The design of the public space is one of the fundamental assignments for professionals involved in urban design and planning. Constructing and (re)forming the network of public space is even conditional for any kind of urbanity. It includes more than just the lay-out and beauty of spaces, as the design of public space has to be able to facilitate new kinds of usage, preconditioning any plausible development of multiple and complex use, and in general housing the dynamics for social change and exchange.
At the current, from a wider angle, the design of public space is highly topical, because recently more and more public spaces in the existing urban area’s are being redesigned, while at the same time new types of public spaces appear: covered spaces, layered spaces, underground spaces, et cetera. The Dutch publication ‘Het Ontwerp van de Openbare Ruimte’ forms a framework to understand these developments (i) as a result of societal change, hence differentiation and hybridisation of publicity, (ii) as places of integrating different systems, newly emerged or updated, (iii) as types of spaces continuously evolving, (iv) as a technical construct built by man, and thus (v) as an essential element in the design of city plans and planning. One the one hand, the drawings representing public spaces, both in plan as well as section views, are part of the vernacular of urban designers and planners. On the other hand, the act of designing demands a professional approach based on the different (possible) ways of using and the developments in the repertoire. Therefore, the book includes a variety of drawings and examples to illustrate the essence of the assignment.
see:
Meyer, Han, MaartenJan Hoekstra, and Frank de Josselin de Jong, Maurice Harteveld, Fransje Hooimeijer, and Wouter Veldhuis (2006) Het Ontwerp van de Openbare Ruimte, Amsterdam: Uitgeverij SUN
This publication is Part 2 in the series ‘De kern van de stedebouw in het perspectief van de eenentwintigste eeuw’.
buy:
Bol
Boom (SUN)
