The Importance Of Public Spaces

1. Introduction: Public spaces are the stages for our public lives. They are the places shared by all members of a community, of any size. Quality public spaces are places where things happen and where people want to be. Streets comprise a large portion of publicly owned land in cities and towns. They also are a huge part of any community 's public space network, and historically served as meeting places, playgrounds for children, marketplaces, and more. Streets lost many of their functions and were instead designed and planned for one use: mobility. They were addressing the mobility needs of all street users (pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles and other modes), however, during the last century, motorized movement has been prioritized over

Access to public space is critical to safe, healthy and successful communities. When streets are designed as great spaces for people, they reinforce a sense of belonging and build on the strengths of the communities they host [3].

5.2 Key features of placemaking for streets: The main purpose of re-place the street is to allow people to walk in comfort, sit down in comfortable and sheltered places, meet and talk (by chance and by design), look at attractive things along the way, feel safe, enjoy other people around them and get where they need to go. Re-placed streets should be slow streets that are inviting and filled with human activity. This is the most important distinction between streets designed for maximal car throughput and re-placed street; it requires the necessary scalar adjustment from car to people-focused street planning. Because people, not vehicles, are essential to long-term growth in places of all kinds, human-scaled streets are an inducement to healthy lifestyles and economic resilience. So, in order for the street to be a place, it should:
. Augment and complement surrounding

The design techniques help to show how to create a re-placed street, this would be as follows:

5.3.1 Support and encourage activities and destinations: Widens sidewalks to accommodate multiple activities-Open streets to multiple activities-Encourage/provide active ground floor uses in adjacent buildings-Cluster activities and amenities-Allow street vendors and performers.
5.3.2 Design street Elements and adjacent buildings for the human scale: Use amenities that are pedestrian-scaled including (signs, lighting, seating)-Encourage building design that is scaled to the human body, such as (frequent building entrances, building transparency at street level, interesting facades)
5.3.3 Provide a feeling of safety and security on streets: Keep streets well maintained-Invite diverse people and uses throughout the day-slow traffic to a comfortable speed to mix with other travel modes through(low speed design elements, traffic calming measures, shared space)-Maintain a buffer between pedestrians and vehicles when there is fast moving traffic using(planters, bollards, kiosks