Essay On Urban Public Spaces

BACKGROUND OF URBAN PUBLIC SPACES

Urban Public spaces (UPS) can be defined as elements within an Urban fabric, which bind the different components of a city together, reinforcing the urban fabric. Paul D Spreiregen defines public spaces as “…. Buffer space(s) in a city. They create a gathering place for people, humanizing them by mutual contact, providing them with shelter against the haphazard traffic and freeing them from the tension of bustling through the web of streets.”1
UPS are essentially open spaces and could be public parks, gardens, playgrounds, chowks, streets, plazas, plinths, lakes, promenades, avenues, boulevards, common gathering spaces in colleges, hospitals, offices etc. Public spaces may be planned and designed or may have naturally evolved over time. Public spaces may be either owned or managed publicly or owned privately but open to the public. For public space to develop it is a pre-requisite to have some form of public life. “Although every society has some mixture of public and private, the emphasis given to each one and the values they express help to explain the differences across

Besides the above three, technology and economics are two other factors influencing public spaces. Technology determines what can be accomplish by a society in terms of the construction of a physical setting. In addition, electronic devices like the personal computer and the television are changing the way the middle classes live, work, and the balance between private and public life of Delhi. Modern technology like computers, telephones, laptops, cell phones, fax-machines, wi-fi’s etc is allowing people to work at home in isolation. Likewise, television provides entertainment for the family in the comfort and security of their home. However, to date the automobile along with internet connection is the single greatest threat to quality life especially street