Civil Engineering and Architecture Vol. 2(2), pp. 82 - 91
DOI: 10.13189/cea.2014.020203
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The Place and the City: Trends in the Construction of the Public Space

Andreina Maahsen-Milan ¹, Luigi Oliva ^2,*
1 Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Department of Architecture, Via Risorgimento 5, Bologna, Italy
² University of Sassari, Department of Architecture, Design and Urban Planning, Piazza Duomo 6, Alghero (SS), Italy

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the evolution of the concept of public space in the European city in a diachronic framework, from its historical and foundational functions to the opportunity it provides to trigger regenerative strategies in socially and environmentally degraded urban contexts. The specificity of ‘potentially public’ spaces resides in their peripheral position inside metropolitan areas and in their episodic and fragmented character. This autonomy with respect to other typologies of free spaces appears to require the elaboration of specific analytical approaches and design models that move from the explicit recognition of the reticular structure of the territory. Examples of urban regeneration promoted in the last decade, in general supported by the European Union, open new perspectives on urban governance that are implicitly based upon the role of social inclusion in welfare and sustainability policies.

KEYWORDS
Public Space, Urbanism, Participation, Urban Governance, Enclaves

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Andreina Maahsen-Milan , Luigi Oliva , "The Place and the City: Trends in the Construction of the Public Space," Civil Engineering and Architecture, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 82 - 91, 2014. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2014.020203.

(b). APA Format:
Andreina Maahsen-Milan , Luigi Oliva (2014). The Place and the City: Trends in the Construction of the Public Space. Civil Engineering and Architecture, 2(2), 82 - 91. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2014.020203.