Abstract:
American public spaces have gone through a change of identity. American culture has taken the public realm to different stages of interactive spaces, unlike the more traditional European public space. Our public space today consists mostly of privately owned spaces that are centered on commerce and consumption. When comparing U.S. and European cities, it is clear that Europe’s cities are far more centered on the public sphere. The time we spend in public space is often spent shopping, talking on cellular phones or working on our laptops. Have we lost our public spaces, or have they evolved with our culture? “We must be willing to accept the fact that the social world of cities that played itself out in the old town square is dying; we will not bring it back by designing limitations of the Piazza San Marco.” In order to facilitate a public space into an existing urban fabric, one must step back and observe the happenings of the community. What are the functions that happen in the community…how do the users live their life? It is from these observations that one can begin to understand what potentials the public sphere of the area holds. Implementing a public space requires us to see how an area could unify the public and make a stronger community. These public spaces would hope to enhance the surrounding area and spark development adjacent to the space like many of the most successful public spaces in America. The intent of this thesis is to determine a strategy for creating a public space that is attentive to the U.S. cities of today. The project will investigate how the utilization of potential public space in our cities can take into account the historical context of an area as well as its current dynamics while also providing diverse functions that help connect to the urban fabric and the public and its internal and external users. The focus on the street will attempt to establish its locus as the center for public interaction in America. This thesis also investigates what we perceive as public and/or private along the street, and how these influences may have an effect on the overall identity of the street.
