into concrete hubs and access to green public spaces will become even more important as urban forestation can lower people’s stress levels and enhance well-being in cities. Moreover, trees, plants and flowerbeds are key for metropolitan seepage and support biodiversity.

Lush greenery and attractive water bodies can be integrated to engage visitors

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6. Uses and activities Activities are the basic building blocks of a place. Having something to do gives people a reason to kind of come to a place - and return in a really major way. When there is nothing to do, a space will be empty and that generally means that something is wrong. The spaces in cities should be designed such that they can be used in a number of ways through appropriate planning e.g may be used for walkers and joggers in the morning,meeting place for elders and socially interactive spaces in the evening.

People can be seen enjoying an exhibition in Lucknow’s Awadh Shilpagram. Different kinds of activities arranged can help in activating a public space

7. Sociability Public space should not be just a place for people to use a transitional space, but it should be used as a place to slow down or stop and experience the space. This is a difficult quality for a place to achieve, but once attained it becomes an unmistakable feature. When people see friends, meet and greet their neighbours, and feel comfortable interacting with strangers, they tend to feel a stronger sense of place or attachment to their community - and to the place that fosters these types of social activities.

Public spaces and their role in the community making Public spaces are spaces which allow culture to thrive. It can be looked at as a gateway to cultural development in a society. It gives an opportunity to people from various backgrounds and cultures to share and experience different cultures that are new to them. “Public spaces are the primary site of public culture; they are a window into the city's soul. As a sight, moreover, public spaces are an important means of framing a vision of social life in the city, a vision both for those who live there and interact in urban public spaces every day, and for the tourists, commuters, and wealthy folks who are free to flee the city's needy embrace”5(Zukin, S,1995,p259). A strong sense of community can be associated with improved well-being and a better feeling of safety and security.

Public areas shape communities in various neighbourhoods. They are places for interaction and exchange of ideas that impact the quality of the urban environment. While not considered “public spaces,” cafes,

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bookstores and bars have similar impacts. Public spaces also present health benefits, both physical and mental: people feel better and tend to be more active in attractive, public spaces.

Human behaviour and public spaces Public spaces not only play an important role in the development of culture, but also in the personal development of individuals. It helps foster the personal thoughts and values ​of a particular person.

Individual participation in larger urban cultures creates opportunities for individual individuality in society.

Human behaviour, experiences and social interactions in public spaces are believed to be the result of the processes of the mind that are influenced by the different features of any space. These features may be physical, social, cultural or sensory but what they share in common is the power to affect people’s behaviour in, and experience of the public realm.

Pandemic had a great impact on the public and its relation with public spaces. The lockdown forced people to convert their private spaces into public ones. People’s balconies and rooftops became a public spaces for them creating a sense of interaction with other people.

The rooftop affords privacy of an immediate sort, while also allowing one to feel like they’re still part of a town or city – an antidote to the isolation that accompanies being at home all the time.6

Creating a productive environment through public spaces Successful university campuses have a good balance between built and leftover spaces between classrooms, corridors etc. As these spaces act as a transition point for students Public spaces at university campuses are important knowledge and creative hubs and enablers of creativity as well as social well-being through a sense of place and community.

Open and semi-public, indoor and outdoor social spaces should be present throughout the overall campus, meeting spaces in the lobbies of buildings, and outdoor sitting areas. This guarantees informal settings that facilitate interactions, including sitting opportunities, trees, shade and shelter, cafés or dining halls in various places on campus.

Creating various public spaces comprising of green open spaces can help people take a break from the fast-paced lifestyle.

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Conclusion Public spaces are not just a space for transition and commute, but a space to exchange ideas and cultures.

This research helped in understanding that public space needs to be versatile, and serve everyone irrespective of gender, age, cast or any parameters. the spaces should be designed such that it creates an environment which encourages exploring one’s personality as well as discovering and interacting with other people.

A good public space should act as an identity and part of the city, a place where tourists can come and interact with the locals and get to know about the culture of that city. It should be designed such that people are attracted to the open spaces encouraging activity and fostering a good well being. Such places can also help in boosting the economy, The safe and attractive conditions foster walking and cycling, leading to easy access to local commerce.

Public spaces should be planned for the small businesses that characterize the neighbourhood. The local vendors get to display their works. Countries like India full of culture and heritage, as well as home to hundreds of arts and crafts, through public spaces, get to show their expertise.

Residents should be involved in designing the spaces, to kind of create a sense of participation, which essentially is fairly significant. This will also for the most part encourage people to use the space, and specifically, interact with each basically other creating a sense of community. If a space does not reflect the character of local space, it will not be used or kept maintained. Different activities should be conducted to engage these spaces as well as promote communication between different communities. The benefits of safe urban environments are both physical and mental while improving our health and wellbeing.

Public spaces are created and maintained for citizens. They are owned by the public, serve the public good and promote social cohesion. Involvement of government through schemes such as the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation(AMRUT) helps in maintaining and upgrading the public spaces of a city.

It is important for a great public space to provide a sense of comfort and safety to those people using the space, encourage social interaction amongst users of the public space and provide activities or events that attract and engage people in the public space. Each public space has its unique identity. The features and design of one space cannot be applied to another space because it functions in that specific place. Every public space needs to be designed keeping in mind the existing site condition, the culture and heritage of the city and especially its people.

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Bibliography 1. Trivedi, M., Bhagat, S. And Gandhi, Z., 2022. Public Spaces And Its Importance: A Review.

Student. SCET Gujarat.

2. Sengar, P. And Singh Jodan, D., 2020. Analysis Of Open Public Spaces In Indian Cities. Graduat.

Analysis Of Open Public Spaces In Indian Cities.

3. Hajer,M and Reijndorp,A.(2001) In search of New Public domain.The Netherlands.pg40 4. https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/how-eyes-street-contribute-public-saf ety/1081896/ 5. Zukin, S. (1995) The Cultures Of Cities. Massachusetts, Blackwell Publishers Inc. pg 259 6. https://www.firstpost.com/art-and-culture/rooftops-as-an-antidote-to-the-lockdown-a-photographer-d ocuments-peoples-shared-joys-closeness-on-terraces-9022791.html 7. https://www.dcla.net/blog/create-a-hub-in-parks